The Screen Writers Guild was an organization of Hollywood screenplay authors, formed as a union in 1933. A rival organisation, Screen Playwrights, Inc., was established by the film studios and producers, but after an appeal to the National Labor Relations Board and a vote by eligible screenwriters, the Screenwriters Guild won out as the sole representative body. Its house publication was The Screen Writer. In 1954, it became two different organizations: Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East.

Background and establishment

Screenwriters' earliest attempts at organizing date back to the 1910s, when film scenarists participated in The Authors League of America (now the Authors Guild). However, screenwriters soon identified a need to form their own organization, since they had different work products and challenges than literary writers. Another attempt at representation was the Photoplay Authors’ League, founded in 1914 in Los Angeles, but it disbanded after two years.

In Summer 1920, twelve writers announced the formation of the Screen Writers Guild. They published an open letter in Variety, defining six objectives of the organization, and inviting all industry writers to apply for membership. Members had to derive income from some form of film writing, and to receive nominations from two existing members.

thumb|Inaugural dinner party for The Writers social club at the [[Ambassador_Hotel_(Los_Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel, December 1, 1920]]

In 1921, The Guild also formed a social arm, The Writers' Club. The club purchased a mansion at 6700 Sunset Boulevard and converted it to a clubhouse, which became a gathering place for SWG members. parties, and presentations of one-act plays through the mid-1930s. Others active in the 1930s included Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett, Ogden Nash, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Maurice Rapf. John Howard Lawson was also a co-founder, who was also a key player in resurrecting it in 1937. Gladys Lehman became the organization's first official amanuensis and secretary, as no one else wanted the job. She continued as a screenwriter until 1953 and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

SWG sought to establish criteria for crediting authors for creating or contributing to a screenplay, known as "screen credits." Its house publication was The Screen Writer. The film producers acceded to the NLRB ruling in March 1939.

HUAC (1940s)

Beginning in 1940, the Guild came under attack by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for the "radical communist leanings" of many of its members. The attacks escalated in 1947, when more than a dozen writers were called to testify. Screenwriter Jack Moffitt, an ardent anti-Communist, who had been a member of Screen Playwrights, Inc. and had been embittered by its demise, testified against many screenwriters, including Frank Tuttle, Herbert Biberman, Donald Ogden Stewart, and John Howard Lawson. It described the committee's hearings:

Split (1954)

In 1954, the members of the Screen Writers Guild backed the formation of a national union of a broader organization of writers working in motion pictures, television and radio, divided into two geographical bodies: Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East.

See also

  • Writers Guild of America

References

Further reading

  • Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930–1960 (University of California Press, 1983)
  • David L. Goodrich, The Real Nick and Nora: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers of Stage and Screen Classics (Southern Illinois University Press 2004)
  • Victor S. Navasky, Naming Names (Macmillan, 2003)
  • Nancy Lynn Schwartz, The Hollywood Writers' War (NY: Knopf, 1982)
  • Colin Shindler, Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929–1939 (Psychology Press, 1996)