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.
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