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Good thing the morons at Universal aren’t in charge of Homeland Security. Because I’ve learned that studio bosses Ron Meyer, Jim Waters, and many others only recently discovered a security breach that has existed on the lot for decades — even throughout all the beefed-up security in effect post-9/11. The bigwigs had no idea non-employees have been able to go onto the lot without showing any ID by telling security guards they’re “a friend of Bill’s” and then heading to the 12-step meetings held in a building near the front gate. 
Meyer personally found out about the situation by accident 3 weeks ago and immediately ordered a stop to a 27-year-old practice. “Ron went ballistic. He was out of his mind. And it was embarrassing beyond belief that this was allowed at the same time people were using mirrors to check under cars,” a source tells me. No one is suggesting the 12-step members themselves were security threats. But the possibilities for abusing the system by anyone intent on doing harm are obvious. Now 12-step meetings on the lot are for employees only. Universal is still trying to find a nearby meeting room off-lot for the non-employees. (The studio has offered to pay for space but most 12-step programs stipulate that each group be fully self-supporting and not dependent on outside contributions.)
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Waiting for someone to make a clever joke about Spielberg sneaking on to the U lot back in the day and tie it to this story.
I would do it but I’m just too busy. Look, I gave you the idea, the high concept. That’s the real work anyway. Now just fill in the blanks with the easy writing part.
LOL. Those idiots could have seriously hurt by some disgruntled wacko who’s deal went under. Scary.
WANTED. Funny because I think it was Universal’s last big hit. No wonder they are trying anything and everything they can to get a sequel.
Well this IS Universal we’re talking about here. Did “a friend of Bill” also greenlight bomb after bomb and just ok $200M to a joke of a Battleship adaptation? Ha.
If the 12 step meetings are for employees only it kinda ruins the whole “Anonymous” element of AA or NA, doesn’t it?
Jeeze.
My experience in life is that one person only is responsible for actions or failures to act. One guy failed to pass the word down; one guy at BP decided they did not need to test the blowout preventer; the list is as long as history.
Normally I would agree with you, Uncle Bernie. The simplest explanation is usually the right one. Someone altruistically set up the meetings and told the guard to let them in. All in a good cause, right? The practice then became ensconced, literally a backdoor policy.
But that explanation doesn’t hold for BP, because testimony has shown that MANY failures stacked to cause the Gulf oil spill. The underlying cause was BP’s culture of squeezing profits and taking shortcuts. And that in turn is not because BP is evil, but because of market pressure. Tangible, short term incentives like profits and share price win out over intangibles like possible risk to worker safety or the environment.
I agree that ID should have been being checked before getting on the lot. Although, in a big like Universal there is always a securtiy breach somewhere along the line. I have worked in Aerospace for 27 years and we were working on High Security Clearance project and in the back building where I my office was. Our front desk security was not checking anyones badge. What you really need is someone checking your security people at all times and testing them ( like a mystery shopper) in order to make sure that it won’t happen again. What a great job that would be. I suggested that at the company I use to work for and I am not sure if that was ever put into place.
I am a friend of B.W.’S for 25 years now and I know that you can find a place for a meeting for people outside of Universal by being anonymous. You actually would have to pay for the space rent of the meeting put it in your name or AA’S name and share with the group that it was a charity donation by someone who wants to keep it anonymous. Then from that point on your collection each meeting would have to pay the rent. Been there done that before. It is not dishonest it”s doing something kind without taking credit. “Pay it forward” as they would say.
The mystery shopper
I’m confident that if the studio bosses didn’t know about this, then the terrorists probably didn’t either.
Yeah…we don’t really have a ton of potential terrorists in our ‘fellowship,’ but we do have frazzled, recently-unemployed ‘newcomers,’ who aren’t always the most stable people. (And, years ago, I was one of them.)
I’ve attended that meeting, and it was a good one. Most of the participants were current or former NBC or Universal employees, and it was a word-of-mouth meeting, much like the “Secret Society” meetings that the really famous folks attend for fear that enterprising paparazzi will sneak into the meeting to ‘get dirt’ (and that’s not a silly fear — it really happens, particularly at the meetings on Sunset Boulevard).
Having said that, it’s hard not to understand Universal’s concerns, or their response (which was communicated to the ‘fellowship’ in a compassionate, sympathetic manner). While, as Nikki noted, we can’t accept Universal’s offer to ‘rent space,’ we do appreciate it.
hah! good one. jeez, and if “security” hasn’t been breached in 27 years its safe to assume no one gives sh*t.
Given the number of terror attacks on the studios, I’m glad they’re staying vigilant. You can’t be to careful when you’re as important as these people are.
Roy “Nexus-6″ Batty,
These people are so important that they should be operating from another city or even deep down a mine shaft.
Well, said.
Another non story by dh trying to drum up some drama. I’ve been working on that lot for 8 years and had no idea the program existed. And I’ve certainly never seen the “friends of bill” gathering at a building “near the front”.
Too bad,that meeting helped alot of people.The terrorists have won again.
