Media & Entertainment Law

WGA Candidates for President and Board Announced

By Jonathan Handel, Esq.

SAG?s upcoming elections have been getting some attention, but the WGA West is having an election this summer as well. The ballots go out sometime in late July or August, and are apparently due back September 17. Current WGA West president Patric Verrone is running for one of the open board seats, but not for president (I believe there are term limits). Instead, the candidates for president are John Wells and Elias Davis. For more details, see the press release below.

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WGA press release:

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA, WEST ANNOUNCES CANDIDATES FOR 2009 OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION

LOS ANGELES ? The Writers Guild of America, West?s Nominating Committee has announced its initial list of candidates for the 2009 WGAW Officers and Board of Directors election. The officer candidates are as follows: President ? John Wells, Elias Davis; Vice President ? Tom Schulman, Howard Michael Gould; Secretary-Treasurer ? Christopher Keyser, David N. Weiss.

There are 16 candidates nominated to run for eight open seats on the WGAW?s Board of

Directors, as follows: Luvh Rakhe, Linda Burstyn, Mick Betancourt, Jan Oxenberg, Howard A. Rodman (inc.), Patric M. Verrone, Dan Wilcox (inc.), Eric Wallace, Jed Weintrob, Chip Johannessen, Andrea King, Steven Schwartz, Jeff Lowell, Billy Ray, Carleton Eastlake, David Wyatt. [The list is in random order. ?inc.? means incumbent.]

In addition to the candidates selected by the WGAW Nominating Committee, eligible members may also be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the office of President, Vice President, or Secretary-Treasurer must obtain 50 member signatures in support of their petitions. Members seeking nomination for the Board of Directors must obtain 25 member signatures in support of their petitions. The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the WGAW is Thursday, July 23, by 5:30 p.m. Members may submit online nomination petitions by visiting the members-only section of the WGAW?s website at: www.wga.org.

The WGAW will host its annual ?Candidates Night? town-hall election forum for Guild members to meet and pose questions to their prospective Officer and BOD candidates on Wednesday, September 2, at WGAW headquarters in Los Angeles.

Guild members will receive candidate and non-candidate statements and rebuttal statements, if any, with their ballots prior to the election. Members may mail additional campaign materials at their own expense. Members may vote by mail or in person at the WGAW?s annual membership meeting on Thursday, September 17. Ballots will be counted on Friday, September 18.

Full post as published by Digital Media Law on June 22, 2009 (boomark / email).