Director Park Chanwook, Expelled from WGA, Denies Writing During Strike

The team of director Park Chanwook has denied reports that his expulsion from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) was due to a violation of guild rules, stating, "He did not engage in any writing work during the strike."

Director Park Chanwook is giving a lecture at the "2025 Seoul International Book Fair" held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on June 20. Photo by Yonhap News

On August 12, Moho Film, Park's production company, said, "Director Park Chanwook and Don McKellar, who served as co-executive producer and co-writer, completed all scripts for the HBO miniseries 'The Sympathizer' and began filming well before the WGA strike started on May 2, 2023." The company explained that at the time of the strike, 'The Sympathizer' was in post-production editing, which is permitted under WGA rules.

The WGA began investigating Park and McKellar for rule violations in December of last year. A disciplinary committee composed of fellow writers held a hearing and concluded that there was no intentional violation, determining that the issue stemmed from a misunderstanding about role boundaries, and recommended only a "private warning." However, in April of this year, the WGA board expelled Park and McKellar without providing a detailed explanation.

Although Park considered appealing the decision, he ultimately chose not to, given that he was in Korea working on post-production for his new film "Inevitability" at the time, and considering that the hearing and appeals process would take a significant amount of time.

Previously, the WGA went on strike from May to September 2023, demanding regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) scripts and improved compensation in response to the expansion of the streaming market. During this period, the guild disciplined seven writers for violating strike rules.

Moho Film also refuted claims reported by some foreign media outlets that "non-WGA members cannot collaborate with major studios," stating, "Excluding writers simply because they are not guild members goes against the very purpose of the guild." On August 11 (local time), U.S. media outlet Variety reported that Park's expulsion from the WGA is unlikely to significantly affect his career, and noted that non-WGA members face no restrictions on their writing activities.

Park and McKellar co-produced and co-wrote "The Sympathizer," based on the novel of the same name by Vietnamese American author Viet Thanh Nguyen. The series, which aired last year, starred Robert Downey Jr. and Hoa Xuande, among others. Park's upcoming film "Inevitability" has been invited to the competition section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival and is scheduled for release next month.