Writers Guild of America Fast Facts

1921 – The Writers, precursor of the Screen Writers Guild and operating as a social club, develops as a branch of the Authors League of America.

1933 – The Screen Writers Guild forms as a union, opening its first headquarters in Hollywood. John Howard Lawson serves as its first president.

1937 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), also known as the Wagner Act, which was passed by Congress in 1935 to recognize employees’ rights to form and join unions and engage in collective bargaining. The NLRA also establishes the National Labor Relations Board to oversee and enforce the NLRA.

October 10, 1940 – The guild is identified as the “exclusive collective bargaining agent for all screen writer employees” on the first producer-screen writer agreement.

1948 – The first annual awards are presented at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, California.

January 11, 2008 – The WGA announces an independent agreement with The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films.

January 14, 2008 – The Writers Guild announces that another interim agreement has been reached. Media Rights Capital (MRC), an independent film, television and digital studio and the WGA have worked out a deal similar to the agreements with Worldwide Pants and United Artists.

February 9, 2008 – Union representatives from the WGA, East, and WGA, West, announce a tentative agreement with studios.

February 12, 2008 – During a news conference, WGAW President Patric Verrone announces that 92.5 percent of the membership voted to end the strike, after 100 days. According to Verrone, the writers achieved two out of three of their goals in the new agreement which include:
– Any content written by guild members specifically for new media, such as the Internet or cell phones, will be covered by their contract.
– The second goal relates to reuse of content in new media. The agreement bases payment for reuses on a distributor’s gross formula for residuals.

February 26, 2008 – The Writers Guild of America approves a new contract with film and television producers, formally ending the strike.

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