Vin Diesel Battling for Fast Franchise Producer Credit

Vin Diesel’s battle with the Producers Guild of America for a Fast and Furious franchise producer’s credit heated up Sunday when Diesel shared an Instagram post — that has since been edited — about “mitigating a war” with the PGA (via Variety), ramping up a years-long struggle for Diesel who has sought a producer’s credit from the trade association representing film and TV producers for nearly every film of The Fast Saga.

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Happy creative Sunday everyone… do your best to stay positive during these times.

A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Apr 26, 2020 at 9:11pm PDT

The outlet reports that Diesel has consistently been denied the mark and has sought appeals, with the Fast star calling the PGA group “the prejudice guild of America.” Diesel clarified that the battle is between the studio home of The Fast Saga, Universal Pictures, and the PGA. The trade notes that those familiar with Universal disputed the claim, saying it was “entirely Diesel’s beef.”

“It is the policy of the Producers Guild not to comment on individual arbitrations. The purpose of the Producers Mark is to protect the integrity of the ‘Produced By’ credit. A panel of experienced producers reviews anonymous firsthand accounts from filmmakers and key crew in order to determine who performed a major portion of the producing functions on a single film,” said a PGA spokesperson.

Diesel has apparently had many powerful friends appeal to the PGA as well as their executive director Vance Van Petten, including NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer, who is one of the honorary creators of the mark, though his requests have not altered the PGA’s rigorous determination process (which prohibits oral testimony from the producer seeking the producer’s credit).

Sources told the outlet that Diesel’s contributions to the films “are questionable,” including comments that his behavior on set, such as “arriving hours late on pricey stunt days” costs time and increases budgets, which are “two of any producer’s biggest obstacles.” A source also commented, “It’s clear that Vin wants this, and is willing to get dirty.”

According to the PGA’s rules, the guild “may [anonymously] contact key creative participants and department heads (e.g., writer, director, casting director, unit production manager, production designer, cinematographer, post-production supervisor)” to obtain confidential information” regarding the level of work contributed by a producer.

The “capital P” producers for the Fast franchise currently include former Universal executive Jeff Kirschenbaum, Samantha Vincent of Diesel’s One Race Films, and producer/director Justin Lin.

The next installment in the series, F9, will release in April 2021.