WGA West Members! Pickles the Election Dog is here to ask you to check your email for the link to your ballot and vote for Andrew Ti for Board of Directors!

Today, I wanted to talk really quickly about the core thing that seems to underline a lot of the issues that marginalized writers of all types face in their interactions with the guild: transparency.

Does it ever feel like, when it comes to issues for marginalized writers, it’s hard to get a clear sense of what is being done concretely you help us?

Or, when our concerns are kicked down the road or ignored during a negotiation, we’re left in the dark without a clear explanation to why that is, and what’s going to be done to rectify things in the future?

Contrast this with what does get communicated to us. For marginalized writers, ask yourself, is it clear to you why we needed to undergo the agency action, or what to do in case of a dispute over credit? To me, those issues and processes are clearly defined and communicated.

Contrast this with asking yourself if you think it’s been equally communicated about what the guild is doing about lack of representation in writers rooms, or how it intends to mediate between show runners who create a hostile work environment and low level writers?

Shit is a lot more muddy, right?

I think the perspectives of the powerful current leadership make it hard for them to see that these inequities in the way they communicate process, plan, and intention make marginalized writers feel yet more marginalized.

For anyone who has listened to my podcast or read one of my dumb tweet threads, you know that one thing I’m good (or at least not afraid of), is sharing my train of thought on difficult issues, and that I’m always looking for solutions to help the most vulnerable among us.

So, at the very least, if I’m elected, you can be sure that I’ll be in there speaking up for you, the low level tv writer, the feature writer, the comedy variety writer, and you’ll know what was done, what trade-offs were made, and what the plan is for making things right.