Don’t you hate when this happens? A DGA member emailed me that last night he went to what was advertised as a “special screening of The Tempest paid for by Touchstone Pictures” at the Writers Guild Theatre featuring a Q&A after the screening with director Julie Taymor and stars Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alan Cumming and Djimon Hounsou. ”Only problem was, when I got to the location, there was a line of cars and a young woman telling anyone who would roll down their window that “there was a mistake — the screening is at 135 S. Doheny”. Except the screening wasn’t there either! It’s a residential address.” Touchstone’s Disney tells me today that “the address for the screening had the address for the WGA office instead of the WGA theatre. Fortunately, most attendees realized this and went to the screening. But we had two security guards and one staff member redirecting people to the correct address. We ended up with a full successful screening.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.


actually the WGA theatre is at 135 S. Doheny in Beverly Hills but welcome to the greater LA area person who doesn’t understand that Doheny and Robertson go through 2 cities. Probably should have done your time in the mailroom.
Wow, elliott. Elitist dick comment of the year?
I’m one of many who went to the WGA first and then on to the WGA theater. Fortunately, it was a rainy Sunday night so there was very little traffic. But the extra effort was worth it. The film is extraordinary. And the Q&A was terrific! Russell Brand was hysterical in the film and the Q&A.
“…and then the Disney rep was fired and threatened with serving hard-time as a parking attendent at the WGA Theatre unless she and other interns wrote into Deadline.com stressing that the screening was a success. She refused to comment.”
They’re lying – it wasn’t full at all – half full. A shame since it’s worth seeing.
Gosh, if Disney would invite WGA members to these screenings, they wouldn’t have these problems. We actually know where our theater is. It’s unsurprising that DGA members don’t. It’s just one more thing about screenwriters they like to ignore, like our contribution to the film and need to negotiate a fair contract without getting undercut.
As a member of both DGA and WGA, I hate going to the WGA theater. It’s the worst guild theater in L.A. The screen (although being too low) and sound are decent, but the seating is a nightmare. If anyone sits in front of you, you struggle to see the screen. Just go there sometime and watch as the audience contorts themselves to see around the person in front of them. It’s so not worth it on most occasions. The DGA has a beautiful theater and every seat has a decent view. Now, of course, the Academy is rockin’…
So, bottom line, if you didn’t see THE TEMPEST there, you didn’t miss anything.
Agreed. The DGA and the Academy theaters are superb, while the WGA theater is pitiful. The WGA really doesn’t take care of its rank and file members and this is just another example.
somewhere, someplace, an assistant is being beaten…
Not really. When a professional relationship is ending, you will often see a lacksadaisical effort on a last project that the higher-ups don’t care about. I wouldn’t expect this Miramax release to be pushed hard. Does anyone really think it will go wide?