WRITERS MATTER
Good Things Come To Us Who Write
The WGA Strike and our revolutionary impact on the craft and community
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Ever since I became a rather serious writer, I have found one thing, if anything, to be true. Writing is, in just about every sense of the act, — a habitual solitary endeavor. We often realize this when we inadvertently choose it over the relationships of our lives, nights out with friends, or time with family. It never comes intentionally or effortlessly, but with the desire and responsibility to inform our world and ourselves, such introspection becomes a prerequisite. The act of writing, in itself, requires what most are unwilling or unable to sacrifice.
Moreover, if it is one thing to become a writer, even more seriously is the province of the Black writer. It’s hard to conceive for most that the now free act of writing was once punishable by death for the Black writer just 200-some-odd years ago. I carry the solemnity of a Black writer with me in every portion of my work, something I realized early on that if I were going to take on the responsibility of a writer, it’d have to be life or death for me or nothing at all.
While writing is often referred to as a sacrificial, secluded undertaking, it doesn’t always have to be when connected with others who write as seriously as you do — maybe even more. And from that connection, that fellowship — something rather essential can happen.
By engaging with fellow Black writers, I realized the invaluable means to be paid our worth and utilizing writing as a weapon of protest.
The Writers Guild of America is a collective organization between writers and labor unions representing storytellers in film, television, radio, and online media. The organization was established in 1954 in response to and recognition of the growing diversity of representing members in different fields of writing.
Though the writers and labor unions run independently, the organizations often join forces regularly to perform the following activities:
- Manages the production of The Writers Guild of America Awards, presented annually to recognize…
