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The Writers Guild of America West has unveiled the 18 candidates running for seats on the guild’s board of directors.

The election will be held next month during a voting period that runs Sept. 5-24. Voting materials will be distributed to guild members on Aug. 30.

The candidates are 13 new contenders and five incumbent members seeking two-year terms. As per WGA West’s rules, the listing of the candidates is presented in an order determined by lot.

Courtney Lilly Deric A. Hughes (incumbent) Chris Hazzard Maggie Levin Justin Halpern (incumbent) Ron Rappaport Deborah Pratt Danny Tolli Stefanie Leder Joelle Garfinkel Melinda Hsu Jeffrey Thompson Rich Talarico Raphael Bob-Waksberg (incumbent) Thomas Mignone Travis Donnelly (incumbent) John Rogers (incumbent) Jackie Penn

The guild’s board election will be closely watched for signs of next-generation leaders emerging at the union, which went on strike for 148 days last year. Last year, veteran showrunner Meredith Stiehm...

The Writers Guild of America West unveiled the finalists for its 2024 Board of Directors election on Tuesday.

There are 18 candidates running to fill eight open seats are: Courtney Lilly, Deric A. Hughes (inc.), Chris Hazzard, Maggie Levin, Justin Halpern (inc.), Ron Rappaport, Deborah Pratt, Danny Tolli, Stefanie Leder, Joelle Garfinkel, Melinda Hsu, Jeffrey Thompson, Rich Talarico, Raphael Bob-Waksberg (inc.), Thomas Mignone, Travis Donnelly (inc.), John Rogers (inc.), Jackie Penn.

Only one candidate selected by the Wgaw Nominating Committee did not make it to the final round.

Wgaw members should receive voting materials on August 30, with the voting period from September 5 through September 24 at 12:00 p.m. Pt.

In addition to the candidates selected by the Guild’s Nominating Committee, eligible members may also be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the Board of Directors must obtain 15 member signatures in support of their petitions. The deadline for submitting signed petitions...

The Writers Guild of America West Nominating Committee revealed the candidates for its 2024 board of directors on Friday.

The 19 members vying for eight open seats are: Courtney Lilly, Deric A. Hughes (inc.), Chris Hazzard, Maggie Levin, Justin Halpern (inc.), Ron Rappaport, Deborah Pratt, Danny Tolli, Stefanie Leder, Joelle Garfinkel, Melinda Hsu, Jeffrey Thompson, Juan Carlos Fernandez, Rich Talarico, Raphael Bob-Waksberg (inc.), Thomas Mignone, Travis Donnelly (inc.), John Rogers (inc.), Jackie Penn.

Voting will go through September 24 at 12 p.m. Pt, and members should expect to receive voting materials and information about candidates on August 30.

In addition to the candidates selected by the Guild’s Nominating Committee, eligible members may also be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the Board of Directors must obtain 15 member signatures in support of their petitions. The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the Wgaw is July 23 at 12 p.m. Pt.

The Writers Guild of America West has re-elected Meredith Stiehm as its president and Michele Mulroney as its vice president in an unusual strike-era officer and board of directors election.

Incumbent Betsy Thomas won the seat for secretary-treasurer, beating out Jeffrey Thompson, in the voting period that ended on Tuesday. Other officer candidates included Rich Talarico, who had been running for president, and Isaac Gómez, who had been running for vice president. Voting took place between August 29 and Sept. 19 amid the ongoing writers’ strike, which began more than four months ago.

Candidates who won seats on the union’s board of directors included incumbents Adam Conover, Nicole Yorkin, Dailyn Rodriguez, Zoe Marshall and Dante W. Harper, as well as fresh candidates Molly Nussbaum, Scott Alexander and Rob Forman.

Three thousand seven hundred eighty-three valid ballots were cast in the election, which was administered by Votenet Solutions. Around 11,000 WGA West members were eligible to vote,...

Meredith Stiehm has been reelected as president of WGA West, in a strong show of support as the union’s strike continues into its fifth month.

Stiehm took 3,354 votes, easily defeating Rich Talarico, who took just 300 votes.

Two other officers were also reelected: Michele Mulroney, as vice president, and Betsy Thomas, as secretary-treasurer. Five board members were reelected, and three new members were also elected to the board.

Stiehm was the showrunner of “Cold Case” on CBS and “The Bridge” on FX. She was also a key figure in the union’s fight against agency packaging in 2019-21. She alleged that CAA, her former agency, collected almost as much for packaging “Cold Case” as she did for writing the show.

