This past year has been another busy one at the WGGB and we’ve put together a round-up of what we have been up to. As the year draws to a close, we would like to thank our members for their activism, activity and achievements, and everyone for their support. You can also find details of our office closure below, alongside sources of support over the holiday period.
January
We kicked off the New Year with our Outstanding Contribution to Writing Award, which was presented to Mr Bates Vs The Post Office screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes and WGGB Treasurer Gail Renard in London.
This was swiftly followed by the launch of our Save Audio Drama at the BBC campaign, after the broadcaster announced it was making dramatic cuts, eradicating all audio drama from Radio 3. Our members signed a petition, joined a social media campaign on World Radio Day and wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy MP.
At the BBC Audio Drama Awards in March the BBC announced they were launching a new 90-minute play slot on Radio 4, focussing on new audio dramas and original adaptations of classic stage plays. We welcomed this news and the fact that the BBC had listened to the outcry from our members and many in the audio drama community.
February
AI dominated much of our activity this month, as the deadline approached for the Government’s consultation on copyright and AI. The Government was proposing an ‘opt-out’ model, which we (and many of our members and others in the creative industries) opposed. Following the outcry, Ministers said they had listened to the strength of feeling and (at the time of writing) we are waiting on the Government’s full response (Government has issued an interim statement and you can find out more and view our response here).
AI would go on to be a focus of our campaigning and lobbying activity for the rest of the year, too. As part of the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, we supported action around the Data (Use and Access) Act, we took part in expert working groups hosted by the Government and we continued to produce advice and guidance to members, for example, on the Anthropic case (catch up with our work on AI here).
March
Our campaigning took a new direction in March as we learnt of the BBC’s plans to axe River City, a devastating blow to writers in Scotland, and another serious erosion of continuing drama (only the previous month, we had spoken out against cuts to continuing drama at ITV). Our members signed a petition and wrote to their MPs to Save River City, we supported affected writers and we also held a town-hall event on the crisis in the television industry.
April
WGGB delegates attended TUC Black Workers’ Conference, where they moved our motion on diversity monitoring, which was carried unanimously.
The previous month, WGGB members had also represented the union at TUC Women’s Conference, with delegate Aisha Josiah speaking in support of the motion Women creative workers and generative AI (watch a video of Aisha here).
May
This month saw negotiating wins for WGGB in the form of a new agreement with Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru (TAC), improving terms for writers of Welsh language television. We also negotiated an uplift on minimum frees for ITV writers of 2%.
June
Another negotiating success came to fruition this month. Playwrights working in the UK independent theatre sector gained new rights for the digital exploitation of their work and a 24% uplift in minimum fees over three years, following a major update to the existing agreement between WGGB and the ITC (read more here).
Protecting writers in the digital age remains a big part of our work and this year we also saw a Writers Digital Payments pay-out of over £2 million to screenwriters for use of their work on BBC iPlayer.
July
WGGB Manchester rep afshan d’souza-lodhi and former WGGB TV Chair Sukey Venables Fisher hosted a summer meet up for writers at the Manchester Royal Exchange theatre this month. It was just one of a packed programme of events throughout the year, which saw our Film Committee continue their presence at BFI London Film Festival, host a Q&A fundraiser and a symposium on greenwriting and sustainability in the screen industries.
Northern Ireland Rep PJ Hart returned to Belfast Media Festival, our Wales Branch joined CULT Cymru at this year’s Eisteddford and hosted their own panel event on opportunities for writers in Wales, while our Scotland branch held a seasonal social.
Our East Anglia Branch’s Imperfect Storms showcase of new writing goes from strength to strength, while our Videogames Committee hosted events on ‘Shaping your game narrative’ and ‘Navigating careers in videogames’. We also hosted a panel event on screenwriting in Scotland at Edinburgh International Film Festival. Find out more about our events (including member training and networks for under-represented writers, here).
August
It may have been the summer holidays for many, but WGGB continued to tick off negotiating wins. This month we announced an uplift of 3% on minimum fees for playwrights working under our UK Theatre Agreement. We also launched a new guide on Working with factual material and wrote to Arts Council England about its Grantium IT crash and the impact on playwrights.
September
With conference season in full swing, WGGB delegates attended TUC Congress in Brighton, and we also hosted our own AGM online – where Jack Thorne was announced as the new WGGB President, alongside lots of new reps (welcome to all!). We also announced another uplift on minimum fees – this time 3.25% for playwrights working under our TNC Agreement.
October
On World Mental Health Day, the creative union-led CULT Cymru programme launched a pioneering initiative bringing together trade unions, employers, government, and specialist organisations to tackle the root causes of poor mental health – particularly among freelancers. WGGB was proud to be involved in this project.
November
This month saw organisations across Scotland endorse a new Fair Work for Freelancers checklist pioneered by STUC and supported by WGGB, among other unions.
We celebrated our Olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement Award winners in November (and earlier in the year honoured Edson Burton, winner of our 2025 Tinniswood Award for best audio drama script).
December
We rounded off the year with two visits to Parliament – for the launch of a new Broadcasting, Entertainment and Arts Unions All Party Parliamentary Group and for the All Party Writers’ Group winter reception. At the former, WGGB President Jack Thorne spoke about copyright and AI, access to the arts and more (read a report here).
We also responded to the independent review of Arts Council England by Baroness Hodge and the Government’s statement on copyright and AI.
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 in the UK. If you’d like to join them in 2026, do drop us a line at [email protected].
Office closure
Our office will close from Monday 22 December, reopening on 2 January 2025. If you have any enquiries during this period, please email them to [email protected] and we will respond in 2026. We will not be monitoring our social media channels during this period.
Sources of support
If you feel anxious or worried and need support over the holiday period, you can find mental health support resources on our website.