Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Encyclopedia
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union
for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress
(TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
(IAWG).
, radio
, film
, theatre
, books and multimedia
.
It negotiates a series of Minimum Terms Agreements governing writers’ contracts and covering minimum fees; advances; repeat fees, royalties and residuals; rights; credits; number of drafts; script alterations and the resolution of disputes. The most important MTAs cover: BBC TV
Drama; BBC Radio
Drama; ITV
Companies; PACT (independent TV and film producers); TAC (Welsh language independent TV producers); Theatrical Management Association
; Independent Theatre Council; and an agreement covering the Royal National Theatre
, Royal Shakespeare Company
and Royal Court Theatre
. These agreements are regularly renegotiated and in most cases the minimum fees are reviewed annually.
The Guild advises its members on all aspects of their working lives. This includes contract vetting, legal advice, help with copyright problems and representation in disputes with producers, publishers or other writers.
Regular events are organised for members. Recent examples (2004–2005) were a seminar on writing sitcoms, a networking evening for TV soap writers, a panel discussion on marketing theatre plays, a celebrity event at the Edinburgh Book Festival and a series of lectures on forensic science aimed at TV series writers. The Annual General Meeting each spring features an address by a well-known member, an opportunity to debate issues of importance to writers and amend the Guild’s rules, plus a free lunch.
UK Writer is the Guild’s quarterly magazine, free to members, containing features about professional writing and news about the Guild and its members. Every Friday the Guild sends a copious email to members containing up-to-the-minute news items, work and learning opportunities, and details of forthcoming performances, broadcasts or publication of members’ work. The Guild’s website (http://www.writersguild.org.uk) provides lots of news and information about writing for different media and has a Members’ Area containing the full texts of MTAs.
renewal. The Guild made strong protests when crowd violence halted performances of Behzti
by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
at the Birmingham repertory theatre in December 2004, and subsequently revived its Anti-Censorship Committee. The Guild makes a point of highlighting the importance of writing for children in all media. It co-operates closely with other unions including Equity
, the Musicians' Union
and the Society of Authors
; and is affiliated to the British Copyright Council, Creators' Rights Alliance, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and other pressure groups. Guild representatives attend regular briefings with the Arts Council, Ofcom, the Public Lending Right agency and other national bodies.
(screenwriters guilds in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France and Mexico); European Writers Congress (over 50 organisations); Fédération des Scénaristes d’Europe (screenwriters’ groups in 14 countries); UNI-MEI (worldwide trade union organisation representing millions of workers in the TV, film, media and entertainment industries). The Guild has a reciprocal membership and services arrangement with the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild. UK Guild members who achieve TV or film writing contracts in the US can join the Writers Guild of America
without paying the usual $2,500 initial fee.
Over the years the Writers’ Guild Welfare Fund has accumulated more than £45,000 which is available to provide loans or grants to members in financial difficulty.
, Jimmy Perry
, Bryan Forbes
, Denis Norden
, Maureen Duffy
, Alan Plater
, Rosemary Anne Sisson
, Wally K. Daly
, Ian Curteis
, J.C. Wilsher and David Nobbs
. The current President (2007) is David Edgar
, the noted playwright, TV and film writer (Nicholas Nickleby
for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Pentecost, which won an Evening Standard award in 1994; The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs; Albert Speer, based on Gitta Sereny's biography of Hitler's architect; Playing With Fire; etc.)
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
(TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds is an international trade union federation representing guilds of professional screenwriters and playwrights. Some affiliates also belong to national trade union federations....
(IAWG).
Activities
It represents writers working in televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, books and multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
.
It negotiates a series of Minimum Terms Agreements governing writers’ contracts and covering minimum fees; advances; repeat fees, royalties and residuals; rights; credits; number of drafts; script alterations and the resolution of disputes. The most important MTAs cover: BBC TV
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
Drama; BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
Drama; ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
Companies; PACT (independent TV and film producers); TAC (Welsh language independent TV producers); Theatrical Management Association
Theatrical Management Association
The Theatrical Management Association, founded in 1894, is the UK’s pre-eminent association for companies and organisations involved professionally in the production and presentation of the performing arts. The Theatrical Management Association has presented the TMA Awards annually since 1991....
; Independent Theatre Council; and an agreement covering the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
and Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
. These agreements are regularly renegotiated and in most cases the minimum fees are reviewed annually.
The Guild advises its members on all aspects of their working lives. This includes contract vetting, legal advice, help with copyright problems and representation in disputes with producers, publishers or other writers.
Regular events are organised for members. Recent examples (2004–2005) were a seminar on writing sitcoms, a networking evening for TV soap writers, a panel discussion on marketing theatre plays, a celebrity event at the Edinburgh Book Festival and a series of lectures on forensic science aimed at TV series writers. The Annual General Meeting each spring features an address by a well-known member, an opportunity to debate issues of importance to writers and amend the Guild’s rules, plus a free lunch.
UK Writer is the Guild’s quarterly magazine, free to members, containing features about professional writing and news about the Guild and its members. Every Friday the Guild sends a copious email to members containing up-to-the-minute news items, work and learning opportunities, and details of forthcoming performances, broadcasts or publication of members’ work. The Guild’s website (http://www.writersguild.org.uk) provides lots of news and information about writing for different media and has a Members’ Area containing the full texts of MTAs.
