Join the original On January 18, 2023, Warren Workman—a member of the Utah Filmmakers™ Facebook group since 2008—was formally dismissed as an Admin/Moderator (after four years) and a UFA™ Community Liaison.
Utah Filmmakers™ did not remove Warren from the group or disassociate him from the organization because we still recognize and appreciate his contributions to the group and the community. In fact, we sincerely invited him to remain in the group.
However, he chose to leave and wrote the following post on his personal Facebook profile that evening:
“Drama” is one of those words that’s often misused for the purpose of invalidating the behavior and choices of others—especially if the person misusing it refuses to take responsibility for their own actions. “Their feelings aren’t hurt; they’re being ‘dramatic.’” “I was disinvited to the party, but I wasn’t going to go anyway, so I wouldn’t have to deal with their ‘drama.’”
Unsurprisingly, Warren says nothing about the fact that his dismissal was prompted by his own unethical behavior and potentially illegal actions taken through his company, Workman Pro, LLC (“Workman Pro”).
Workman Pro’s actions involved infringing on a registered trademark through a project called “Filmmakers Utah,” attempting to recreate what organizations like Utah Filmmakers™, the Utah Film Center, and other non-profits had already been doing for the past 20 years. Had they chosen a name from the beginning that was not so “confusingly similar,” their project would simply be another ill-conceived attempt to reinvent the wheel out of spite.
At the time, UFA™ Leadership was prepared not to pursue the matter further, so long as Workman Pro et. al. maintained their declared purpose of creating a “loving positive environment” that “up lifts” (sic) without “negativity and tearing each other down.”
It was not until they announced plans for a “screenwriting workshop,” for which they would charge $100, that Utah Filmmakers™ had to address trademark infringement concerns formally. The Workmans are still considered UFA™ Members. Warren’s affiliation is especially well-known in the community. His past participation as a Community Liaison has not been scrubbed from the internet, nor have his years of contributions within the Utah Filmmakers™ Facebook group. There was also no formal announcement of his dismissal as a group Admin—out of respect for his privacy. Anyone in the local film community who’s even vaguely aware of that affiliation, who might see an advertisement for a “screenwriting workshop for $100 from Filmmakers Utah,” may not realize that their money would be going into the Workmans’ pockets and not to a non-profit organization… which doesn’t offer screenwriting workshops because the Utah Film Center has already got that and a lot of other training programs covered. Again, why reinvent the wheel?
These points were made in the letter to Cease & Desist (“C&D”) sent to Workman Pro. However, if one’s source of information on the matter is limited to Warren’s Facebook profile, one would have no idea what was really going on.
So much for “leaving the drama for my movies.”
What follows are some notes addressing just some of the inaccuracies, embellishments, lies—and occasional points of actual fact—found in the comments and replies on Warren’s post.
If there were a monopoly on Facebook groups trying to cater to filmmakers in Utah, there would have been no inspiration to compile this list of redundant Facebook groups trying to cater to filmmakers in Utah. (http://redundant.utahfilmmakers.org/)
Warren was given several opportunities to resolve the ethical dilemma he found himself in with the goal of helping him remain a group moderator. Instead, he chose to leave.
From Warren's user profile in the Utah Filmmakers™ group.
One might infer that he left because he was no longer allowed to be an admin. Whatever the reason, no one pushed him out of anything.
“Utah Filmmakers Association” was first registered in Utah in 2002.
The C&D has nothing to do with the Utah Film Festival. Warren knows that. He also knows that the people reading his post and comments DON’T know that. Of course, he does not come right out and say it. Instead, he makes an implication for the sole purpose of looking like a victim and making people angry… One might infer, for the sake of drama!
Most of the remarks that are underlined in red on this web page are just inaccurate—at best. Dora appears to be describing something akin to a hostile takeover—instead of a pretty modest, in-kind sponsorship proposal—with some very dramatic embellishments. I suppose the elevator pitch would be something like…
“It’s ‘Wallstreet’ meets ‘Fatal Attraction’ with elements of ‘Single White Female’ only the antagonist is a middle-aged man that runs a non-profit funded by his disability income!”
What’s especially interesting is that Dora acknowledges that the trademark was, in fact, transferred to Warren, but she leaves out some very important details.
It was transferred over a month before Warren’s post.
It was transferred after Utah Filmmakers™ withdrew its proposal.
The proposal was withdrawn after a single teleconference that included Dora—the only time that she and Joe Puente ever spoke to each other (and Joe wasn’t able to say much in that meeting).
This is also buried in a comment thread that most people aren’t likely to expand and read in its entirety.
“Just to be clear.” Warren offered no explanation for why he was “removed as an admin.” Nor does anyone bother to ask.
How exactly does someone get fired from a volunteer position? In short, he was fired for Ethics Code violations. I suppose that is a detail that one would prefer not to discuss publicly.
The average American probably wasn’t familiar with the word “kleptocracy” until the Trump Administration. Whoever wrote this comment may not have bothered to look up the definition before writing it.
By misrepresenting what the C&D was about and suggesting that “it may be the end of the line for the Utah Film Festival…” in an earlier comment, someone was bound to connect the two. Again, Warren knows that the C&D has nothing to do with the Festival, but pointing that out would ruin the narrative. So he doubles down on playing the victim.
This would be called “FUD” (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) in the Information Technology industry. I think the person who said “yes,” actually believes it.
It kinda blows my mind that some people still don’t know the difference between a Facebook page and a Facebook group.
“Nazis”? That’s harsh… I’m a descendant of Spaniards, so a more fitting stereotype would be “Fascists.”