Since the strike began on May 2, Stiehm has described herself as a “wartime president,” and has said that the union is on the path to success.

“It’s been a long hot summer,...

Meredith Stiehm has been re-elected president of the WGA West, defeating Rich Talarico in a landslide.

A total of 3,783 valid ballots were cast, and Stiehm received 3,354 to Talarico’s 300. Stiehm’s running mates were also easily elected. Michele Mulroney, a member of the guild’s negotiating committee, was re-elected as vice president, and Betsy Thomas was re-elected as secretary-treasurer. Mulroney defeated Isaac Gómez, who’s currently serving as a strike captain, by a vote of 3,235 to 411. Thomas beat Jeffrey Thompson 3,182 to 421.

Stiehm’s re-election, which in effect was a referendum on the guild’s ongoing strike, comes the day before the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are scheduled to resume negotiations for a deal that, if successful, would end the WGA’s strike, which is in its 141st day.

Related: WGA West President Meredith Stiehm Says “Fair Deal” For Writers & Actors That “Shares The...

Meredith Stiehm, seeking reelection to a second term as president of the WGA West, told her members today that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’s only option to end the ongoing Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes is “to make a fair deal for writers and actors – one that shares the wealth with the people who create it.” She vowed, however, that once the strike is over, the guild and the studios will return to being “partners” once again.

The WGA strike is now in its 85th day, and the SAG-AFTRA strike is now in its 12th day. Her challenger in the race for president is Rich Talarico, a Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer who’s perhaps best known for his work on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele.

In her official candidate’s statement, Stiehm, whose writing and producing credits include Homeland,...

Yes, there’s a writers strike going on, but the WGA West is also conducting an officer and board election, and the candidates, though they all support the strike, are expressing a wide range of other concerns in statements they’ve posted on the guild’s election site.

Meredith Stiehm, who’s running for re-election as president, hasn’t posted her statement yet, but all the other officer candidates have, and they have a lot to say.

Rich Talarico, a Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer who’s perhaps best known for his work on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, writes that “Achieving transparency regarding writer payments and accounting practices, will be the cornerstones of my leadership. Too often, writers who work in good faith are routinely met with confusing payment charts, unclear royalty checks, and unverifiable systems. Under the current model, it’s nearly impossible...

Meredith Stiehm will seek a second two-year term as president of WGA West in the fall election, and the other top officials of the guild will also seek reelection.

Justine Bateman, the writer-director and former “Family Ties” star, is running for a spot on the WGA West board. Bateman has become outspoken on the need for tight regulation of artificial intelligence.

The guild announced its preliminary list of nominees on Wednesday. Stiehm, who has been active in both the agency campaign and the current strike, will run against challenger Rich Talarico, a “Key and Peele” writer who has faulted the guild for not doing more to fight back against the release of free clips of the show on YouTube.

Michele Mulroney is running for reelection as vice president, and Betsy Thomas is seeking another term as secretary-treasurer. They will run against Isaac Gomez and Jeffrey Thompson, respectively.

The WGA West has a 16-member board,...

The Writers Guild of America West is holding officer and board elections in the middle of its ongoing strike, which is now in its 51st day. Incumbent president Meredith Stiehm is seeking reelection and will face off against Rich Talarico – both of whom were selected by the guild’s nominating committee.

In the race for vice president, incumbent Michele Mulroney will face challenger Isaac Gómez, while in the contest for secretary-treasurer, incumbent Betsy Thomas will face Jeffrey Thompson.

The guild said Wednesday that the nominating committee also selected 24 candidates to run for eight open seats on the guild’s board of directors. They are incumbents Nicole Yorkin, Dailyn Rodriguez, Adam Conover, Dante W. Harper, and Zoe Marshall, and challengers Molly Nussbaum, Danielle Iman, Maggie Levin, Blake Masters, Rob Forman, Anthony Sparks, Justine Bateman, Alex O’Keefe, Jonterri Gadson, Leah Folta, Susannah Grant, Grant Scharbo, Safia M. Dirie, Sean Presant, Scott Alexander,...

Next year’s contract talks and a possible writers strike are looming large over the WGA West’s ongoing board election, in which 17 candidates are vying for eight open seats. The WGA’s current contract doesn’t expire until May 1, but in their campaign statements, many of the candidates are making it clear that they’re prepared to strike if the guild can’t get a fair deal at the bargaining table.

