Written By

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?

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.

Some of the best screenwriting podcasts were around long before the 2020 pandemic lockdown led to a surge of enthusiasm for podcasts of any kind. Launched in 2015, the WGAW’s 3rd & Fairfax podcast is “a deep dive” into writers’ personalities, projects, and Guild priorities, with the mission to create a screenwriting record of our times, as host and WGAW member Brian Gary puts it.

Once the writers’ room for her new series Discretion breaks for the holidays, writer and co-showrunner Chandler Baker plans to return to her home in Austin, Texas, where she will host a Christmas Eve dinner with her family. The evening will include games, the crafting of a holiday cocktail, and the preparation of her grandmother’s beef stroganoff recipe. “And I’m not a good cook, so thoughts and prayers on that,” confesses Baker, a WGAW member since 2022.

Extraordinary events can require equally outside-of-the box detective work. In conducting his research into the life of assassinated U.S. President James A. Garfield for the Netflix miniseries, Death by Lightning, series creator and writer Mike Makowski went to places both expected and unusual. From studying love letters at the Library of Congress to communing with corpses, the WGAW member of eight years even got a look at the mind of Garfield’s assassin. Literally.

WGAW members are invited to enjoy some holiday cheer in the company of fellow members at the Writers Guild Theater, and who better to help usher in the spirit of the season than the Bailey family? Holiday party attendees may bring a donation of a new and unwrapped toy to benefit the L.A. County Department of Public Social Services’ (DPSS) Toy Loan program. Photo: DPSS Photo/Temo Reyes. The Guild’s Holiday Movie Watch Party on Saturday, Dec.

Illustration by Jen Nguyen Member Voices Taking charge of your internal state is a smart career move. To begin the first session of the Mid-Level Training Program last September, I led over 100 writers in a mindfulness exercise to clear our collective headspace. Here’s why. In the hour before I turned on my microphone, people had been grabbing coffee and having energetic conversations to compare thoughts on the industry contraction and other current events.