Writers Guild of America (WGA)
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| In one sentence | The labor union that represents film and television writers in the United States, negotiating their minimum pay and working conditions. |
|---|---|
| Category | Film and Television |
| Related | Directors Guild of America (DGA), SAG-AFTRA, Above the Line |
Just like directors have the Directors Guild of America and actors have SAG-AFTRA, the writers who create a movie's story and dialogue have their own labor union too: the Writers Guild of America, usually shortened to the WGA.
The WGA negotiates minimum pay, credit rules, and working conditions for film and television writers, the Above the Line talent responsible for a movie's script. Studios that hire WGA writers have to follow the guild's rules, which protect writers no matter how small or large a project's budget is.
Fun facts
- The WGA is actually split into two separate but closely allied guilds, the WGA West and the WGA East, each covering writers in a different part of the United States.
- The WGA has gone on strike more than once in its history, each time shutting down a huge amount of film and television writing until a new agreement was reached.
- The WGA also sets the official rules for who gets writing credit on a finished movie, which can matter enormously to a writer's career even beyond the paycheck.