.jpg)
TheWriters Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two Americanlabor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media:
Although both organizations operate independently, they perform some common activities, including negotiating contracts and launchingstrike actions, as well as maintaining the American database of writing credits, and arbitrating between writers when conflicts arise.
Both organizations of the Writers Guild of America were established by 1954 after the merging of groups from other writers labor unions. TheAuthors Guild (AG) was originally founded in 1912 as the Authors' League of America (ALA) to represent book and magazine authors, as well as dramatists. In 1921, theDramatists Guild of America split off as a separate group to represent writers of stage and, later, radio drama. That same year, theScreen Writers Guild (SWG) was formed to represent film screenwriters, but operated primarily more as a social organization until 1933 when the group affiliated with the AG and took on a more active role in labor negotiations. With the emergence of the television industry by 1948, the SWG and a Television Writers Group within the AG began to represent TV writers. In recognition of the growing complexity of representing members in many different fields of entertainment writing, the unions reorganized in 1954. Both the Authors Guild and the Dramatists Guild would continue to represent writers in print media, the SWG would fold, and those working in motion pictures, TV, and radio would be represented by two new guilds, headquartered on both coasts: the WGAE and the WGAW.[1][2][3]
Membership in either WGAE or WGAW is generally contingent on geography. If a writer is eligible for union membership, and the job that grants them eligibility has them work on the western side of theMississippi River, they are represented by the Writers Guild of America West. If the job is on the east side of the river, similarly, they are represented by the Writers Guild of America, East.[4] If a writer joins one union at the start of their career, and they move across the Mississippi River, they are not forced to transfer from one guild to the other. Instead, the writer must ensure they are in Good Standing with their original Guild (pay all outstanding dues, pay off any loans taken out) and then voluntarily initiate a transfer to the new Guild. This decision is left to the individual writer's discretion.[5]
WGAW is the larger of the two unions, both in membership and support staff, and this is due to the history of film and television in the United States. At the time of the dissolution of the Screen Writers Guild in 1954, most television and film writing was done in Los Angeles. While this is still largely true, the Californian film industry has begun to shrink in recent years due to the collapse of thestreaming business model, and the risingcost-of-living in California. Writers have been forced to either leave the industry or move to areas outside of Los Angeles they can afford. Some of these new production hubs, likeAlbuquerque,New Mexico, are still within the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild of America West, but the growing production hubs likeChicago,Atlanta, andNew Orleans are all under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild of America, East.[6]
Although the WGAE and the WGAW run independently of each other, they jointly perform some regular activities, including the following:
The WGAE and WGAW negotiate contracts in unison as well as launchstrike actions simultaneously.[13]
| Strikes and impact | |
|---|---|
| Parties and lead figures | |
| Related | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
