Written By

When Beetlejuice was first summoned from his attic-bound miniature town 36 years ago, he was a sort of id-driven extension of his creator, Tim Burton, bent not just on causing havoc for the film’s characters, but on disrupting movies themselves—throwing horror, comedy, and family drama in a blender and gleefully smashing the puree button.

After they have spent years—or in some cases more than a decade—dreaming up crises for protective agencies in the Windy City to face and overcome, one might think that the showrunners and writers of Wolf Entertainment have this particular procedural drill down to a science.

One of the key lessons that Yona Speidel took from her first writers’ room, the second season of Transparent, was the importance of collaboration. Of course, as a long-time classical pianist who had worked with orchestras on everything from Bach to Broadway, having an “ear” for the room was as asset that Speidel had long since cultivated. “It was a very fast learning curve,” Speidel says of that first room more than a decade ago, “but working in a writers’ room is so similar to making music.

Whether the setting is a superhero’s version of Hollywood, a medical center/teaching hospital or a suburb positively stuffed with secrets, nobody is more qualified to share the scene behind-the-scenes than the showrunners who oversee these fictionalized universes.

Ever since Georges Méliès took A Trip to the Moon in 1902, writers have been grappling with creatures from different galaxies. Alan B. McElroy, a science-fiction loving screen and TV writer currently working as an executive producer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, believes these tales begin by answering the fundamental question: What would an alien want?

Even in times of relative calm, the work of the Entertainment Community Fund (ECF) never stops or even slows down. Spring of 2026 saw the nonprofit distribute the last of its $1.5 million in relief directly targeting WGAW members who had been affected by the 2025 wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

In a time so turbulent and politically divided as ours, can fictional public servants in TV shows and film speak truth to power? Can such work effect change? Could a show like Veep or The West Wing be greenlit today? Depends on who you ask. The now-classic The West Wing (Created by Aaron Sorkin) ran from 1999 to 2006.

Illustration by Moises Marquez Career & Craft On 3rd & Fairfax, WGAW screenwriters discussed notes, pitching, writing for actors, and building on momentum. Whenever they drop by the 3rd & Fairfax podcast, WGAW writers are always generous with their anecdotes, insights and pearls of wisdom. After hearing from several of our recent showrunner guests, Written by cocked an ear to receive some bits of choice advice from some of our screenwriters.

Career & Craft During their visits to 3rd & Fairfax, WGAW showrunners shared their wisdom on everything from climbing the career ladder to how to handle being rewritten. In 2025, multiple WGAW members went behind the mic during sessions at the 3rd & Fairfax podcast for discussions about career, craft, inspiration, and an assortment of other topics. Several of the showrunners also dropped some pearls of wisdom. Written by listened in and mined some of the choicest tips.

The proposed $110 billion Paramount Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery merger, has Hollywood outraged. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has claimed that the merger will result in more theatrical releases (30 a year between Paramount and Warner Bros.), but the Guild has long noted the sobering reality: previous mergers have produced the opposite, with writers and independent producers losing ground creatively and financially.