Writers Guild of America, west

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Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, west
Founded 1921
Members 7,641
Country United States
Affiliation IAWG
Key people Patric Verrone, President
David Young, Executive Director
Tony Segall, General Counsel
Office location Los Angeles, California
Website www.wga.org

Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) is a labor union representing writers of television and film and employees of television and radio news. The 2006 membership of the guild was 7,627.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Writers Guild of America, west building at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax
Writers Guild of America, west building at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax

The WGAw began as a revival of the old Screen Writers Guild in 1921 by a group of ten screenwriters in Hollywood, angered over wage reductions announced by the major film studios. It became affiliated with the Authors Guild in 1933, and began representing TV writers in 1948. Finally, the new SWG was included in a merger of five groups representing professional writers on both coasts, becoming the Writers Guild of America east and west, in 1954. Howard J. Green and John Howard Lawson were its first two presidents during the SWG era.[2] Daniel Taradash was president of WGAw from 1977 to 1979. Naomi Gurian has been executive director of WGAw since 1982.

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 industry's "blacklisting" of writers with alleged Communist or leftist leanings or affiliations.[3]

From March to August of 1988, WGAw ordered its members out 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 US broadcast TV by sending 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.[4]

[edit] Reality United

In June of 2005, WGAw started a "reality rights" campaign to allow writers of reality television shows to qualify for guild rights and benefits.[5] The union maintains that the storytellers who conceive the tests and confrontations on such shows are really writers. [6] The Guild also expressed concern that the 1988 strike showed that lack of representation in the genre would weaken their future bargaining position. [7] Studio executives maintain that these employees are more editors than writers and that the shows need to appear to be unscripted in order for viewers to feel that they are real. [8]

As part of this campaign September 20, 2006, WGAw held a Los Angeles, California unity rally in support of the America's 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."[9]

On November 6, 2006, WGAw filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board after Top Model producers said the next season of the show will be produced using a new system that would not require writers. President Patric Verrone said: "...as they demanded union representation, the company decided they were expendable. This is illegal strikebreaking...."[10]

[edit] 2007-08 Strike

Main article: 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike

On November 2, 2007, both branches of the guild, east and west, called the second writers strike in as many decades, this time over writers' share of revenues from DVD releases and from Internet, 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. [11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ U. S. Department of Labor
  2. ^ WGAw website historical timeline
  3. ^ Wikipedia: The blacklist at its height
  4. ^ Spitzer, Gabriel. "Ouch! Remembering the 1988 writers' strike", Media Life Magazine, 2001-01-15. Retrieved on 2007-11-02. 
  5. ^ Holland, Lila. "The writers of reality TV sue for rights", TV.com, 2005-07-08. Retrieved on 2006-10-12. 
  6. ^ T (pseudoanonymous), N. "A "Reality Slap" in the Face", WGAw, 2005-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. 
  7. ^ Lowry, Bryan. "WGA Baits but Switches on Reality", Variety, 2007-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. 
  8. ^ Booth, William. "Reality is Only an Illusion, Writers Say", Washington Post, 2004-08-10. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. 
  9. ^ Grossman, Ben. "WGA's Verrone: "Every Writer Must Have a WGA Contract"", Broadcasting & Cable, 2006-09-20. Retrieved on 2006-09-24. 
  10. ^ Benson, Jim. "Top Model Takes Strikers Off Payroll", Broadcasting & Cable, 2006-11-07. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
  11. ^ Britt, Russ. "Writers Guild calls strike; walkout may start Monday", CBS MarketWatch.com, 2007-11-02. Retrieved on 2007-11-02. 

[edit] See also

Organized Labour Portal

[edit] External links