You wouldn’t get residuals, pension or health plan without joining the WGA. The studio could choose to list any name it wanted to “written by.” These are fundamental protections you’re getting by being WGA, and they’re worth so much that a studio would never give them to some guy who wrote a spec — unless they had to.

You can’t join the WGA (as a full member) until you’re a working writer for the same reason you can’t join the airline pilots’ union. It’s not for hobbyists and aspirants. It’s a federally recognized labor organization.

Wonderful! I greatly appreciate your advice. I only asked because others that I talked to had expressed bad experiences (in order to join the WGA East, you are required to join the WGA West as well, etc.). So I assume that after joining the WGA East, I’ll still be able to work with studios and producers on the West? Also, I’ve searched the WGA East website and I can’t seem to find where to sign up (when the time comes). Could you supply me with a link? Many thanks.

Garrett

This was an excellent read. I have a question concerning membership when it comes to the WGA West and the WGA East. I’m relocating to New York in a few months, and eventually I plan on joining the WGA. My question is this: will I be able to register for the WGA East and still get all the benefits of the WGA West, or will I be required to join both guilds? If so, where and how? I’d really appreciate all the information you could supply. Thanks.

If the script is finally sold, is it still mandatory for me to join the WGA? Even not being American? In the option time, is it safe to not be a member?

Here comes a question: Writers that are not American citizens, like myself, how do they benefit from the health plan and the pension plan?

To Mark Martino, I suspect the Northwest Screenwriters Guild is a fraternal organization, not a union. (While “guild” is frequently used to mean any collective of people working in similar fashion, Guild and Union are synonymous terms in labor; technically they’re both Collective Bargaining Agents under US labor law.) Unions — at least unions like the WGA — require professional status for full membership. Being a good writer isn’t enough; someone has to pay you for it. (Some straight lines are too easy; don’t bother picking it up.)

An employer who is a Guild Signatory or an employer who is a non-Guild Signatory both cannot demand that an employee either join a union or not join a union. In non “right to work” states an employer CAN insist that an employee pay minimum dues to the union (by going “financial core”). The reason an employer would do that is because their contract with a union stipulates they must (and such stipulations are typically void in “right-to-work” states).

Also, typically, employees who are not members of a union are still protected by the contract the union has set up with the employer. Therefore an employer could not, for instance, pay the employee less than “prevailing wage” simply because they aren’t a member of the union. The contract typically covers ALL the workers doing the same work. I don’t know if the WGA contract works this way however.