Top Showrunners Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy & Greg Berlanti Among 300+ Writers Who Back Phyllis Nagy’s WGAW Election Bid With Letter Of Support

Nellie Andreeva

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The slate of Phyllis Nagy is getting a massive showing of support from some of the biggest names in film and television. More than 300 writers of all levels in the film and TV business, from up-and-comers to superstars, have signed an open letter endorsing Nagy, who is running for president of WGA West, as well as her slate of Craig Mazin, who’s running for vice president, and Nick Jones Jr., up for secretary-treasurer.

Those who have signed the letter include heavyweights Shonda Rhimes, Greg Berlanti, Ryan Murphy, Ava DuVernay, Dan Fogelman, Kenya Barris, Steve Levitan, Damien Chazelle, Courtney Kemp, Aaron Sorkin, David E. Kelley, Akiva Goldsman, Lena Waithe, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Allan Heinberg, David Benioff, DB Weiss, Alex Kurtzman, Sarah Treem,, Darren Star, Nic Pizzolatto, Scott Frank, Eric Kripke and Alex Gibney.

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The list also includes top showrunner John Wells, one of the most respected leaders in the guild who served multiple terms as WGA West president. It is open for any writer to add their name.

The letter by the writers echoes the statements by the candidates they support — gratitude for the efforts by the current guild leadership for taking on the issues of packaging and agency affiliate production over conflict-of-interest concerns, but also a strong belief that the strategy needs to shift, and that can be done with a new leadership.

“We believe this present situation is best resolved in a negotiating room and not in a courtroom,” the letter says.

The Oscar-nominated writer of Carol, Nagy is running on a platform favoring “a measured, calm, respected, reasonable – and yes – negotiated – path (to) get writers back to work with their chosen reps” that would be beneficial “particularly for the most vulnerable members of our community.”

“We won’t reach a resolution with stalemates, entrenched thinking, a reliance on lawsuits that may or may not resolve in our favor after years of litigation, and a refusal to talk to the other side,” Nagy wrote in her “Why I’m Running” statement. In addition to Nagy’s slate, running on the same platform are eight WGAW board candidates, including Courtney Camp, Marc Guggenheim, Rasheed Newsom, Ashley Miller and Nick Kazan.

While several showrunners and feature writers have voiced opposition to the current WGAW leadership strategy over the past couple of months — most notably in a June petition written to WGA chiefs by 20 established scribes, including Nagy — this is the biggest showing of unity behind the change-in-direction platform by the top writers in the business.

Here is the full letter:

An Open Letter from Writers on the September 2019 WGA Election

As members of the Writers Guild of America, we firmly believe that many agency practices are in need of major reform. We are grateful to the present leadership for bringing these matters to the fore.

And we believe this present situation is best resolved in a negotiating room and not in a courtroom.

Furthermore, we are facing a critical negotiation with the AMPTP, a fight that has huge financial consequences for our members especially in the area of residuals, and we believe this battle is best fought by a united, forward-thinking guild that is not entrenched in lawsuits.

Our union is strong enough to endure honest differences of opinion voiced by writers who are loyal to the guild and its mission, who are driven by their concern for our most vulnerable members, but who believe there is a different way to achieve our shared goals.

We believe

Phyllis Nagy, for President
Craig Mazin, for Vice President
and Nick Jones, Jr. for Secretary-Treasurer

are the best and strongest voices to lead our guild into its next chapter.

We are grateful to them for being willing to serve, and we are proud to endorse them.