And there’s considerable pent-up demand for major gains, in no small part because in 2020, when the WGA’s previous contract was set to expire, contractual advances the guild had hoped to make became all but impossible to achieve because the threat of a strike was all but off the table as the industry was already shut down by the first wave of the Covid pandemic.

Several candidates observed that the guild’s historic victory last year in...

Seventeen candidates are vying for eight open seats on the WGA West’s board of directors, including five incumbents. Voting begins August 21 and ends September 20.

The candidates are Angelina Burnett, Robert H. Wolfe, Rich Talarico, Justin Halpern, Timothy Dowling, Ryan Walls, Van Robichaux, David Schulner, Danny Tolli, John Rogers, Leah Folta, Raphael Bob-Waksberg and incumbents Eric Haywood, Ashley Gable, Deric A. Hughes, Travis Donnelly and E. Nicholas Mariani.

The guild will host a virtual Candidates Night forum on August 31, where members can pose questions to the candidates. Guild members will receive voting materials, including links to candidate, non-candidate, and rebuttal statements on that same date.

The voting period concludes at noon on September 20. Members can vote online or request a paper ballot to vote by mail. Proxy voting is not permitted, the guild said.

The Writers Guild of America West’s Nominating Committee today revealed the 18 candidates who are running in its board of directors election this year.

Those vying for the eight opens seats are Angelina Burnett, Timothy Dowling, Leah Folta, Justin Halpern, Tom O’Connor, Van Robichaux, John Rogers, David Schulner, Rich Talarico, Danny Tolli, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Ryan Walls and Robert H. Wolfe, along with incumbents Travis Donnelly Ashley Gable, Eric Haywood, Deric A. Hughes and E. Nicholas Mariani.

The WGA West will host a virtual Candidates Night forum, where guild members can pose questions to the candidates, on Wednesday, August 31.

In addition to the candidates selected by the guild’s Nominating Committee, eligible members also can be nominated by petition. Members seeking nomination for the board of directors must obtain 15 member signatures in support of their petitions, per guild rules. The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the WGA West is noon Pt Friday,...

Exclusive: We hear that Blockers filmmaker and Pitch Perfect franchise scribe Kay Cannon will direct the biopic Del & Charna about Charna Halpern and her partnership with the late legendary improv maestro Del Close. Together they built Chicago’s Improv Olympic, a prestigious comedy training ground for Saturday Night Live players and scribes, as well as the New York and Hollywood showbiz scene that boasts an all-star award-winning alum roster of Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Chris Farley, Jon Favreau, Adam McKay, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Dratch, Cecily Strong, Seth Meyers, Matt Walsh, Vanessa Bayer, Bob Odenkirk, David Koechner, Andy Dick, Cannon herself and many more.

Del & Charna will follow the unlikely pairing and tumultuous 19-year relationship of Close and Halpern, the latter who continues to own, run and teach at the Io theater. Together as friends, saviors and soulmates, the duo helped each other overcome his addiction, financial ruin, and...

Kay Cannon, who directed Blockers and wrote the Pitch Perfect movies, is set to direct the upcoming comedy industry biopic film Del & Charna for Red Crown Productions.

Rich Talarico and Alex Fendrich will pen the screenplay about the unlikely pairing of Chicago improv legend Del Close and comedy theater owner Charna Halpern. The film will recall the partners overcoming adversity to establish improv comedy in Chicago as an art form and launching the careers of many Second City comedy performers, writers and directors.

Del & Charna will be produced by Daniel Crown, Yoni Liebling, Cannon and Laverne McKinnon and executive produced ...

Kay Cannon, who directed Blockers and wrote the Pitch Perfect movies, is set to direct the upcoming comedy industry biopic film Del & Charna for Red Crown Productions.

Rich Talarico and Alex Fendrich will pen the screenplay about the unlikely pairing of Chicago improv legend Del Close and comedy theater owner Charna Halpern. The film will recall the partners overcoming adversity to establish improv comedy in Chicago as an art form and launching the careers of many Second City comedy performers, writers and directors.

Del & Charna will be produced by Daniel Crown, Yoni Liebling, Cannon and Laverne McKinnon and executive produced ...

Exclusive: TV producer and former Key And Peele writer Rich Talarico has sold his film pitch Kansas to Covert Media and Broken Road Productions. Plot details are being kept under wraps but it is described as an unusual/Charlie Kaufman-esque project. It’s the first project Covert has purchased based solely off a pitch. “Rich has developed an incredibly clever concept,” said Covert Media CEO Paul Hanson. “We are thrilled to be working with him and Broken Road to push this…...

