Writers Guild of America

joint brand of two US labor unions

The Writers’ Guild of America is a name for two unions in Hollywood.

History

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It began in 1912 when some writers started a group called the Authors Guild to help book writers and magazine writers. In 1921, the theatre writers in the Author’s Guild left and started a group called the Dramatists Guild of America. In 1933, some people in the Dramatists Guild of America left to start a group for screenwriting called the Screen Writers Guild. In 1948, the Screen Writers Guild started to help Television writers instead of just movie writers. In 1954, the Screen Writers Guild split into two groups called the Writers’ Guild of America (East) and Writers’ Guild of America(West).

The Writers’s Guild of America negotiates strikes and figures out whose names appear in the credits.