Signed,

Jesse Alexander
Jennifer Ames
Josh Appelbaum
David Appelbaum
Isaac Aptaker
Michelle Ashford
Shalom Auslander
Michael Bacall
Neal Baer
Byron Balasco
Andrew Barrer
Kenya Barris
Samuel Baum
Travis Beacham
Lindsey Beer
Leah Benavides
Jessica Bendinger
David Benioff
Elizabeth Berger
Greg Berlanti
Mick Betancourt
Ken Biller
Stuart Blumberg
Mark Boal
Andy Bobrow
Yvette Bowser
Pam Brady
Chris Brancato
Josh Brand
David Branson Smith
Julia Brownell
Scott Buck
Jeffrey Buhler
Tara Butters
Lila Byock
Brandon Camp
Glenn Caron
Lea Carpenter
Alex Cary
Michael Chabon
Ilene Chaiken
Damien Chazelle
Etan Cohen
Jonathan Collier
Ryan Condal
Sarah Conradt
Adam Cooper
Jennifer Crittenden
Alex Cunningham
Gary Dauberman
Laura Dave
Nevin Densham
Brad Desch
David Digillio
Bathsheba Doran
Craig Doyle
Ethan Drogin
James A. Duff
Ava DuVernay
Renee Echevarria
Becky Hartman Edwards
Rick Eid
Lee Eisenberg
Anya Epstein
Zack Estrin
Michele Fazekas
Jon Feldman
Gabe Ferrari
Joel Fields
Susanna Fogel
Dan Fogelman
Naomi Foner
David Foster
Scott Frank
Jason Fuchs
Dan Futterman
Steve Gaghan
Rodgrigo Garcia
John Gatins
Alex Gibney
Tyler Gillett
Jonathan Glatzer
John Glenn
Will Gluck
Akiva Goldsman
David H. Goodman
Al Gough
Gary Graham
Raf Green
Michael Green
Laura Greene
Alex Gregory
John Griffin
Marc Guggenheim
Derek Haas
Jason Hall
John Lee Hancock
Liz Hannah
Stephen Harrigan
Jordan Harrison
Allan Heinberg
Eileen Heisler
Bruce Helford
DeAnn Heline
Jonathan Herman
Marshal Herskovitz
Justin Hillian
Jonathan Hirschbein
Tyler Hisel
Cheo Hodari Coker
Courtney Hoffman
David Hollander
Elyse Hollander
Matt Holloway
Soo Hugh
Mitch Hurwitz
Peter Huyck
David Hwang
Kevin Hynes
David Iserson
Ryan Jaffe
Judah Jeff
Rian Johnson
Phil Johnson
Amanda Johnson-Zetterstrom
Eileen Jones
Nick Jones, Jr.
Jeff Judah
Alexa Junge
Laeta Kalogridis
Dave Kalstein
Kourtney Kang
Lawrence Kasdan
Marta Kaufman
Stephen Kay
Nick Kazan
Patrick Keefe
David E. Kelley
Brendan Kelly
Courtney Kemp
Carla Kettner
Barbie Kligman
Stacy Kramer
Eric Kripke
Roger Kumble
Alex Kurtzman
Mark Lafferty
Peter Landesman
Andrew Lanham
Adam Lash
Amanda Lasher
Bill Lawrence
Zander Lehman
Warren Leonard
Steven Levenson
David Levien
Richard Levine
Steve Levitan
Amy Lippman
Lisa Long
Rob Long
Matt Lopez
Phil Lord
David Lowery
Silka Luisa
Jenny Lumet
Ben Lustig
David Magee
Erin Maher
Jennifer Maisel
Ted Malawer
Tracey Malone
Art Marcum
Justin Marks
Marissa Matteo
David Matthews
Michelle McGrath
David McMillan
John McNamara
Carly Mensch
Wendy Mericle
Enzo Mileti
Chris Miller
Brian Miller
Ashley Edward Miller
Rina Mimoun
Andrew Mogel
Graham Moore
Kirk Moore
Jack Moore
Hud Morgan
Chris Mundy
Robert Munic
Marisha Murkerjee
Ryan Murphy
Kevin Murphy
Janine Nabors
Margaret Nagle
Andre Nemec
Patrick Ness
Rasheed Newson
Matt Nix
Jesse Nixon-Lopez
Ken Nolan
George Nolfi
Courtney Norris
Sohrab Noshirvani
Nancy Oliver
John Orloff
Nicholas Osborne
Daniel Paige
Jarrad Paul
Sascha Penn
Jonathan Penner
Clyde Phillips
Jeff Pinkner
Nic Pizzolatto
John Pollono
Jeff Rake
Rand Ravich
Kay Reindl
Shonda Rhimes
Katie Robbins
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Jacob Roman
John Romano
Kim Rome
Scott Rosenberg
Matthew Ross
Lisa Rubin
Stacy Rukeyser
Kenny Ryan
Dre Ryan
Gabe Sachs
Matthew Sand
Sean Sansiveri
Nick Santora
Michael Sardo
Deborah Schoeneman
Jon Schroeder
Michael Seitzman
David Seltzer
Stephanie SenGupta
Sam Shaw
Scott Silver
Jen Silverman
Josh Singer
Eric Singer
Kiwi Smith
Stephanie Smith
David Branson Smith
Paige Smith Orloff
Jill Soloway
Holly Sorensen
Aaron Sorkin
Malcolm Spellman
Gary Spinelli
Will Staples
Darren Star
Jon Steinberg
James P. Stephens
Dan Sterling
Nick Stoller
Danny Strong
Scott Sullivan
Sarah Sutherland
Craig Sweeny
Robin Swicord
Massy Tadjedin
Dustin Thomason
Jake Thornton
Eric Tipton
Stacy Title
Michael Tolkin
Wes Tooke
Nikki Toscano
Jason Tracey
Sarah Treem
Jonathan Tropper
Steven Turner
Cori Uchida
Lena Waithe
Ayelet Waldman
Greg Walker
Katie Wech
Jenny Rachel Weiner
Joseph Weisberg
DB Weiss
Gina Welch
John Wells
Ben Wexler
Sharr White
Ed Whitmore
Marianne Wibberley
Cormac Wibberly
Dan Wiedenhaupt
David Wiener
Vaun Wilmott
Scott Wilson
Max Winkler
Nick Wootton
Angela Workman
Carly Wray
Lawrence Wright
Craig Wright
Bill Wrubel
J.H. Wyman
Gideon Yago
Graham Yost
Stuart Zicherman
Lenore Zion

WGA Writers for Nagy, Mazin and Jones, Jr.

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