The Writers Guild Foundation’s History

Since its founding in 1966, the Writers Guild Foundation has served the screenwriting community through its prolific library and archives, educational events, and community-building outreach programs. Read on to learn how the Foundation has evolved through the decades. It has achieved success and maintained relevance thanks to the consistent support of the WGA and its members past and present who have volunteered countless hours of their time and expertise for the greater good.

  • Established in 1966, the Writers Guild Foundation was founded by a group of prominent Writers Guild members to raise money so that writers from other countries and small organizations could attend the International Writers Guild conference held in Los Angeles that year. The purpose in setting up a foundation was to create a non-profit charitable corporation that could accept tax-deductible donations and undertake supplementary activities of value to the Guild as well as film and television writers in general. As a result, the Foundation is registered in California as a 501(c)3 charitable and educational corporation.

    The Foundation’s first President was former WGAW President James R. Webb. Other founding trustees included Mel Shavelson (who succeeded Webb in 1974 and served as President for 22 years), Edward Anhalt, Fay Kanin, Christopher Knopf, Ernest Lehman, Isobel Lennart, and Allen Rivkin. Members of the Foundation’s early Boards also included Carl Foreman, Norman Lear, James Lee Mahin, Nate Monaster, James Poe, Gene Roddenberry, Sy Salkowitz, Rod Serling, Leonard Spigelglass, Daniel Taradash and Billy Wilder.

    Early Foundation programs included facilitating the WGAW’s Open Door Writing Program, holding tribute events and screenings, and producing two short films about writers and the WGAW. The Open Door Writing Program (ODWP) was a WGAW initiative that ran from 1968-1976 in which screen and TV writer volunteers provided education, training, and mentorship to aspiring writers of color. Notable alumni include Desmond Nakano, Silas Jones, Erwin Washington, Barbara White Morgan, Russell Bates and Octavia Butler.

    Tribute events and screenings highlighted the achievements of writers including Robert Bolt, Julius Epstein, Phillip Dunne, Oliver Stone, Ernest Lehman and Billy Wilder. The film Words, released in 1987, is a compilation of great movie moments honoring the craft of screenwriting and the writers behind our favorite lines and cinematic scenes. Written and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman, it was screened at film festivals and college campuses around the country to inspire writers and celebrate the art of the written word in entertainment. The History of the Writers Guild, Part 1 tells the story of the Guild’s achievements and struggles from the 1930s-1950s, including first hand accounts. The film by Michael T. Uno was completed in 1985.

  • In 1993, the Foundation hired its first paid staff members and revised its charter and by-laws. It developed a mission statement and strategic plan, created new programs, and made major efforts to develop a Board that was both representative of today’s writing community and possessed the prestige, influence and fundraising capacity to best fulfill the Foundation’s goals.

    New program initiatives added over the years have included the Visiting Writers Program (2001), the High School Workshop program, The Writer Speaks oral history program (1995), workshops, seminars, and speaker series, and the highly successful Words into Pictures conference, which was held in 1997, 1999 and 2002.

    In 2000, the WGF published its first book The First Time I Got Paid For It: Writers' Tales From The Hollywood Trenches, edited by Peter Lefcourt and Laura J. Shapiro. Over 50 contributors tell the often humorous and insightful stories of how they broke into the industry. This was followed in 2006 with Doing It for Money: The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing and Surviving in Hollywood, edited by Daryl Nickens. It contains 48 essays from top TV and film writers and is full of wisdom and humor from those living the day-to-day reality of Hollywood.

    From 2006 to 2012, the WGF hosted Anatomy of a Script, a master class seminar series where writers discussed a specific project in depth. Materials discussed over the course of this series provided the basis for a growing collection of often-requested development materials in the library and archive.

  • The Shavelson-Webb Library currently holds over 40,000 scripts that any member of the public can read when they visit. In 2011, with the assistance of the WGAW, the WGF established the Archive and hired its first Archivist. Beyond physical materials and collections, the librarians and archivists provide research assistance related to screenwriters and screenwriting, bring hidden gems into the light through tours and exhibits, and offer resources online that can reach anyone around the world.

    Throughout the year, the WGF hosts a variety of educational events for working and aspiring screenwriters and television writers. From one-on-one discussions between screenwriters to panels featuring entire writers’ rooms, all WGF events aim to provide an insider look into the craft of screenwriting and the industries in which writers work. They offer an intimate and candid look at the successes and struggles of the people who create the stories we love. Many past events, as well as the most recent virtual events, are now accessible on WGF’s YouTube channel. The public can sign up for an upcoming event on our Events page.

    Along with the library and our events, the Foundation’s community outreach programs aim to create pathways for students and those in underserved communities to meaningfully connect with WGAW membership and make use of our educational resources. In 2010, the WGF founded the Veterans Writing Project, the only program that pairs military veterans with industry writers who serve as creative and professional mentors. The program is designed to increase the participation of veterans in the entertainment industry and add more veteran voices to our mass culture.

    In addition to the Veterans Writing Project, the WGF also facilitates volunteer and mentorship opportunities between WGAW members and like-minded organizations who work with young people from underserved communities on literacy, writing and filmmaking. The Foundation also continues to manage the John Furia Visiting Writers Program, which arranges for WGAW writers to appear in speaking engagements at high schools, colleges and universities locally and around the country.

    In 2021, the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program was launched in partnership with TV writers/producers Tanya Saracho, Mike Royce, and Liz Hsiao Lan Alper. The program’s mission is to provide writers who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled writers, and writers over the age of 50, with tools and education to become a writers’ assistant and script coordinator, ultimately resulting in meaningful employment opportunities.

  • Throughout the decades, the Writers Guild had maintained a small collection of books and scripts for the use and enjoyment of members. In 1979, Mel Shavelson began to solicit writers in earnest to donate film, TV and radio scripts in anticipation of creating a library that would honor and preserve these works and serve as a space of collegiality and community. In 1984, this became a reality when the first library was established on WGAW premises. The James R. Webb Memorial Library was open three days a week and staffed by Elizabeth Brenner, former NYPL and LAPL librarian and wife of TV writer Alfred Brenner.

    In early 1996, when the WGAW moved into its present headquarters on 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave., the Foundation conducted a successful capital funding campaign to build, furnish and equip a new library on the building’s ground floor, which included the first administrative office for the Foundation on Guild premises. Additional staff and a new librarian, Karen Pederson, were hired and the doors were opened five days a week. After growing the collection steadily and outgrowing that space, the Foundation began in 2003 to plan a new and considerably expanded library and executive offices. Following a successful $2 million campaign, the Writers Guild Foundation Shavelson-Webb Library officially opened on June 18, 2005 and remains a welcoming and inspiring space to gather and create.

WGF history in photos