Writers Guild of America, West (WGA West)
The primary US labor union representing screenwriters working in film, television, and new media on the West Coast, negotiating minimum compensation, credits, and creative rights.
Overview
The Writers Guild of America, West (WGA West) is the labor union representing screenwriters working primarily in film, television, streaming, and new media in the western United States. Founded in 1933 as the Screen Writers Guild, the WGA West operates alongside the Writers Guild of America, East (WGA East) as one of two independent but affiliated organizations that together cover professional screenwriters across the country. The WGA West is the larger of the two, representing the majority of Hollywood-based writers given the concentration of film and television production in Los Angeles.
The WGA West negotiates the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which establishes minimum compensation rates, residual structures, credit determination procedures, and creative rights for covered writers. In 2023, the WGA conducted its longest strike in history -- 148 days -- which resulted in significant improvements to streaming residuals, minimum staffing requirements for TV writers rooms, and protections regarding the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting.
Membership and Coverage
WGA West membership is open to writers who have sold or optioned qualifying material to a WGA signatory company, or who have been employed as a writer under a WGA contract. Once a writer earns WGA credits on a signatory production, they become eligible to join. The Guild covers feature film scripts, television episodic writing, long-form television, new media content, and interactive projects.
The WGA's jurisdiction extends beyond writing itself to any work that involves the creation of literary material used in motion pictures or television. This includes original screenplays, adaptations, treatments, story outlines, and rewrites -- as well as work on scripts that is classified as "writing" rather than "production" under the MBA.
Credit Determination
One of the WGA's most consequential functions is its credit arbitration process. When a film or television project has multiple writers, the WGA determines which writers receive on-screen credit and in what order. Credit arbitration is conducted by panels of anonymous Guild members who read all draft material without knowing the identities of the writers. The outcome of credit arbitration directly affects residual payments, award eligibility, and negotiating leverage for future projects.
Writers who contributed significantly to a script but were not awarded credit receive no WGA-recognized credit, which can have substantial financial and professional implications. Understanding the credit arbitration process is essential for any writer working on a project where multiple writers have been involved.
What Filmmakers Should Know
Productions that sign a WGA agreement must hire WGA-covered writers for any writing work on the project and pay at least WGA minimum rates. For low-budget independent productions, the WGA offers a Low Budget Agreement and an Independent Film Agreement with reduced minimums and modified terms that make signatory status feasible below studio budget levels.
Non-WGA writers working on WGA signatory productions are not permitted, and WGA members are not permitted to write for non-signatory productions. Understanding these jurisdiction rules before entering into any writing arrangement on a production is essential for both producers and writers.
See Also
For how screenwriting credits affect distribution and financing, see Distribution Deals Explained. For the WGA East's parallel jurisdiction covering East Coast writers, see Writers Guild of America, East in this directory.
