WGA warns writers not to work with Randall Emmett associate Steve Small (2024)

The Writers Guild of America has warned members not to work with producer Randall Emmett’s business partner Steve Small amid complaints that crew members and vendors have struggled to get paid on recent film projects.

The guild took the rare step of placing Small and a company he controls, Fifty Feet Movie, on its WGA Strike/Unfair List after Small failed to post a surety bond on a movie project, according to a WGA advisory sent to members Wednesday.

Emmett, a controversial figure in Hollywood, has been on the WGA’s strike list since 2020. The guild took action after Emmett and his former longtime business partner George Furla failed to pay writers for scripts in 2019 for an Arnold Schwarzenegger television show that was quickly abandoned.

The WGA, which won a court judgment in that case, is still seeking payment and health contributions on behalf of its writers. Emmett “failed to pay $711,765.57 in compensation, pension & health contributions and interest due to four writers on the television series ‘Pump’ pursuant to a judgment issued by the Los Angeles Superior Court,” the WGA said in its advisory Wednesday.

Now, the guild is expanding its warning to include Small, who has been working closely with Emmett for nearly three years.

“The Guild’s working rules prohibit members from working for or optioning or selling literary material to companies or individuals who are on the Strike/Unfair List, or who are not signed to the current MBA,” the WGA said.

Small, in a statement from a spokesperson, accused the WGA of targeting him because of its dispute with another firm without specifically mentioning Emmett or his company, Convergence Entertainment.

“Fifty Feet Movie, LLC has never defaulted on any of its payments to writers — those who worked on its three movies, Alarum, Cash Out and The Epiphany, have all been paid,” Small’s statement said. “The WGA unsuccessfully tried to extract a ‘bond’ from Fifty Feet because of WGA’s third-party dispute — which is unrelated to any project developed by Fifty Feet.”

Emmett largely is known to TV audiences as the former fiance of “Vanderpump Rules” star Lala Kent, and their messy 2021 breakup was highlighted on the hit Bravo show. In Hollywood, he’s known for fine-tuning the “geezer-teaser” formula for making action films with aging male stars, including Bruce Willis before he retired.

Last year, during the writers’ and actors’ strikes, Emmett and Small attracted crew members to a Mississippi film project starring Sylvester Stallone called “Armored.” After production wrapped in October, crew members spent months hounding Emmett and Small for their full payment, The Times reported in April. Most were eventually paid after reporters began calling state film officials.

Stallone arrived on set for his one day of filming “Armored” unaware that Emmett was the project’s director, four crew members who worked on the film told The Times. Stallone and his representatives declined to comment. The movie’s assistant director and another producer insisted that Stallone was not surprised by Emmett’s “presence” on the set.

Crew members also complained about tardy payments on a subsequent Emmett film project in the spring near Cincinnati called “Alarum.” That movie, directed by Michael Polish, has been slated for a 2025 release.

Since a 2022 investigation by the Los Angeles Times, Emmett has continued to work in Hollywood on movie projects under the Convergence banner. He often lists himself simply as “Ives” on crew records and film credits. Ives is Emmett’s middle name.

Emmett tapped Small to run his film company, Convergence Entertainment, which was incorporated in 2022, according to Nevada business records. Emmett and Small opened the new shop after the producer’s longtime company, Emmett Furla Oasis, folded.

Small is the president of Convergence, which has produced at least four film projects in the last three years, including “Cash Out,” with John Travolta.

The WGA said Smalls’ more recent venture, Fifty Feet, was signatory to last year’s WGA contract with producers.

The WGA said it demanded a surety bond from Small and Fifty Feet “after determining that it is not financially responsible and is unlikely to meet its MBA obligations [in] connection with multiple theatrical motion picture projects.”

“To date, Fifty Feet has failed to post a bond as required,” the guild said.

Times staff writer Amy Kaufman contributed to this report.