It was no surprise when Michele Mulroney was elected to be the new president of the Writers Guild of America West on Tuesday afternoon, given that she ran unopposed for the top job.
What was more of an open question was the leaders who would shepherd the union alongside Mulroney over the next few years and the issues they might prioritize — which Wednesday’s election results answered, with elected leaders emphasizing the need for the union to organize and to do more to help writers resist doing “free work.”
Travis Donnelly was elected vice president and Peter Murrieta won the secretary-treasurer job in the election that took place between Aug. 29 and Sept. 23. Incumbents Adam Conover, Rob Forman, Maggie Levin and Molly Nussbaum were elected to seats on the board of directors, as well as non-incumbents Marguerite MacIntyre, Matt Ross, Mike Royce and Myles Warden.
Because Donnelly, a board member, still had one year left on his term, Cathryn Humphris was additionally elected to serve out his final year. A little over 2,500 valid ballots were cast in a count supervised by Votenet Solutions.
Multiple newly elected leaders of the union urged the labor group to organize beyond its usual pool of union members into domains like YouTube, verticals, podcasts and other forms of content creation. Conover ran entirely on a platform devoted to growing the union, while in her statement to members, Mulroney said pointedly, “We are sitting on a shrinking iceberg and must be willing to look beyond our current employers.”
But other themes amongst those who were elected on Tuesday were ending what seems like a never-ending scourge for writers, requests that they do unpaid work as they audition for jobs and even after they have finished a job, and protecting the union’s health plan. Shoring up that plan for the future is expected to be a major issue in contention during the labor group’s 2026 contract negotiations with studios and streamers.
Also important to elected candidates was protecting union members from threats to their work from generative AI and improving diversity, equity and inclusion at the union. Contract enforcement was on several elected candidates’ agendas, as was improving communication from the union to members. “The guild did a wonderful job during the strikes, tapping into the power of social media to motivate us, clear up misinformation and share powerful messages and misinformation,” said newly elected board member Warden. He said he wanted the union to “maintain a similar energy and connectedness year-round.”
More to come.