Screenwriting : What? Someone actually stood up to a writer being abused in Hollywood???? by Jeff Lyons

The reason why you shouldn't piss off a TV show writer... that writer may be assigned to the episode where your character is written out of the show! (Less bizzaro when you factor in that Gibson has had problems like these many times before and was once forced to take an anger management course.)

Hollywood tolerates bad behavior on set that would get any other worker in any other industry fired on the spot. It's one of the worst aspects of working in the "industry." Toleration of entitled prima donnas. But, money talks. So... pamper pamper pamper. In this case the writer was also an assoc. EP, so he kicked a big dog... not the pond scum. Stupid move.

Jeff - no disrespect intended, but I've seen fights every year since 1989 - sometimes two or three times a year - in the legal field; the mortgage industry; the real estate industry; the Internet industry; the insurance industry; the venture capital industry; and in politics. CEO's have been involved; a sitting Congressman was once involved; and a sitting governor was once involved. Sometimes arguments and disagreements escalate, and steam has to be dissipated. It's not machismo nor stupidity - sometimes it just needs to be done. Nobody ever got fired on the spot. Nobody ever snitched. And nobody ever went crying to a lawyer or anyone else. I personally think the writer was a wienie. Big deal - he got kicked in the shin over an argument about the show's direction. Big deal - shin happens. Deal with it. If it would make a writer feel better....train in boxing and in Aikido. That way, if you're attacked, you can either make an attacker hurt themselves very quickly through the discipline of Aikido, or you can unleash an eight-punch boxing flurry in three seconds that the other writers will be talking about forever. And whichever way you choose to go, your heart rate will not elevate, because you're so skilled in those two very different disciplines; the others will never mess with you again; and the women will love you forever.

Bill--HA.. yeah... there are prima donnas in every industry... but you have to admit people get away with crap in the movie business -- on a regular basis -- that transcends the "normal" craziness of normal work life. "Shin" happens for sure, but it's the rule in entertainment... not the exception :) Just sayin... (oh, and Aikido won't help :) I've trained for 30 years in Aikido, and jerks are still jerks)

Jeff -I don't really know about what people get away with in the film biz, but two actors in my defunct comedy group went at it pretty good one night. They weren't exactly fighter types, and it was more funny to watch than their acting. Heh-heh. 30 years of Aikido training. Crikey, Jeff...you're almost a Sensei. NOTE TO EVERYONE: Do not ever ever ever attack Jeff. He will definitely make you hurt yourself.

Criminal Minds is still on TV? Now that's what I call abuse.

Jeremy Clarkson was fired from TOP GEAR for hitting/yelling at a Producer.

Should have had him arrested.

Criminal minds was one of the few shows that I watched regularly up until a few years ago.

It's important to differentiate between features and television when saying "Hollywood writer." In television? Writers are the showrunners and producers on TV shows. Unless writers were assembled specifically to write for one star who is the star of the show, it's usually a writer who created and runs the show, not the other way around, in television. This is very different from most features. Also, "abusing writers" has many connotations in Hollywood terms, but doesn't usually include physically assaulting writers.