It’s nice to see that Warren still recognizes the value that the Utah Filmmakers™ group represents for the community.
A) Actual press coverage of one person’s online hissy-fit is not newsworthy.
B) Journalists would immediately spot all the holes in Warren’s story, so the last thing that he would want is full disclosure.
Some of those other groups are actually official Utah Filmmakers™ Associate Forums. We had plans to invite the Utah Film Festival to be part of the Associate Program, but things just didn’t work out.
”Actually…I heard…” from the voices in his head? This is news to me. Probably news to the Utah Film Commission as well. Of course, framing it as a rumor, he claims to have “heard” instead of the blatant lie that it is just adds more fuel to the dramatic fire. Especially “if the information is true…”
This is the only time that Warren actually acknowledges the main point of the C&D, and the person responding to him points out the exact problem the Workmans faced. This is probably the only piece of informed, usable advice they got in a flood of angry, misinformed opinions about what they should do.
Dora points out the state’s business name guidelines, hoping to justify that “Filmmakers Utah” is distinguishable enough from “Utah Filmmakers” so that they can use it. The fact that she did everything she could to hide what she was doing when she first set up domain names and social media profiles suggests that she probably knew from the beginning that she was taking a risk—at least ethically, if not legally.
Again, this is buried in a comment thread that most people won’t see.
Warren was becoming the face of the group, and UFA™ Leadership recognized and appreciated it—not everybody agreed with that assessment, but that was okay. He wasn’t just good at the mundane administrative stuff but engaging with group members and helping to make the forum a welcoming environment. However, it also made it extremely difficult to reconcile the value that he brought to the group—and by extension, the organization—with the actions that led to his dismissal.
More FUD to fuel the fire.
Only hobbyists refer to filmmaking as a “hobby.”
I’m only commenting on this because it isn’t as funny as they think it is. It's actually pretty lazy writing. In all fairness, comedy is hard to write.
This person has obviously never read our very broad and inclusive definition of Utah Filmmaker™.
Again, a commenter is harping on a non-issue. Only at this point does Warren start to think about how he phrases things.
Of course, a lie is still a lie, no matter how carefully the words of the lie are chosen.
Again, over a month prior to Warren’s post, several Utah Film Festival assets were donated to Warren with a very warmly worded cover letter. Warren was directly tagged in this comment, so he most likely saw it, recognized how inaccurate it was, and obviously said nothing to correct it.
I’m a big fan of irony!
“...a self-important douche canoe.”
That is one of the most impressive insults for which I’ve ever had the privilege of being the subject.
This commenter accurately summarized the position Utah Filmmakers™ has taken according to the C&D.
”...planning extortion” is only a reasonable conclusion if all you have to go on is what Warren has been saying. Warren is also confusing trademarks and copyrights, and when he says, “according to the state of Utah,” he’s referring to an automated system that requires trademark applicants to affirm that, to their knowledge, “…no other person has registered, either federally or in this state, or has the right to use that mark:..in such near resemblance to the mark as to be likely, when applied to the goods or services of the other person, to cause confusion, mistake, or to deceive.”
In other words, Warren lied on his trademark application because he was most certainly aware of an existing trademark with which his mark could be confused.
I don’t think he really wants to share the email he was sent because then everyone would know he’s been misrepresenting what it said this whole time.
This one comment speaks volumes about Warren’s actual feelings about online “drama.”
Signing a copy of the UFA™ Ethics Code would be a formality since they’ve already demonstrated that they don’t take ethics seriously, to begin with. As for signing an NDA, that was more for their benefit.
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”—Joseph Goebbels.
This strikes me as ironic because I got the impression that every action taken and dollar spent related to “Filmmakers Utah” was principally motivated by spite.
”We’re not gonna make any money…” is not exactly a ringing endorsement of one’s business endeavors. I hope that isn't how he pitches films to investors.
This really kinda blew my mind when I first saw it.
First of all, I personally donate $100/month to Utah Filmmakers to cover basic expenses. Most of the time, any revenue beyond that is often “in-kind” and comes out of my own pocket. Also…
In what universe is revenue associated with filmmaking and/or the non-profit sector, when measured in thousands of dollars, seriously referred to as “that kind of money”? This makes me seriously question their understanding of the value of the work that goes into film production.
If we could “be doing so much more to help the filmmaking community” I’m totally open to hearing some new ideas.
Warren’s assertion that we “want $100k for” anything really tells me that he did not actually read the C&D.
I am very proud of the growth in the group’s membership over the years. I do refer to it often but rarely—if ever—”when asking for donations.” This is because I just don’t do a lot of fundraising. I’m also more likely to discuss the 9-10k active users than the total number of members.
Warren’s speculation “that the 17k members in the FB group fund the non-profit” is laughable and just another bit of rhetorical tripe for commenters to chew on, and he got a bite right away.
I’m pretty sure that most of the direct references to my “nature,” or personality, have been made by people who A) have probably never met me in person and/or B) broke a group rule once and had it brought to their attention YEARS ago, they still feel embarrassed by it, and they’ve allowed it to fester into personal resentment toward me because they all forgot the first rule of the group:
“Professionalism is expected in all interactions.”
If this is what counts as taking “the high road,” I’d hate to see what he would do if he was out to play dirty.
On February 23, I sent the following message to several friends that I had in common with Warren:
Warren knows that we have several friends in common, but when he became aware of my efforts to set the record straight, he deleted his previous posts and, once again, reframed the narrative. An unfortunately effective manipulation technique known as "Gaslighting":
