Screen Writers Guild
Writers Guild of America West was officially named what from Apr 1933 to 1954?
Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West ( WGAW ) is a labor union representing film , television , radio , and new media writers . It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers , including the Screen Writers Guild . It has around 20,000 members . History . The Screen Writers Guild ( SWG ) was formed in 1921 by a group of ten screenwriters in Hollywood angered over wage reductions announced by the major film studios . The group affiliated with the Authors Guild in 1933 and began representing TV writers in 1948 . In 1954 , the SWG was one of five groups who merged to represent professional writers on both coasts and became the Writers Guild of America , East ( WGAe ) and West ( WGAw ) . Howard J . Green and John Howard Lawson were the first two presidents during the SWG era . Daniel Taradash was president of the WGAw from 1977 to 1979 . In 1952 , the Guild authorized movie studios to delete onscreen credits for any writers who had not been cleared by Congress , as part of the industrys blacklisting of writers with alleged Communist or leftist leanings or affiliations . From March to August 1988 , WGAw members were on strike against the major American television networks in a dispute over residuals from repeat airings and foreign/home video use of scripted shows and made-for-TV movies . The 22-week strike crippled American broadcast television and drove millions of viewers , disgusted with the lack of new scripted programming , to cable channels and home video , a blow to ratings and revenues from which , some industry watchers argue , the networks have never fully recovered . In 2004 , Victoria Riskin resigned as WGAw President after being accused by her opponent Eric Hughes during the 2003 election of using a sham writing contract to maintain her membership status . She was replaced by vice-president Charles Holland , who resigned a few weeks later when questions arose about statements he had made about his college football career and his claim of having secretly served in combat as a Green Beret , a claim his army records did not support . After Riskins resignation , the U.S . Department of Labor investigated the sham contract and concluded that Riskin was indeed ineligible to run . The WGAw entered into a settlement by offering to re-run the election under DOL supervision . A new election was held in September 2004 between Eric Hughes and Daniel Petrie , Jr . which Petrie won . On April 17 , 2019 , WGA West and WGA East filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the four dominant Hollywood talent agencies , William Morris Agency , Creative Artists Agency , United Talent Agency and ICM Partners , citing movie packaging fee practices , which the WGA asserts are a violation of state and federal laws . Approximately 95 percent of Guild members voted in favor of a code of conduct that would cease packaging fees . During the week following its lawsuit filing ; en masse , over 7,000 Guild members fired their talent agents , as not just drastically out-earning them , but preventing them from receiving better pay . WGA president David A . Goodman was then quoted as stating to NPR that in a period of unprecedented profits and growth of our business .. . writers themselves are actually earning less . Reality united . In June 2005 , WGAw started a reality rights campaign to allow writers of reality television shows to qualify for guild rights and benefits . The union maintained that the storytellers who conceive the tests and confrontations on such shows were bona fide writers . The Guild also expressed concern the 1988 strike showed that lack of representation in the genre would weaken their future bargaining position . Studio executives maintained that these employees were primarily editors , not writers , and that the shows needed to appear to be unscripted in order for viewers to feel they were real . As part of this campaign , on September 20 , 2006 the WGAw held a Los Angeles unity rally in support of the Americas Next Top Model writers strike . President Patric Verrone said , Every piece of media with a moving image on a screen or a recorded voice must have a writer , and every writer must have a WGA contract . On November 6 , 2006 , the WGAw filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after Top Model producers said the shows next season would be produced using a new system that would not require writers . In response , Verrone said , as they demanded union representation , the company decided they were expendable . This is illegal strikebreaking . 2007–08 strike . On November 2 , 2007 , the Guild again went on strike , this time over writers share of revenues from DVD releases and from Internet , cellphone shows , and other new media uses of programs and films written by members . The strike vote followed the expiration of the guilds contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers . Governance . The WGAw is governed by its membership . Elections for a board of directors are held annually by secret mail-in ballot . Half of the board is elected each year to a two-year term of office , and a board member may not serve more than four consecutive terms . In 2017 the officers are : - President : David A . Goodman - Vice President : Marjorie David - Secretary-Treasurer : Aaron Mendelsohn - Board of Directors : John August , Andrea Berloff , Angelina Burnett , Patti Carr , Zoanne Clack , Courtney Ellinger , Jonathan Fernandez , Chip Johannessen , Glen Mazzara , Michele Mulroney , Zak Penn , Luvh Rakhe , Meredith Stiehm , Patric M . Verrone , Matthew Weiner , and Nicole Yorkin David Young is employed as the Guilds executive director and Tony Segall is general counsel . Young served as the Guilds chief negotiator during the 2007 contract negotiations and subsequent 100-day strike . According to WGAws Department of Labor records since 2006 , over half of the guilds total membership is ineligible to vote , comprising the guilds post current , emeritus , and associate members . Magazine . The WGAw has published its official publication , the journal Written By , which it describes as the magazine of Americas Storytellers , six times a year since 1997 .