The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is a
labor union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
representing writers in film, television, radio, news, and online media.
The WGAE and the
Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), though independent entities, jointly brand themselves together as the
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...
(WGA), and cooperate on activities such as launching coordinated
strike action
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...
s and administering the
Writers Guild of America Awards
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
The ...
. The WGAE is an affiliate of the
AFL–CIO and the
International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds is an international trade union federation representing guilds of professional screenwriters and playwrights. Some affiliates also belong to national trade union federations.
Activities
The IAWG str ...
.
History
WGAE had its beginnings in 1912, when the Authors' League of America (ALA) was formed by some 350 book and magazine authors, as well as dramatists. In 1921, this group split into two branches of the League: the
Dramatists Guild of America for writers of stage and, later, radio drama and the
Authors Guild (AG) for novelists and nonfiction book and magazine authors.
That same year, the Screen Writers Guild came into existence in
Hollywood,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, but was "little more than a social organization", according to the WGAE's website, until the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
of the 1930s and the growth of the organized labor movement impelled it to take a more active role in negotiating and guaranteeing writers' contractual rights and protections.
In 1933, the AG and SWG joined forces, and two years later, with passage of the
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, an ...
of 1935, called for an election to represent writers of films in collective bargaining agreements; the first such agreement was signed in 1942. Meanwhile, the Radio Writers Guild was formed in New York and became part of the ALA.
A Television Writers Group within the AG and a separate group, the Television Writers of America, each began representing writers for the nascent television industry beginning in the late 1940s. In 1951, the AG reorganized into the Writers Guild of America East and West, in recognition of the growing complexity of representing members in many different fields of entertainment writing. Writers working in motion pictures, TV and radio would be represented by these two new guilds, while the Authors Guild and the Dramatists Guild continued to represent print-media writers. The WGAW and WGAE have bargained for writers in movies, TV and radio since 1954.
The conservative anti-communist faction of WGAW and WGAE, initially collaborated with the Hollywood movie studio/network heads and the U.S. government when they drove most writers (who originally formed the Screen Writers Guild and the Writers Guild East unions) out of the domestic entertainment industry during the
McCarthy Era.
The WGAE became affiliated with the
AFL-CIO in 1989, although its sister group WGAW did not join and has not since.
2007–2008 strike
On November 5, 2007, both branches of the guild, East and West, called a
strike against all television networks and cable channels over writers' share of revenues from
DVD releases,
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
, cell-phone network, and other new-media uses of programs and films written by members. The strike vote followed the expiration of the guild's then-current contract with the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The strike ceased on February 12, 2008.
Packaging deal ban
In early-2019, ahead of the expiration of its franchise agreements with the
Association of Talent Agents (ATA) on April 6, the WGA announced an intent to enforce a new Code of Conduct prohibiting
talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...
s from holding any financial stake in the producer of a work written by its members or deriving "any revenue or other benefit from a Writer's involvement in or employment" in a covered work, besides a percentage commission. The latter clause was intended primarily to prohibit the practice of
movie packaging deals.
On April 12, 2019, the WGA failed to renew its franchise agreement with the ATA (which attempted to compromise by proposing that writers receive 0.8% of
gross profits from packaging deals);
its executive director Karen Stuart stated that "despite our best efforts, today's outcome was driven by the Guild's predetermined course for chaos", and that the Code of Conduct "will hurt all artists, delivering an especially painful blow to mid-level and emerging writers, while dictating how agencies of all sizes should function." Many major talent agencies, including the four dominant
Hollywood agencies (
William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best-known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ...
,
Creative Artists Agency,
United Talent Agency and
ICM Partners) refused to sign the Code of Conduct. Nevertheless, the WGA stated that effective April 13, WGA members would be prohibited from working with agents that have not signed the Code of Conduct, and would be obligated to fire them.
On April 17, 2019, WGA East and
WGA West filed a lawsuit in
Los Angeles Superior Court against WMA, CAA, UTA, and ICM, citing that the practice of movie packaging represented
kickbacks that were illegal under the
Taft-Hartley Act. 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 ordered by the Guild), as "not just drastically out-earning them, but preventing them from receiving better pay."
WGA West president
David Goodman stated that "in a period of unprecedented profits and growth of our business ... writers themselves are actually earning less".
In June 2019, the WGA and ATA resumed talks.
The WGA rejected its offers (which once again included a revenue sharing proposal), with Goodman stating that "we will not counter on revenue sharing because it suggests the answer is somewhere in the middle. It is not". He stated that the WGA planned to bypass the ATA and negotiate individually with nine individual agencies that represented a "significant" number of WGA members, and that "this fight has shown the Guild's strength and sense of purpose."
After Endeavor and the UTA filed lawsuits against the WGA accusing it of engaging in an "illegal group boycott", the WGA sent a cease and desist notice to the ATA stating that "the ATA and its members have continued to
collusively impose packaging fees on programs written by WGA-represented writers", and that "following news that Verve had negotiated a Code of Conduct and Franchise Agreement with the WGA, the ATA, and its leading members closed ranks and threatened to retaliate against Verve and, implicitly, against any agency that subsequently reached an agreement with the guild."
All four major agencies later signed franchise agreements with the WGA, which include mandating compliance with the Code of Conduct by prohibiting them from holding more than a 20% interest in an affiliated production company.
See also
*
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
Th ...
*
1960 Writers Guild of America strike
*
1981 Writers Guild of America strike
*
1988 Writers Guild of America strike
*
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike
**
Effect of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike on television
*
2023 Writers Guild of America strike
From May 2 to September 27, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on Strike action, strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Lasting 148 days, ...
*
WGA screenwriting credit system
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) credit system for motion pictures and television programs covers all works under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). The WGA, original ...
*
WGA script registration service
References
External links
*
WGAE RegistryWriter Action– a BBS for guild members
{{Authority control
1951 establishments in New York City
Trade unions established in 1951
American writers' organizations
Scriptwriters' trade unions
Trade unions in the United States
International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
Organizations based in New York City
AFL-CIO
East
East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
Hudson Square