Take Pride

In honor of Pride Month, out writers share their thoughts on the state of the industry, the importance of allies, and why the concept of “Pride” is still relevant in 2021.

June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate community, self-affirmation, and the courageous trailblazers who paved the way to achieve—and who continue to seek—LGBTQ+ rights. And while the movement has achieved major victories over the decades, from greater protections against workplace discrimination to marriage equality, the decades-long fight for LGBTQ+ liberation is not yet over. More than 50 years after Stonewall, being visible—and being seen—as an out LGBTQ+ person at work and in daily life remains a powerful personal, even political, act. There is still more work to be done to achieve true parity, across the country and in Hollywood. Read more >>

Today in Guild History: NLRB Okays Screenwriters to Unionize

Decided on June 4, 1938, the case established the right of screenwriters to unionize and created the framework for collective bargaining that exists today.

On June 11, 1937, the Screen Writers’ Guild, one of the predecessors of Writers Guilds West and East, filed 21 separate representation petitions with the National Labor Relations Board, the first step toward unionizing writers at the studios. The decision that issued a year later, MGM v. Motion Picture Producers Assn. et al. (1938), was one of the first big cases before the NLRB. Read more >>

Ask a Mentor: Cultivating Opportunity

Wendy Calhoun describes how to nurture and grow your network so it continues to bear fruit.

Although writers never know where their next gig will come from, it’s no secret that opportunities can come from past working relationships. The question is, after a job ends, how do you nurture those connections so you’ll be remembered when a new job arises? TV writer-producer Wendy Calhoun (Prodigal Son, Empire) answers a writer’s query about keeping in touch with showrunners and other writers and explains why the key to maintaining a fruitful network is to remember the Golden Rule.

Question: “What's the best way to keep in touch with showrunners and upper-level writers you’ve worked with in the past? How often?” Read more >>