Writers' Guild of Great Britain: The facts

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain is a trade union for writers, established to protect writers across all forms of media, be it television, films, books, video games, online or theatre work. The Guild is affiliated internationally to similar bodies across the world. Some facts about the Writers' Guild of Great Britain are discussed in this article.

Overview

Protecting rights The Writers' Guild of Great Britain was established in 1959 as a body to protect the rights and further the aims of British professional writers. The Guild campaigns on behalf of writers, negotiates agreements and looks to ensure the most favourable terms of pay and conditions possible for their members. The Guild is a member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG), which links it in a confederation of similar organisations from places such as Australia, France and various regions of Canada, including French-speaking Quebec. It also enjoys an affiliation with the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) [East] and the WGA [West].

Services

For British food and travel writers, TV, film, theatre, radio, children’s books and new media, a particularly useful service offered by the Guild is contract-vetting. This service means that freelance writers who are members of the Guild can have contracts vetted, as well as option agreements, agency agreements and collaborators’ agreements (for example between writing partners). Even when a contract is not covered by the Guild’s vetting service, staff at the Guild will often inform members where they can find alternative sources of advice. Writersguild.org.uk A full list of the Guild's negotiated agreements, rates and guidelines can be found at the organisation's official website, Writersguild.org.uk, as can details of the Guild's pension scheme, offered to writer members.

Memberships

Membership of the Guild is open to writers of all levels of experience, with a series of different levels of membership for relative achievements and experience. The levels are: Affiliate, Student, Candidate, and Full. The latter two levels are dependent on the amount of work that a writer has had published, with higher levels having a requirement of having work published at agreed Guild rates. The Student level is open to writers who are currently engaged on an accredited writing course or with an attachment to a theatre. Affiliate members of the Guild are people such as agents, technical advisers, researchers or consultants, those who are engaged in some kind of professional relationship with writers. Full details of all memberships are subject to change, and prospective members should always refer to the Guild itself for the specific terms of joining.