Writers Guild of America, East

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is a labor union representing film and television writers as well as employees of television and radio news.

The Writers Guild of America, East is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America, West. Together the guilds administer the Writers Guild of America Awards. It is an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists, the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, and the AFL–CIO.

History

WGAE had its beginnings in 1912, when the Authors' League of America (ALA) was formed by some 350 book and magazine authors, as well as dramatists. In 1921, this group split into two branches of the League: the Dramatists Guild of America for writers of radio and stage drama and the Authors Guild for novelists and nonfiction book and magazine authors.

That same year, the Screen Writers Guild came into existence in Hollywood, California, but was "little more than a social organization", according to the WGAe's website, until the Great Depression of the 1930s and the growth of the organized labor movement impelled it to take a more active role in negotiating and guaranteeing writers' contractual rights and protections.