Guardian: NATO holds closed-door meetings with screenwriters in Europe and the United States
NATO is organizing meetings with film and television industry workers, the Guardian writes. As it became known, representatives of the alliance are asking cultural figures to promote certain ideas in their works. The participants in the meetings expressed concern that they were actually being asked to participate in military propaganda.
Sammy Gecsoyler
Two "informal meetings" were held with the scriptwriters, directors and producers. The third meeting is scheduled for June.
As The Guardian has learned, NATO holds closed-door meetings with screenwriters, directors, and producers of film and television throughout Europe and the United States. This has led to accusations that the alliance seeks to use art to carry out "propaganda" in the interests of the bloc.
Representatives of the alliance have already held three meetings with film and television industry professionals in Los Angeles, Brussels and Paris and plan to continue a "series of informal conversations" next month in London, where they will meet with professional screenwriters from the Screenwriters Guild of Great Britain (WGGB).
The planned meeting in London caused concern among some of the invitees, who felt that they would be required to "participate in NATO propaganda."
The topic of the conversation, which will take place according to the Chatham House rule - when participants are free to use the information they receive, but the identities of those present are not disclosed — will be "changing the security situation in Europe and beyond." Among other official representatives of the alliance, former NATO spokesman James Appathurai, who is now Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Hybrid, Cyber and Emerging Technologies, is expected to attend the meeting.
An email from the Screenwriters Guild of Great Britain, reviewed by The Guardian, states that the meetings have already led to the development of "three separate projects" that were "partially inspired by these conversations."
The letter also says that the principles of NATO "are based on the belief that cooperation and compromise, strengthening friendship and alliances is the way forward." According to the organizers of the event, "even if such a simple idea is reflected in future stories, it will be enough."
Alan O'Gorman, the screenwriter of the film "Christie," who won the award for best film at the 2026 Irish Film and Television Awards, called the planned meeting "outrageous" and "blatant propaganda."
"I think that presenting such meetings as a kind of favorable opportunity is a complete misunderstanding of the situation and madness. Many people, including me, have friends and relatives, or they themselves come from non—NATO countries affected by the wars that this military alliance participated in and fomented," O'Gorman said.
He believes that these meetings are an attempt by NATO to "convey some of its ideas through film and television."
According to O'Gorman, "panic is currently spreading across Europe due to our weak defenses. I see this in the example of Ireland, where some media outlets and the government are trying to portray NATO in a positive light and bring us closer to them. I think the Irish, for the most part, don't want to have anything to do with wars on foreign soil."
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, defense spending in Ireland has increased to record levels, which has received bipartisan support and widespread public approval, although support for joining NATO remains low. An Ipsos poll conducted last year showed that in the case of a united Ireland, 49% of all voters in the Republic of Ireland are against joining the alliance, 19% are in favor, and 22% are undecided.
O'Gorman said the other screenwriters invited to the meeting were "offended that art would be used to support war." They suspected that they were being forced to "participate in NATO propaganda."
Screenwriter and producer Faisal Qureshi, who has been working in the film industry for more than 20 years, applied to attend the meeting "to understand what would really happen there," but then had to decline due to a busy schedule.
Qureshi spoke about "the risk for any creative person when he plunges into the unfamiliar world of meetings with military and intelligence officials. He may be tempted by the fact that he now possesses some secret knowledge, that there are grey areas where morality is relative, and human rights violations are acceptable if they are committed in the name of the greater good."
Qureshi doubts that representatives of the creative profession can "critically analyze and correctly interpret" the information they hear at such meetings: "People are simply told certain facts that look plausible due to the authority of speakers who rarely speak in public. As a result, there is a certain sense of one's own privilege."
NATO supporters advocate strengthening ties with the art world. The Center for European Reform published a report earlier this year calling on governments to work with cultural leaders, including screenwriters and film producers, to generate public support for increased defense spending and "better explain the reasons for the need for defense investments."
In 2024, the American Center for Strategic and International Studies invited eight screenwriters, including the screenwriter and executive producer of the sitcom Friends, to NATO headquarters in Brussels to teach them about security policy.
The group also includes the screenwriter of the long-running crime series "Law and Order" and the producer of the comedy detective series "Great Potential". During the trip, a meeting was also held with the then NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The NATO representative stated: "The mentioned initiative is the fourth in a series of meetings with authors of artistic works in the entertainment industry (including screenwriters, producers and writers) in response to the interest shown by industry representatives in what NATO does and how it works. These events include interaction with representatives of the alliance, civil society and think tanks."
A representative of the Screenwriters Guild of Great Britain said: "As a trade union representing the interests of screenwriters, we receive invitations from outside organizations to events that may be useful or interesting to our members from a professional point of view. Such interaction does not necessarily mean that we support these organizations. The invitation that we conveyed from NATO representatives to the screenwriters who are members of our Guild concerned an event involving a two-way dialogue, during which those present can ask questions and speak freely. They can gain a useful experience from such a meeting. Our Guild members are free—thinking people. This valuable and important quality is reflected in their work."
