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Abbreviation | WGC |
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Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
Location | |
Members | 2500 |
Key people |
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Affiliations | IAWG |
Website | www |
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is a trade union representing professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the WGC write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of the Week, documentaries, animation, comedy and variety series, children's and educational programming, radio drama, as well as corporate videos and digital media productions. The organization administers the annual WGC Screenwriting Awards.
On behalf of its members, the WGC negotiates, administers and enforces collective agreements, setting out minimum rates, terms, and working conditions for all English-language productions in Canada. The central collective agreement, the Independent Production Agreement (IPA), is negotiated between the WGC and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA), the association representing independent producers in Canada. In addition to the IPA, the WGC also has agreements in place with the APFTQ, CBC Radio, CBC Television, CTV, the NFB and TVOntario. The WGC is formally recognized as the official bargaining agent for English-language professional screenwriters under the federal Status of the Artist Act and Quebec's Status of the Artist Legislation.
The WGC is also a member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds. Its current president is Alex Levine. [1]
The Association of Canadian Radio Artists was established in 1943 to advocate for better working conditions and wages for radio performers. Over time, writers also joined the organization, leading to its transformation into the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) in the following decade.
In 1984, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) was formed to encompass other areas of the broadcasting industry. From ACTRA, several guilds emerged and developed, notably the ACTRA Performer's Guild, Writers Guild of Canada, and ACTRA Media Guild. In 1993, the Writers Guild of Canada left ACTRA to become an independent union.
In February 2023, Victoria Shen was named as the WGC's executive director, replacing executive director and CEO Maureen Parker. [2] During the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, the WGC expressed its support for the WGA and urged its members not to accept work on struck projects. [3]
The WGC is governed by a seven-member council of its members, which receives input from a fifteen-member national forum. Members of council and the national forum are elected from five regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Central, Western and Pacific), and serve two-year terms. The national forum meets annually with the council and the executive staff. [4]
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the joint efforts of two different American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media:
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on Second City Television (1976–84) and Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) and in films such as After Hours (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and the first two installments of the Home Alone franchise (1990–1992). Her other film appearances include the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest; Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).
The Earle Grey Award is the lifetime achievement award for television acting of the Canadian Screen Awards, and its predecessor the Gemini Awards. It can be presented to an individual or collaborative team.
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has over 28,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. The organization negotiates, safeguards, and promotes the professional rights of its members. It also works to increase work opportunities for its members and lobbies for policy changes at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels.
The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, also known as The Animation Guild, or TAG is a professional guild and union of animation artists, writers and technicians. The full name of the organization is The Animation Guild and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada, American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations/Canadian Labour Congress.
Noah Nicholas Reid is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his work on the television series Franklin and Schitt's Creek. In 2016, he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song for his work in the feature film People Hold On. In 2019, he received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for his work on Schitt's Creek.
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The Writers Guild of America West (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 20,000 members.
Patrick Massett is an American screenwriter and producer.
From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor unions Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) went on strike.
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The Gordon Sinclair Award is a Canadian journalism award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for excellence in broadcast journalism. Originally presented as part of the ACTRA Awards, it was transferred to the new Gemini Awards in 1986. During the ACTRA era, the award was open to both radio and television journalists; when it was taken over by the Academy, it became a television-only award.
Eric Tuchman is an American producer and screenwriter. He is known for writing the Animation Adaptation for the 20th Century Fox animated movie Anastasia as well as his work on the television series The Handmaid's Tale as a writer and Executive Producer. He was also the showrunner of the TV series Kyle XY.
Fakes is an American-Canadian television comedy series, which premiered in 2022 on CBC Gem in Canada and Netflix internationally. The series stars Emilija Baranac and Jennifer Tong as Zoe and Rebecca, two teenagers in West Vancouver, British Columbia who launch what quickly becomes the largest fake ID empire in North America. The series premiered September 1, 2022.
The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike is an ongoing strike action that began on May 2, 2023, at 12:01 a.m. PDT. At that time, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on strike over an ongoing labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). It is the largest interruption to American film and television production since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as well as the largest labor stoppage that the WGA has performed since the strike of 1988, which lasted for 154 days. Since July 14, 2023, it has coincided with a SAG-AFTRA strike as part of a series of broader Hollywood labor disputes.