It’s time to walk our talk about a certain impending doom that way too many people are burying their heads in the sand about.
Today is Climate Strike Day, worldwide, and while it has nothing to do with TV or film writing, it has everything to do with Real Life. As the Ohio Sierra Club put it in a recent tweet:
The Writers Guild of America West’s nominating committees have announced the initial list of candidates for the 2019 WGAW Officers and Board of Directors election.
The Officer candidates are as follows: President* – David A. Goodman (inc.); Vice President – Marjorie David (inc.), Carl Gottlieb; Secretary-Treasurer – Michele Mulroney, Evette Vargas.
*The second nominee designated by the nominating committee for the office of President declined the nomination.
There are 17 candidates running for eight open seats on the WGAW’s Board of Directors as follows: Angelina Burnett (inc.), Alvaro Rodriguez, Rasheed Newson, Liz Alper, Nicole Yorkin (inc.), Luvh Rakhe, (inc.), Meredith Stiehm (inc.), Ashley Edward Miller, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Dante W. Harper, Robb Chavis, Chris Roessner, Zoe Marshall, Craig Mazin, Rob Forman, Mike Mariano, Ayelet Waldman.
*Note: WGAW internal rules require candidates to be announced in an order determined by lot; (inc.) denotes an incumbent candidate.
In addition to the candidates selected by the Guild’s nominating committees, eligible members may also be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the office of President, Vice President, or Secretary-Treasurer must obtain 25 member signatures in support of their petitions. Members seeking nomination for the Board of Directors must obtain 15 member signatures in support of their petitions. The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the WGAW is Tuesday, July 23, at 12:00 p.m. (PT). Members may download online nomination petitions by visiting the members-only section of the Guild’s website.
The WGAW will host its annual Candidates Night forum, where Guild members may meet and pose questions to the candidates, on Wednesday, August 28, at WGAW headquarters.
Guild members will receive candidate, non-candidate, and rebuttal statements, if any, with their ballots prior to the election. Candidates may distribute additional campaign materials at their own expense. The voting period concludes at Monday, September 16, at 12:00 p.m. (PT). Members may vote online or by mail. In accordance with labor law, proxy voting is not permitted.
The mother and father of all showbiz trade maags, Variety.Com comes up with a winner for writers. In other words, this is about writing because that’s how we and our viewers win, yeah?
Here’s what Variety has to say about this vid:
Variety recently sat down with some of our 2016 Writers to Watch, including the scribes behind “Moana” and “Sully,” at the Whistler Film Festival where they gave us a few tips on how to become a successful screenwriter in Hollywood.
Insider info! We love it. Especially when we’re talking about what’s going on at what formerly were two true television behemoths. (But are soon to become one that’s even – erm – behemothier.)
Walden, Rice & Landegraf
by Michael Schneider
When the Walt Disney Company unveiled much of its new TV networks organizational structure Monday, it didn’t come with many surprises: As expected, Peter Rice will assume oversight as chairman of Walt Disney Television and co-chair of Disney Media Networks once the company closes its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
Under Rice, as previously reported, Dana Walden has been named chairman of Disney TV Studios and ABC Entertainment, while John Landgraf will continue to oversee FX Networks and FX Productions as chairman. National Geographic Partners chairman Gary Knell, Disney Channels Worldwide president/COO Gary Marsh and ABC News president James Goldston will also answer to Rice.
With long-time 21st Century Fox execs taking over key Disney TV oversight, Burbank’s about to feel a lot more like Century City. And that’s clearly Disney CEO Bob Iger’s goal: “The strength of 21st Century Fox’s first-class management talent has always been a compelling part of this opportunity for us,” he said in a statement.
But Monday’s announcement still leaves plenty of burning questions when it comes to how things will eventually shake out once the deal is finalized and Rice, Walden, Landgraf, and Knell officially put on their Mouse ears. Here’s what to keep an eye on in the coming months:
What changes will Walden make to ABC Entertainment, and how does that impact Channing Dungey?
Walden will have oversight over several divisions, including studios, the Freeform network and the ABC-owned TV stations group. But ABC Entertainment will be by far the most high profile. Walden and Dungey worked together in the past, but with Walden as the seller (as head of 20th Century Fox TV) and Dungey as the buyer (ABC runs 20th shows including “Modern Family” and “Fresh Off the Boat”), in addition to being competitors. That’s made for an adversarial situation, but now they’re on the same team. What does Walden want out of Dungey? Or does she want her own person running ABC? The Alphabet network is off to a tepid fall, landing in fourth place among adults 18-49 during premiere week.
Will ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox TV be merged, and when?
For now, both studios will continue to operate separately under ABC Studios president Patrick Moran and 20th Century Fox TV presidents Jonathan Davis and Howard Kurtzman, with all three executives reporting to Walden. But in the long term, it doesn’t really make sense to keep two different infrastructures — the whole point of mergers like this one are the financial savings once operations are merged….
