Presidents Dashboard Dashboard

Meredith Stiehm has been a Guild member since 1994, and served on the Board of Directors for six years before becoming WGAW President. She was a writer and executive producer of Homeland (Showtime) for five years—winning the Emmy, Golden Globe, Writers Guild, and Peabody Awards for drama series. FULL BIO

WGAW President David A. Goodman has been writing professionally since 1988, when he was hired as a staff writer on The Golden Girls. Since then he has written for over 20 television series, including Wings, Dream On, Star Trek: Enterprise, Dads... FULL BIO

Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, novelist, educator. He is a former President of the Writers Guild of America West; professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts; an artistic director of the Sundance Institute... FULL BIO

Writers Guild of America West President Christopher Keyser is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. After graduating, he became a political speechwriter and served as the chief speechwriter for Governor Bruce Babbitt’s... FULL BIO

John Wells is one of the most prolific writers, directors and producers for television, film and the stage. Over the past two decades, Wells has been a creative force behind some of primetime’s biggest hit series, including ER, The West Wing, Third Watch... FULL BIO

Patric M. Verrone graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College where he was an editor of The Harvard Lampoon. He got his law degree from Boston College Law School where he served on the Boston College Law Review... FULL BIO

A member of the Writers Guild since 1984, Daniel Petrie Jr. wrote the screenplays for Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy (for which he received an Oscar nomination), and The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin... FULL BIO

Television writer and producer Charles D. Holland has worked on numerous shows, including JAG, Profiler, Millennium, Murder One, and New York Undercover. A member of the California Bar, Holland has a law degree from Harvard Law School... FULL BIO

Victoria Riskin is a writer-producer in television and a human rights activist, and the first woman president in WGAw history. In addition to advocating for the rights of television and screenwriters, she was active is opposing media concentration... FULL BIO

John Wells is one of the most prolific writers, directors and producers for television, film and the stage. Over the past two decades, Wells has been a creative force behind some of primetime’s biggest hit series, including ER, The West Wing, Third Watch... FULL BIO

A member of the Writers Guild since 1984, Daniel Petrie Jr. wrote the screenplays for Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy (for which he received an Oscar nomination), and The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin... FULL BIO

Brad Radnitz’s television writing credits include The Lucy Show, Ironside, McMillan and Wife, Family Affair, Streets of San Francisco, The Brady Bunch, Columbo, McHale’s Navy, Cannon, Trapper John, M.D., Tour of Duty, and Mission Impossible... FULL BIO

Writer, director and producer Frank Pierson’s credits include Oscar-nominated Cat Ballou (1965) and Cool Hand Luke (1967), the Oscar-winning Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Presumed Innocent (1990)... FULL BIO

Del Reisman began his career in the days of live television in the 1950s, working on such shows as NBC Matinee Theater, and then as story editor for the acclaimed Playhouse 90, on which he worked with producer Martin Manulis... FULL BIO

George Kirgo’s prolific film and TV writing career includes credits for Red Line 7000 (1965), Spinout (1966), Don’t Make Waves (1967), Voices (1973); 15 movies of the week, including Get Christie Love! (1974), The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (1978)... FULL BIO

Melville Shavelson received two Academy Award nominations for his original screenplays and has written or co-written more than 30 theatrical motion pictures, including The Seven Little Foys (1955), Beau James (1957)... FULL BIO

Six-time Oscar-nominated and five-time WGA Award-winning writer Ernest Lehman was the only screenwriter in history to receive an honorary Academy Award, in recognition for films such as Executive Suite (1954), Sabrina (1954)... FULL BIO

Writer, director and producer Frank Pierson’s credits include Oscar-nominated Cat Ballou (1965) and Cool Hand Luke (1967), the Oscar-winning Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Presumed Innocent (1990)... FULL BIO

Melville Shavelson received two Academy Award nominations for his original screenplays and has written or co-written more than 30 theatrical motion pictures, including The Seven Little Foys (1955), Beau James (1957)... FULL BIO

Daniel Taradash wrote or co-wrote Golden Boy (1939), the Academy Award-winning From Here to Eternity (1953), Picnic (1955), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Hawaii (1966), and Castle Keep (1969)... FULL BIO

David W. Rintels wrote many highly acclaimed television miniseries and movies of the week, including Nuremberg (2000), The Member of the Wedding (1997), Andersonville (1996), World War II: When Lions Roared (1994)... FULL BIO

John Furia Jr. wrote for several popular television series, such as Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Hawaii Five-O, The Waltons, Kung Fu, and Arthur Hailey’s Hotel. He was showrunner for series... FULL BIO

Screenwriter, director, and producer Ranald MacDougall collaborated with writers Alvah Bessie and Lester Cole on Objective, Burma (1945), received an Oscar nomination for Mildred Pierce (1945), adapted the Ernest Hemingway novel... FULL BIO

Melville Shavelson received two Academy Award nominations for his original screenplays and has written or co-written more than 30 theatrical motion pictures, including The Seven Little Foys (1955), Beau James (1957)... FULL BIO

Screenwriter and novelist Michael Blankfort’s credits include The Caine Mutiny (1954), Untamed (1955), Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), The Plainsman (1966), and A Fire in the Sky (1978). He fronted for blacklisted writer Albert Maltz... FULL BIO

Christopher Knopf, who received three Writers Guild Awards for his television writing, wrote the made-for-television movies Mrs. Sundance (1974), Scott Joplin: King of Ragtime (1977), The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1986)... FULL BIO

Radio, television, and film writer Nate Monaster co-wrote That Touch of Mink (1962) with Stanley Shapiro, Call Me Bwana (1963) with Johanna Harwood, and contributed to classic television shows such as Bachelor Father, Alcoa Theater, The Donna Reed Show, Andy Griffith... FULL BIO

Academy Award-winning writer James R. Webb’s credits include Rags to Riches (1941), Apache (1954), Trapeze (1956), The Big Country (1958), Cape Fear (1962), the Oscar-winning How the West Was Won (1962), They Call Me Mister Tibbs (1970)... FULL BIO

Academy Award-winning writer Charles Schnee used his aversion to stereotypes to create the characters in Red River (1948), The Furies (1950), Westward the Women (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), for which he won the Oscar... FULL BIO

Ken Englund’s writing career began in his early 20s, when he submitted a joke about King Kong that landed him a job as a writer for The Phil Baker Hour, a Chicago radio show. His Hollywood career began with The Big Broadcast of 1938, starring Bob Hope, W.C. Fields, and Dorothy Lamour... FULL BIO

Curtis Kenyon’s screen credits include Lloyds of London (1936), Seven Days’ Leave (1942), starring Lucille Ball, the Bob Hope comedy The Princess and the Pirate (1944), Tulsa (1949), and Two Flags West (1950), both co-written with Frank S. Nugent... FULL BIO

Screenwriter, playwright, producer Edmund L. Hartmann worked at nearly every Hollywood studio, and wrote in almost every film genre, including the crime drama Law of the Underworld (1938)... FULL BIO

Writer and first WGAw president Richard Breen’s films include A Foreign Affair (1948), Miss Tatlock’s Millions (1948), Niagara (1953), Seven Cities of Gold (1955), Pete Kelley’s Blues (1955), State Fair (1962), and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)... FULL BIO