WGA Taps David A. Goodman, Chris Keyser to Co-Chair 2023 Negotiating Committee
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The Writers Guild of America announced its negotiating committee for next year’s bargaining agreement talks, with former presidents David A. Goodman and Chris Keyser serving as co-chairs.
Goodman, a longtime collaborator with Seth MacFarlane on shows like “Family Guy,” was president of WGA West from 2017 to 2021 and led the guild through a successful, multiyear battle against the entertainment industry’s top talent agencies to eliminate their practice of packaging fees, arguing that the payments from studios to agencies in exchange for packaging talent for a project were a conflict of interest between agents and the writers they were supposed to represent.
Keyser, a graduate of Harvard Law School, served as WGA West president from 2011 to 2015, previously winning a Golden Globe as creator and showrunner of the 1990s Fox TV series “Party of Five.” WGA West executive director David Young will once again serve as lead negotiator.
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Current WGA West president Meredith Stiehm and WGA East president Michael Winship will also be on the committee with their respective vice presidents and secretary-treasurers, Michele Mulroney and Betsy Thomas for WGAW and Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and Christopher Kyle for WGAE. Other notable members of the committee include “The Good Place” creator Mike Schur, “The Wire” creator David Simon, “Arrival” screenwriter Eric Heisserer, and “Pitch Perfect” writer Kay Cannon.
The 2023 contract negotiation talks are expected to be a pivotal and contentious period not just for the WGA but also for fellow unions DGA and SAG-AFTRA, as all three are expected to press for stronger wages and residuals for projects developed for streaming.
The issue of streaming residuals, something that the WGA relented on in order to agree to terms that would end the 2007 writers strike, was expected to be tackled during the 2020 contract talks as new streaming services like Disney+, HBO Max and Peacock were ramping up production on original films and shows; but was tabled to 2023 after productions were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full list of committee members below.
David A. Goodman, Co-Chair
Chris Keyser, Co-Chair
John August
Angelina Burnett
Kay Cannon
Yahlin Chang
Robb Chavis
Adam Conover
Travis Donnelly
Ashley Gable
Hallie Haglund
Eric Haywood
Eric Heisserer
Greg Iwinski
Luvh Rakhe
Erica Saleh
Danielle Sanchez-Witzel
James Schamus
Tom Schulman
Mike Schur
David Shore
David Simon
Patric M. Verrone
Nicole Yorkin
Michael Winship, WGAE President, Ex-Officio
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, WGAE Vice President of Film/TV/Streaming, Ex-Officio
Christopher Kyle, WGAE Secretary-Treasurer, Ex-Officio
Meredith Stiehm, WGAW President, Ex-Officio
Michele Mulroney, WGAW Vice President, Ex-Officio
Betsy Thomas, WGAW Secretary-Treasurer, Ex-Officio