Which WGA Am I Supposed To Be In?
Q: After a brief spell in LA I moved to New York, where the WGA(W) has been sending me my Guild mail for years. I pay them all my dues and I also vote in their elections. I much prefer to be a member of WGA West than East, but was told recently that I am “automatically deemed” to have applied for a transfer by moving to Gotham. Must I join WGA(E)—even if I’d choose not to—and am I kicked out of West? Have they been sending me my mail by mistake?
A: Oy. Such is the mess created by East and west.
The WGAw and the WGAE have an identical section in their respective constitutions called “Affiliation” that governs these sort of membership issues.
The first rule of “who belongs where?” is easy. If you live west of the Mississippi, you’re WGAw. If you live east, you’re WGAE.
If that were the only rule, life would be simple. It ain’t.
The second important rule is as follows:
Any member of either Guild who shall take up and maintain residence in the geographic area over which the other Guild exercises jurisdiction for a period of three (3) months shall automatically be deemed to have requested transfer of membership to such other Guild at the end of such three-month period.
Easy enough. You move, you get switched. There are two corollaries. First, if you’re a screenwriter and you have to move east specifically for a screenwriting assignment, you don’t get switched.
Secondly, the Guilds haven’t really been doing this. It’s one of the things we’re going to have to get into with this new Board.
Technically, however, your situation leads to an automatic transfer of membership to the East.
Ah, but we’re not done. Here’s the next relevant rule (assuming you are a screenwriter rather than a TV writer), and it’s a doozy.
Notwithstanding the above subsection if a member of Writers Guild, East, shall be employed or sell literary material for a theatrical motion picture, he shall thereupon also become a member of Writers Guild, west. So long as said individual shall remain a member of Writers Guild, East, his dues shall be allocated in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 of this Article.
This is a big one. If you’re a screenwriter who lives in the East (and thus is a member of East), you must also be a member of West. This means that you must now send half your dues to West and half to East.
Alas, East and West have been arguing over this one for a long time. Essentially, East doesn’t like forking over half of the dues they collect from screenwriters living in the east. West has sort of let that slide for a while, but the current leadership of the WGA has been unanimous in their desire to enforce this piece of the constitution.
So here’s where you are. You’ve moved east, so after three months, you get automatically shunted into East, but you’re a screenwriter, so you’re also WGAw. Half your dues should go to East and half to WGAw.
BUT…we’re not done. :)
One last rule that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.
A Current member of either Guild who wishes to transfer his/her membership to the other Guild shall apply to the Executive Director of the Guild of which he/ she is then a member for a transfer card.
Upon receipt of such request, the Executive Director shall prepare a card certifying the member’s status as a member of the Guild.
Upon presentation of such card to the Executive Director of the Guild to which such member seeks a transfer, he/she shall be assigned the same status in such Guild as he/she then holds in the Guild from which he/she has obtained the transfer card.
In short, if you want to just be in West, you apply. Your application must be accepted.
Final analysis: if you want to just be in West, simply call up WGAE and say, “I’m applying for a membership transfer to West.” Call up WGAw at the same time and let them know that you want to transfer. They may even help you with the transfer.
Hope that helped. If you want to read these constitutional passages for yourself, there’s a link in the left column under “Interesting” (an optimistic header, I know). Drop me an email if you need the name and number of a membership staffperson at WGAw to help you with your transfer.
As if there weren’t enough reasons not to move to the east coast!
It seems so unbelievably pointless to have two separate Guilds…at some point could you perhaps take a shot at explaining the history behind all this? I think we’ve been over it some at WriterAction, but it might be worth repeating here.
Second the motion, but as well as the history, what about the future? Why even have two Guilds? Surely it is a diminution of our possible collective power. What about polling members of both on a merger?
You guys probably received an email from Dan Petrie, Jr. by now. I think it does a better job of explaining the history (and bad blood) than other I’ve read. I’ll quote the relevant part here.
The letter was intended for WGA members only, but if you are a member, you can read it for yourself at wga.org.
In my personal opinion, the word “union” sort of demands, well, you know… :)
There are many legal issues involved in any potential merge. It’s clear, though, that the leadership of the two unions must first see eye to eye on the current relationship before finding their way to establish a new one.
For my part, I believe the WGAw Board’s recent actions have not only been in strict accordance with the Constitution that governs both unions, but also in strict accordance with our primary responsibility: to protect and advance the interests of our members. It is my belief that, despite the sturm und drang that will play out in the press, our stance will ultimately be validated as both legal and proper.
Craig,
Another variation on this question. I’m not a member of either but live right near NYC, so I’m clearly under East jurisdiction. Say that I get tremendously lucky in the next few weeks or months and actually manage to sell a script (full length motion picture) to a production company in LA. At that point I’ve earned 24 credits and I’m eligible to join….
A) Only the East, but I also immediately join the West, beause of the script sale resulting in dual membership in E&W or I can immediately transfer (resulting in sole membership in the West).
B) The West. I can just apply to the west and not worry about the east, because I sold a motion-picture script.
Bottomline. If I actually manage to sell a script I have zero desire to join the WGA East or give them any dues.
As to why—I’m a Republican and the East seems to be tied much more closely to the AFL-CIO (aka Democratic Money Machine) than the West (if the west has any ties I can’t find them. I don’t mind paying dues, I do mind paying dues for speech I disagree with.
It’s all hypothetical of course—but you never know ;-)
Trev
Trevor:
The two guilds are arguing over this right now, so there’s the how it should happen, and then there’s the how it does happen.
How it should happen is that upon selling a theatrical screenplay, BOTH guilds call you up and welcome you as a member. Immediately following that, you put in a request to transfer your membership entirely to the West, and after a few months or so, it’s done.
How it does happen is that East calls you. They deny that West should share in you as a member (this is why we’re currently headed towards mediation and possibly arbitration). Still, you may subsequently apply for a transfer. The East may drag their feet. If they do, you call the West and request assistance.
Hopefully by the time you get tremendously lucky we will have hashed this all out.
BTW, the West has no ties to the AFL-CIO. That’s just the East.
Craig,
Thanks a lot. This is very helpful (okay, technically it “may be” very helpful if I get tremendously lucky—but who’s counting? ;-)
Cheers,
Trevor