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Lisa Takeuchi Cullen will be the next president of the WGA East, succeeding Michael Winship, who is not seeking re-election.

BreAnna Bell The drinks were flowing and the guests were energized with a renewed sense of promise as writers gathered to celebrate their Humanitas wins as well as a new deal with the AMPTP at the Humanitas Prizes Toast on Thursday night. Held almost one month after the WGA ratified its new contract officially ending the summer-long writers strike, this year’s event was moved from its usual hotel ballroom location to Hollywood nightclub Avalon, out of respect for the Local 11 Unite Here hotel workers who remain on strike for fair and livable wages — a cause that all in the room shouted their support for once announced on stage by co-MCs Lennon Parham and Jessica St.

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, running unopposed, has been elected president of the WGA East. Cullen, who until now had been VP of the guild’s Film/TV/Streaming sector, succeeds Michael Winship, who chose not to seek re-election.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members have elected Lisa Takeuchi Cullen as its new president. Cullen, who was an unopposed candidate for the posititon, takes over for outgoing president Michael Winship, who announced his decision to not seek reelection of his longtime post over the summer. “I am honored to become the next President of the Writers Guild of America East,” Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Amid an ongoing strike, the Writers Guild of America East begins voting today on its new council members, including the successor for longtime president Michael Winship. With the strike environment generating solidarity across the WGAE and its WGA West counterpart, it would seem that the election would be a straightforward affair with WGAE members on the same page about what they want from their guild.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer WGA East president Michael Winship will not be seeking re-election amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. “This is a decision that was made right from the start two years ago when I was asked to return to the presidency,” Winship said in a statement sent to guild members Tuesday, just as WGAE revealed the candidates up for officer seats in its upcoming council election this September.

The leaders of the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and the Teamsters have issued a “joint statement of solidarity” with the Directors Guild in its final scheduled week of contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, saying that they “stand alongside our sisters, brothers, and kin in the DGA in their pursuit of a fair contract.” Their statement comes on the 30th day of the ongoing WGA strike and 21 days after the DGA began its contract talks with the AMPTP.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Colin Farrell, Mariska Hargitay, Danny Strong, Paula Pell, Rachel Dratch, Michael Kelly and Craig Zobel were among the stars who came out to the writers strike picket line outside Paramount Global’s New York City office in Times Square Thursday. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D.-N.Y., and local politicians spoke at the event in support of the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) cause against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that has led to a four-week-and-counting work stoppage due to the organizations’ inability to ink a new contract May 1. “This is about what’s right. We’ve seen income inequality grow exponentially over the last decade; and in your business, it has never been more present,” Gillibrand said to the crowd, filled with not only WGA members, but also those from SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters, among other unions. “We see writers working hard every day to produce content and we have an unfair playing field. Not only does AI want to displace our writers, they simply can’t. AI generates content based on what’s been written before the work you did last year, and the year before. It’s not original. It’s not imaginative. It doesn’t come from the human heart. It’s not about a human experience. It’s not about what people actually want to learn about or know about or see or experience. That is what writers bring to the equation every single time. So this strike is so important for the future of this country. It’s about the value of workers; workers and what they create is fundamentally valuable.”

Writers Guild of America has completed its pattern of demands for its upcoming contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios in labor talks. The pattern of demands, which has been obtained by TheWrap and can be read below, has been sent to members WGA West and WGA East for an approval vote.

Penelope Koechl will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild. The honorary award will be presented at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony at New York’s Edison Ballroom on March 5. 

Paul Simms, the creator of the NBC comedy NewsRadio and currently showrunner on FX’s What We Do in the Shadows and an executive producer on Atlanta, will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence. The honor will be presented by Atlanta‘s Donald Glover at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony March 5 at New York’s Edison Ballroom.

Spike Lee will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement.

As part of the restructuring, the WGA East Council now consists of 20 members: 12 writers who work in film, television and streaming; five writers from online media, and three from broadcast and cable news media. In addition, each of these three sectors will have a vice president representing them in leadership.

