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The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries. As of 2003, they claim more than 11,000 members nationwide. The WGA is the final arbiter of screenwriting credit.
It is divided into two separate unions, the Writers Guild of America, east and Writers Guild of America, west, for historical reasons. A writer's residence being east or west of the Mississippi River determines which he should join.
In 2004, WGA West was embroiled in a scandal, during which leadership changed more than three different times in only a few weeks. Victoria Riskin, having been elected in 2003, was determined to be ineligible for the post because she had not worked as a writer recently enough to qualify. She resigned and was replaced by vice-president Charles Holland, who resigned a few weeks later when lies about his college and military career were exposed and the board appointed Daniel Petrie, Jr.. The U.S. Department of Labor supervised a new election in September between Eric Hughes and Daniel Petrie, Jr.. Hughes assaulted the union for being run by insiders only for the benefit of famous writers, harming new and little-known writers. In asserting his accusations, he compiled extensive documents on his website (http://www.erichughes.net). However, he lost the election.
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