This year I served as a member of the Writers Guild of America west's "Officers Nominating Committee." It was our job to come up with two candidates each for the offices of President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer.
We've just concluded by phone conference our final meeting. While I'm sworn to secrecy until the WGA announces those candidates and the candidates who will also run for the Board of Directors in this year's election, I think it's pretty safe to say that this is going to be one astonishingly competitive election, maybe even one for the Guild history books.
Some people around town already know what's going on (obviously, since the candidates and their supporters talk). The likelihood is that either Daily Variety or the Hollywood Reporter or even Nikki Finke are likely to break this news before the WGA gets around to announcing it. Hell, at dinner on Friday, one of my friends told me what the news was and he was spot-on. That was 48 hours ago.
Anyway, after last year's strike, the WGA is about to put a couple of presidential and vice-presidential candidates out there who will have dramatically different takes on what it meant, what we won or lost, and what we should do next. That's democracy, folks, and the WGA is about to practice it, big-time. Stay tuned...