Having the statement “Friends of Bill” meaning friends of Bill Clinton as the code to access Universal, I think is very appropriate. Why should Ron be upset about that security breach?
The Clintons have been using it to get onto the lot for years.
Bill and Hillary got into Spielberg’s office using it in the 90′s. Hillary had a free ride until Geffen found out and the code was changed to “Friends of Barack.” But when Bill became popular again “Friends of Bill” was reinstated too. It used to be used by alot of people from Arkansas getting onto the Jurrasic Park ride, but I guess it got out of hand. Ron “No Breach” Meyer and his cohorts were kept in the dark about it. They have no backbone so werent entitled to know either code. I wonder if they know the new code going around? If not they will once the receipts for Battleship and Drew Barrymore’s movies are released-oh well I will tell them now-”Comcast were screwed.”
umm, “friend of bill” is in reference to Bill Wilson the founder of AA. It’s a term that has been around long before the clintons.
I’m no friend of Bill Clinton, but I knew the code. I never even went onto the lot, but a lot of people knew it.
I remember as a young 20something, before I got into the biz, my friends and I would walk onto the Universal lot with no trouble at all. You just needed to look like you belonged there. Granted this was before 9/11. But it was still pretty amazing to be able to just nod and then walk on past the guard.
At least this way they can blame “Land of the Lost” on Bin Laden.
It is ironic because Universal guards have been the most difficult and sullen a group as could be found and now we learn there was an unwritten code to get in. It was at Universal that some crazy shot up the place at the gate way back when and since then the officers could only be described as “unfriendly” not to mention the parking nightmare in the main structure.
Sony’s Guards win the award as the most disgruntled since their union was busted over ten years ago.
W.B.’s security wins the prize for most paranoid as all hand delivered packages have to be driven over to the Forest Lawn gate and sniffed by dogs!
I always appreciated Paramount for their ‘laissez-faire’ approach after 9-11 which was to park a Cop Car (read ‘picture car’) at the front gate just to ward off evil.
Christ, you’d think these people were guarding the crown Jewels! Is some asshole from U.A.E. really gonna score brownie points by blowing up a Hollywood studio. Let’s get real.
Isn’t that the same line Jeff Gannon used to use to get into the Bush White House? Or was it “I’m a friend of Dick”?
You’re just too busy? I didn’t know there was a Jersey Shore marathon on.
Universal was always the easiest lot to breeze onto, going back to the days when Scotty manned the gate. After the young guard was shot, and after the sniper shot at the Black Tower things tightened up.
There’s a certain respect paid among the 12 step groups towards their ‘hosts’. If there wasn’t a problem in the past, there probably wouldn’t be a problem in the future and other measures, besides shutting it down or limiting attendance, might have been found. You don’t find a lot of jihadists in the rooms of AA. But, then again, if certain ‘websites’ refrained from publishing stories like this then, well, a 27 year old meeting that has helped hundreds of folks might have been allowed to continue or another remedy found without drawing notice and the associated hysterics. Hence the term ‘anonymous’. But now that possibility is shot. Just because you know it doesn’t mean you have to write about it.
After 27 years of no incident, they might as well have just kept the practice and not said a word.
The embarassment is worse than the secret.
Who the hell is Bill?
that’s the point.
Bill is Bill W, cofounder of the original AA. “Friend of Bill” is a code used for decades. Kind of the reverse of a speakeasy password “Bill sent me”
Bill W. was a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Just thinking about the commando level of security Universal calls into play for a one-week drive on pass that is a half day out of date. Happened to me. Can’t help but laugh.
Before this news item, I wonder if AA meetings were even on any terrorist;s (or disgruntled wacko’s) radar.
Now some crazy idiot is out there thinking, “Hmmmmm, what a good idea….”
everyone’s a moron but nikki. i learn a lot here.
If Spielberg wasn’t a member of AA when he first sneaked on the lot he sure must be now after the crap he’s made lately…
If AA is supposed to be anonymous how come we know it’s Ringo Starr and Anthony Hopkins sitting opposite us?
If they started Terrorists Anonymous do you think they’d surrender to a higher power?
.. apparently now.. you can get in just as easily by saying ” friend of allah” Go figure
Seriously, dudes. No one cares enough to blow you up. The only people sneaking on to the lot are out of work actors, and they are too worried about pissing you off.
Great concept for another Jennifer Aniston/(insert male actor name here) project. She’s a 12-stepper who hates her barista job and runs into a hotshot director as she’s wandering around the Universal lot after her AA meeting. He likes her vibe, mistakes her for an aspiring actress and hilarity ensues. She’s his “Cinderella,” you see, because she can no longer go onto the lot and now he can’t find her (no glass slipper needed; just a glass). He thinks she’d be perfect for his next picture and almost gives up hope locating her until he inadvertently walks into her coffee shop. She sorta likes him, too, but doesn’t want him to find out she’s a recovering alcoholic.
sold!
RE: Jennifer Anniston project:
Name of new show:
FRIENDS(of bill w)