Sara David, running unopposed, has been elected vice president of the WGA East representing online media members, and Kathy McGee beat two other candidates to become vice president representing members working in the broadcast/cable/streaming news sector.

The proposed changes were approved with 98% of the vote, with only 40 members voting against. Twenty-four percent of all members participated in the vote.

WGA East members have voted overwhelmingly to approve changes to the guild’s constitution that are designed to ensure a more “balanced representation” of members by bridging the divide between those who work in film, TV and broadcasting, and those employed in digital newsrooms.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe membership of WGA East has ratified a change to the union’s constitution, cementing a compromise between traditional TV and film writers and newer members who work in digital media.The amendment passed overwhelmingly, with 98% of the votes in favor. Turnout was 24%.The constitutional change creates three “work sectors” within the union: Film/TV/Streaming, Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News and Online Media.

Writers Guild of America East have settled on proposed changes to the constitution that will change how the guild develops its plans to unionize digital media companies. The guild’s leadership announced Thursday that it will start a campaign called “#NextChapter” that will include online meetings with members about the proposed constitutional amendments, on which the WGAE Council unanimously recommended a “yes” vote ahead of a referendum later this spring.

The WGA East, whose leaders last year talked openly about spinning off their digital news members into a separate union, is now fully embracing them by proposing changes to the guild’s constitution that would ensure “balanced representation” on its governing body for members from its different work sectors.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorLeaders of the WGA East have reached a compromise after months of friction over the membership base of the union that represents film and TV writers on the East Coast.The WGA East council voted unanimously to pursue major changes to the union’s constitution to allow for different classifications of membership. The council is recommending changes that will be voted on in a member referendum later this spring.All of this is an effort to settle the divide over the WGA East’s big push during the last decade to organize writers for digital news and entertainment outlets.“The WGAE Council has spent the last several months working together and with an outside facilitator.

Sasha Urban editorThe Writers Guild of America, East will hold its annual “And the Nominees Are…” documentary contenders’ panel on March 8, with Variety hosting the livestream.The limited series panel will take place at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT and will be split into two parts, with the second one airing 45 minutes after the first.

The WGA East has resumed its organizing of digital newsrooms after a pause amid concerns that news writers and producers were on the verge of becoming a majority of the guild’s membership.

Michael Winship, running unopposed, has been elected president of the WGA East, the guild said Tuesday, but his running mates for seats on the guild’s council took a drubbing. Seven candidates on the opposition’s Solidarity slate were elected to the council, compared to only four on Winship’s Inclusion & Experience slate.

In this year’s elections, six freelance seats and three staff seats were up for grabs on the council, as well as two seats vacated by incoming guild president Michael Winship and incoming vice president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. All three staff seats, which are allocated to news writers, were won by Solidarity Slate along with four of the six open freelance seats, which are allocated to film and television writers.

The list of candidates released by WGA East also revealed that council members Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and Christopher Kyle would run unopposed for vice president and secretary-treasurer, respectively. Winship will succeed “House of Cards” showrunner Beau Willimon, who served as WGA East President since 2017 and has decided not to seek reelection.

Former WGA East president Michael Winship, running unopposed, will be the guild’s next president, succeeding Beau Willimon, who’s not seeking re-election after four years in office. House of Cards creator Willimon led the guild through the WGA’s historic legal battle that reshaped the talent agency business.

Dave McNary Film ReporterFormer Writers Guild of America East president Michael Winship has been re-elected to the guild’s governing council as a freelance rep along with four other incumbents: Monica Lee Bellais, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Kaitlin Fontana and A.M. Homes.Gina Gionfriddo and Eric Saleh were also elected to open freelance seats.

David Robb Labor EditorWomen writers carried the day in the WGA East’s Council elections, winning nine of the ten seats up for grabs. The only man to win a seat was former WGA East president Michael Winship.