From the very first sketch — in which two African-American men on their phones began to conversationally code-switch when they get in proximity to each other — you could tell Key & Peele was not your typical sketch show. Maybe you recognized Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele from their Mad TV days, or knew the latter from his Children's Hospital appearances; maybe you simply thought, it's a new Comedy Central series, let's check it out. But by the time the show concluded its five-season run of ridiculous college-football player names, Presidential anger-translations, weepy gangsters,...

The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominations for their annual awards for Best Screenplays (by writers who are guild signatories). That’s right, before you get nervous thinking that your favorite may have been left off the list, you must remember that the WGA is the group that is not all-inclusive and leaves out several of the top contenders each year due to them not being part of the guild or not following their very specific rules. For this reason, you won’t see Inside Out, The Hateful Eight, and Ex Machina in the Original Screenplay category or Room, Brooklyn, or Anomalisa in the Adapted screenplay category.

Taking a look at what’s left over for the nominations, we find many that were expected to make a showing, including Spotlight and Bridge of Spies for Original Screenplay, though they apparently had to sink to really low depths...

Ryan Coogler's "Creed" topped the NAACP Image Awards nomination which were revealed this morning. "Creed" received nods for best picture, director for Coogler, actor for Michael B. Jordan, writing for Coogler and Aaron Covington, and supporting actress noms for both Phylicia Rashad and Tessa Thompson.

We'll find out the winners on February 5 on the live airing of the ceremony on TV one.

Here is the full list of nominees of the 47th NAACP Image Awards:

Entertainer Of The Year

Michael B. Jordan

Misty Copeland

Pharrell Williams

Shonda Rhimes

Viola Davis

Television

Outstanding Comedy Series

.black-ish. (ABC)

.House of Lies. (Showtime)

.Key & Peele. (Comedy Central)

.Orange is the New Black. (Netflix)

.Survivor.s Remorse. (Starz)

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series

Andre Braugher . .Brooklyn Nine-Nine. (Fox)

Anthony Anderson . .black-ish. (ABC)

Don Cheadle . .House of Lies. (Showtime)

Dwayne Johnson . .Ballers. (HBO)

RonReaco Lee . .Survivor.s Remorse. (Starz)

Outstanding Actress...

The Writers Guild of America announced some of its nominees for its 2015 awards on Thursday, including television, new media, and radio, and among the TV nominees are series both new and old, and all beloved.

In the comedy series category, freshman Netflix show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" scored a nomination for best series, as well as an overall best new series nod. "The Last Man on Earth" also landed in that latter category, and was singled out for its pilot episode writing, too.

On the drama side of the equation, lauded "Breaking Bad" spinoff "Better Call Saul" also got best series and best new series nominations, in addition to a an episode writing nod. Newly-minted Emmy winner "Game of Thrones" also scored a best drama citation, as well as an episodic writing nomination.

The full list of nominees released this week are below. Nominations in the theatrical and documentary categories will...

Mr. Garvey is getting promoted to the big screen. Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures has pre-emptively snapped up Substitute Teacher, a film treatment of the popular Key & Peele comedy sketches featuring a hilariously prickly inner city substitute teacher doing time in a white, suburban high school.

Keegan-Michael Key will again star as takes-no-guff Mr. Garvey, and Jordan Peele will play a rival teacher who battles him for the students’ affections. The script will be penned by Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens, who co-produce Key & Peele for Comedy Central. Key and Peele will produce along with Shawn Levy and Dan LeVine of 21 Laps and Peter Principato, Paul Young and Joel Zadak of Principato Young Entertainment.

Substitute Teacher is the second film project Key and Peele are working on. The duo begins filming Keanu for New Line next month. Written by Peele and Rubens, it centers on two friends who attempt to...

Its been a week for old news rehashing itself and getting confirmations.

Earlier in the week we learned that reports about "The X-Files" getting a limited event series revival, and that the Russo brothers were locks to direct the two-part "Avengers: Infinity War" saga. Both stories turned out to be true.

Today, two several months old stories seem to have gotten revivals in trade publications. A report back in January suggested Martin Scorsese and Kenneth Branagh have reportedly had "informal conversations" about Scorsese making a movie based on Branagh's 2013 Manchester International Festival production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth."

Doing press rounds for "Cinderella," Branagh spoke again about that report and tells BBC Radio (via The Playlist):

"We're practically there with this happening. We will remount the production and all things being well Mr. Scorsese will direct a film version of that production. The fingers are hovering above pieces of paper. We've been talking about it.

