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Writers Guild of America West

labor union

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ8038459
Source-derived summary

The Writers Guild of America West (WGA West or WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 14,000 total members as of 2026.

The WGAW and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), though independent entities, jointly brand themselves together as the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and cooperate on activities such as launching coordinated strike actions, and administering both the Writers Guild of America Awards and the WGA screenwriting credit system. Generally, members initially join the West Guild if they are west of the Mississippi River, and are not required to transfer between the two organizations if they relocate across the river.

The WGAE is an affiliate of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds.

Governance

The WGAW is governed by its membership. Elections for a board of directors are held annually by secret mail-in ballot. Half of the board is elected each year to a two-year term of office, and a board member may not serve more than four consecutive terms. In 2022 the officers are:

President: Meredith Stiehm

Vice President: Michele Mulroney

Secretary-Treasurer: Betsy Thomas

Board of Directors: Liz Hsiao Lan Alper, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Angelina Burnett, Robb Chavis, Adam Conover, Marjorie David, Travis Donnelly, Ashley Gable, Justin Halpern, Dante W. Harper, Eric Haywood, Deric A. Hughes, Zoe Marshall, Dailyn Rodriguez, John Rogers, and Nicole Yorkin.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Writers Guild of America West” as labor union. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Writers, Guild and America.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1954, 2026, 2022—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1933-04-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Writers, Guild and America providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Writers Guild of America West”, the useful work is to connect “labor union” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8038459. VIAF identifies the subject as 140719035. The Library of Congress control number is n80095663. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2026 and 2022.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Writers Guild of America West”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Writers Guild of America West primary sources, Writers Guild of America West archive and Writers research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Writers Guild of America West” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.