This past year has been another busy one for your union and we wanted to give you a round-up of what has happened and to thank our members and supporters for their activism, activity and achievements. You can also find details of our Christmas office closure below, alongside sources of support over the holiday period.

We kicked off the New Year with a landmark new agreement with Netflix, the first of its kind for writers with a streamer in the UK. We also renegotiated our BBC Script Agreement for Television and Online, establishing a 10% rise in minimum fees and ensuring that writers benefit from increased residuals across a variety of platforms.

We’ve had successful pay negotiations in audio and theatre too (plus a landmark new deal on digital terms for playwrights), and continue to work hard to renegotiate our Pact film and TV agreements and our ITC theatre agreement.

Much of our campaigning and lobbying work has been focused around the General Election and change of Government and Putting writers at the heart of the story.

AI has occupied a lot of our time, too – on the campaigning and lobbying front, but also through the one-to-one advice we are giving to our members and by issuing guidance in this fast-moving sphere, which has had particular impact on our author members and, more recently, on screenwriters as a result of the Hollywood AI database.

We’ve also joined campaigns to Protect the Right to Strike, to Stop the Arts Apocalypse and to Save Welsh Culture, and to put pressure on the Scottish Government to reinstate the Creative Scotland Open Fund.

We joined the World Conference of Screenwriters in Galway, Ireland, while WGGB delegates also attended TUC Congress in Brighton and the TUC Black Workers Conference.

Our networks for underrepresented writers go from strength to strength and we’ve been proud to expand our offering, alongside our programme of member training and industry events on a range of subjects, including Who would brave the writers’ room?, Life after soaps, Protect your copyright and Positive experiences in games writing.

Thank you if you joined one of our events or campaigns this year, lobbied your MP, signed a petition, came on a protest, or helped us celebrate #HeartUnions Week. And a special thank you to WGGB activists across the different craft areas, nations and regions, all working writers, whose tireless, voluntary work drives union negotiations and campaigns, improving the lot for all writers. If you’d like to join them in 2025, do drop us a line at admin@writersguild.org.uk.

Christmas office closure

Our office will close on 5pm, Friday 20 December, reopening with a skeleton service on 2 January 2025 and with full service on Monday 6 January 2025. If you have any enquiries during the shutdown, please email them to admin@writersguild.org.uk and we will respond in 2025. We will not be monitoring our social media channels during this period.

If you are by yourself over the holiday season, and feel anxious or worried and need support, you can find mental health support resources on our website.