Paramount wants to turn Key & Peele's "Substitute Teacher" sketch into a feature film, Deadline reports. The studio bought a pitch that has Keegan-Michael Key starring as the irascible inner-city sub, Mr. Garvey, and Jordan Peele portraying a rival teacher gunning for glory. Key and Peele will produce, and Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens will write. No other details on this project were available, but Key and Peele's other project, Keanu, is reportedly set to start production this spring. Don't worry, then, they're coming for you, A-Aron.

Back in September, we reported that Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele are developing a feature version of their Key & Peele substitute teacher sketch for Paramount Pictures. Keegan Michael Key, who plays the teacher named Mr. Garvey in the sketch, would only say that they are in talks with Paramount for the project, and that two of their Key & Peele writers are working on the script. Today Deadline has word that Paramount has pre-emptively bought their pitch for a Substitute Teacher movie.

Keegan Michael Key will reprise his role as Mr. Garvey, with Jordan Peele set to play a rival teacher who is trying to become the students' favorite. The original sketch, which debuted in 2012, follows Mr. Garvey, an inner-city substitute who refuses to take any flack from his all-white, suburban high school students. The video currently has over 72 million views on YouTube.

Key & Peele writers Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens are penning the script,...

The popular "Key & Peele" sketch "Substitute Teacher," which centers on an inner-city substitute teacher - Mr. Garvey - who has trouble adjusting to a classroom full of middle-class white students, just might become a feature film, if Paramount Pictures runs with the idea. The studio has picked up a pitch from Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele to develop the skit into a feature-length film. Key, who stars in the sketch, will also star in the feature adaptation, and his partner Peele will play a rival teacher determined to be the students’ favorite. Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens (co-producers of "Key...

Fantastic news for me and a few million other people. One of my very favorite sketches from Key and Peele's self-titled show on Comedy Central is going to become a feature length comedy at Paramount. Substitute Teacher will finally bring the travails of Mr. Garvey to the big screen, where we can truly expect some unhinged lunacy. The script will be written by Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens, who are also co-producers on Key and Peele. it was a given that Keegan-Michael Key would be in this, but I'm excited that Jordan Peele is appearing as well (especially if it's as the other substitute featured in alternate versions of the sketch). This is the second feature in the pipeline from Key and Peele, with their stolen cat movie Keanu lensing in the coming months for New Line. Per Deadline, here's the synopsis for Substitute Teacher: Keegan-Michael Key will reprise...

“Key & Peele’s” hit “Substitute Teacher” sketch is coming to the big screen thanks to Paramount, which just bought a pitch for a movie that will star Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap. “Key & Peele” co-producers Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens will write the script, which will feature Key’s irascible educator Mr. Garvey competing with a rival inner-city teacher played by Peele for the love and respect of the student body. The “Substitute Teacher” sketches have more than 72 million collective views on YouTube, and Key and Peele are a budding comedy.

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have been slowly making their presence felt in movie roles, but their eponymous sketch show for America’s Comedy Central is where they’ve really been making waves, with popular characters and memorable moments generating plenty of attention. Now Paramount wants to turn one of their more successful characters – Key’s tough-minded but deluded substitute teacher Mr. Garvey – into a film.The sketches, which have been a viral sensation on YouTube, see the inner city substitute teacher taking on a class of largely white, suburban students and refuses to take any of the guff he assumes they’re going to give him. Whether the concept can extend to a film remains to be seen, but regular Key & Peele writers Rich Talarico and Alex Rubens are writing the script, which will see Peele as a rival teacher who tries to become the students’ favourite. Shawn Levy...

Moone Boy, “Godfellas”

Written by Chris O’Dowd & Nick Vincent Murphy

Directed by Declan Lowney

Aired July 10th, 2013 on Hulu

In a year full of fantastic imports, Moone Boy seems to have slipped through the cracks. This Irish series, which was picked up in July by Hulu, was created by Chris O’Dowd and stars youngster David Rawle as 12 year old Martin Moone and O’Dowd as his imaginary friend, Seán Murphy. The series follows Martin’s exploits growing up in a small Irish town in the late eighties and early nineties and is based on O’Dowd’s childhood experiences. “Godfellas”, the fifth of the first season’s six episodes, centers on Martin’s newfound desire to become an altar boy. He’s immediately taken with the idea upon seeing a group of them process in at his confirmation, “You Can’t Touch This” playing in his head as...