Lobbying
The Guild is a campaigning union and recent effective lobbying efforts have concentrated on MEPs considering the European copyright directive, and MPs, peers and the media over the Communications Bill and the BBC CharterBBC Charter
The BBC Charter established the BBC . An accompanying Agreement recognises its editorial independence and sets out its public obligations in detail....
renewal. The Guild made strong protests when crowd violence halted performances of Behzti
Behzti
Behzti is a play written by the British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The play sparked a controversy in the United Kingdom in December 2004. A controversial scene set in a Gurdwara included scenes of rape, physical abuse and murder. Some members of the Sikh community found the play deeply...
by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti is a British Sikh writer. She has written extensively for stage, screen and radio.-Life:Bhatti studied modern languages at Bristol University and has worked as a journalist and an actress....
at the Birmingham repertory theatre in December 2004, and subsequently revived its Anti-Censorship Committee. The Guild makes a point of highlighting the importance of writing for children in all media. It co-operates closely with other unions including Equity
British Actors' Equity Association
Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....
, the Musicians' Union
Musicians' Union (UK)
-About the MU:The Musicians' Union is an organisation which represents over 30,000 musicians working in all sectors of the UK music business.-Campaigns:The MU stages regular campaigns in relation to relevant musical and industrial issues...
and the Society of Authors
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...
; and is affiliated to the British Copyright Council, Creators' Rights Alliance, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom and other pressure groups. Guild representatives attend regular briefings with the Arts Council, Ofcom, the Public Lending Right agency and other national bodies.
International affiliations
International connections include: International Affiliation of Writers GuildsInternational Affiliation of Writers Guilds
The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds is an international trade union federation representing guilds of professional screenwriters and playwrights. Some affiliates also belong to national trade union federations....
(screenwriters guilds in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France and Mexico); European Writers Congress (over 50 organisations); Fédération des Scénaristes d’Europe (screenwriters’ groups in 14 countries); UNI-MEI (worldwide trade union organisation representing millions of workers in the TV, film, media and entertainment industries). The Guild has a reciprocal membership and services arrangement with the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild. UK Guild members who achieve TV or film writing contracts in the US can join the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
without paying the usual $2,500 initial fee.
Welfare
The Writers’ Guild Pension Scheme provides personal pension plans customised for freelance writers who may need to make irregular and sometimes small pension contributions. The scheme is coupled with clauses in several Guild MTAs entitling members to pension contributions in addition to their writing fees.Over the years the Writers’ Guild Welfare Fund has accumulated more than £45,000 which is available to provide loans or grants to members in financial difficulty.
History
The union was founded in 1959 as the Screenwriters’ Guild, the successor to the Screenwriters’ Association dating back to 1938. During the 1960s it expanded to cover radio and book writers and adopted its present title in 1964. It sponsored the campaigns of the Writers’ Action Group to establish the Public Lending Right and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society which – starting from a single room in the Guild premises – has collected and distributed over £100 million in payments to writers for photocopying and overseas retransmission of broadcasts. For many years the Guild hosted the Writers’ Guild Annual Awards, which it plans to revive in November 2007. In 1997 the Guild merged with the Theatre Writers Union, and membership now stands at over 2,100. Presidents, Chairs and leading activists of the Guild have included: Lord (Ted) WillisTed Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis , commonly known as Ted Willis, was a British television dramatist who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party.-Political life:...
, Jimmy Perry
Jimmy Perry
Jimmy Perry OBE is an English writer, scriptwriter, producer, author and actor, most famous for devising and co-writing the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army with David Croft.-Education:...
, Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
, Denis Norden
Denis Norden
Denis Mostyn Norden CBE is a former English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during World War II. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the successful BBC Radio comedy programme Take It from Here with Frank Muir...
, Maureen Duffy
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy is a contemporary British poet, playwright and novelist. She has also published a literary biography of Aphra Behn, and The Erotic World of Faery a book-length study of eroticism in faery fantasy literature.-Life and work:After a tough childhood, Duffy took her degree in...
, Alan Plater
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...
, Rosemary Anne Sisson
Rosemary Anne Sisson
Rosemary Anne Sisson is a British television dramatist and novelist. She is the daughter of the scholar of Elizabethan drama Charles Jasper Sisson ....
, Wally K. Daly
Wally K. Daly
Wally K. Daly is an English writer for television and radio and one time chairman of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.-Credits:...
, Ian Curteis
Ian Curteis
Ian Bayley Curteis is a British television dramatist and former television director.In a career as a television dramatist from the late 1960s onwards, Curteis wrote for many of the series of the day, including The Onedin Line and Crown Court. In 1979, two television plays by Curteis were...
, J.C. Wilsher and David Nobbs
David Nobbs
David Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...
. The current President (2007) is David Edgar
David Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
, the noted playwright, TV and film writer (Nicholas Nickleby
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an eight-hour stage play, presented over two performances, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel of the same name by David Edgar. Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, it opened on 5 June 1980 at the Aldwych Theatre in London. The music and lyrics...
for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Pentecost, which won an Evening Standard award in 1994; The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs; Albert Speer, based on Gitta Sereny's biography of Hitler's architect; Playing With Fire; etc.)
Membership
Full Membership is open to anyone who has received payment for a piece of written work under a contract with terms no less than those negotiated by the Guild. Writers who do not qualify can join as Candidate Members and those on accredited writing courses or theatre attachments can become Student Members. Aged writers and those with long service in the Guild are entitled to free Life Membership.External links
- Writers' Guild official site.