Writers Guild Workshops Help Vets Tell Their Stories
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Returning veterans often have a hard time adjusting to civilian life and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) Foundation is helping them find an outlet to tell their stories. Since April 2008, the foundation has held weekend-long writing workshops in which professional writers mentor veterans and active duty military personnel, encouraging them to express themselves in writing.
John Markus, first vice president of the foundation, says the workshops have caught on in the communities where they have been held. They are open to any member of the armed forces who has served in recent conflicts and who has a desire to write. Workshops have been held in Columbus, Ohio, and San Antonio, with more planned.
Markus says the WGAE members, many of whom are major award winners (Markus has won an Emmy) don’t try to tell the vets what to write. Instead they help vets navigate through writing process. Not all of the stories are about war or military life, but vets are encouraged to write about whatever is on their minds. Says Markus:
We specifically did not want to influence content. We reassured vets that they would own their material. If they wanted to try and get it published or find an agent or get studios to read their scripts, we could facilitate that.
SAG, NATCA and WGAE Elect Top Officers
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The Screen Actors (SAG) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) elected new leadership teams recently and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) re-elected their top officers.
Actor Ken Howard was elected as SAG’s president in a mail ballot, with results announced yesterday. Amy Aquino was elected secretary-treasurer. Howard and Aquino succeed Alan Rosenberg and Connie Stevens, respectively, and begin their two-year terms immediately.
Howard pledged to strengthen the union’s bargaining power:
“I campaigned on the promise that I’d do everything in my power to strengthen our position at the bargaining table by building a greater unity with [American Federation of Television and Radio Artists] AFTRA and the other entertainment unions, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Despite the sharp differences that those of us active in Guild affairs sometimes have over strategy and tactics, we need to continually remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team, fighting for the same thing—and by pulling together, we’ll only grow stronger.”
NATCA chose Paul Rinaldi, an 18-year veteran air traffic controller from the control tower at Washington Dulles Airport, as president in a runoff election. Rinaldi, who has served as NATCA’s executive vice president since 2006, will take office on Oct. 17 to begin his three-year term. He will succeed Patrick Forrey.
The runoff election was held because no candidate won the required 50 percent-plus one majority in the first balloting, which was announced on July 31. NATCA Executive Vice President Patricia Gilbert won a clear majority and took office Sept. 1.
Rinaldi said he plans to make sure the nation’s air traffic controllers have a voice in the workplace:
Throughout my career, I’ve made it my mission to further the goals of this union and I’m not stopping now. We’ve had a difficult last three years, but we’ve persevered. I look forward to ensuring that our members always have a voice and, just as important, that the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] always listens.
Writers Guild to Honor ‘Doubt’ Writer and Committee to Protect Journalists
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This weekend, the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) will present its highest awards to an international organization to protect the freedom of the press and to a playwright whose latest play became an Academy Award nominated movie.
The 61st Annual Writers Guild Awards will take place today simultaneously in New York City and in Los Angeles. John Oliver, correspondent on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” will host the New York ceremony at the Hudson Theatre.
WGAE, which represents writers in motion pictures, television, cable, new media and broadcast news, will give its Evelyn F. Burkey Award to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The award recognizes contributions that have brought honor and dignity to writers everywhere. CPJ is an independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
Says WGAE President Michael Winship:
In a world where freedom of the press is so often suppressed and its practitioners threatened, even killed, the CPJ stands in defense of the lives and liberty of those writers around the planet who so valiantly struggle to bring us the truth.
Past recipients of the Burkey Award include: Walter Bernstein, Martin Scorsese, the Museum of Television & Radio, Vaclav Havel and David Brown.
