OnWriting: A Podcast of the WGA East Writers Guild of America, East

Host and WGAE Nonfiction Women of Color Caucus Chair Chinisha Scott talks with WGAE members Gautam Singhani and Sarah Katz, who both recently worked at the nonfiction television production company Story Syndicate. Story Syndicate is one of the latest nonfiction television shops to join the Writers Guild of America East and they are currently negotiating their first collective bargaining agreement. 
This week, we focus on nonfiction television, lovingly described as the Wild West. Chinisha, Gautam and Sarah discuss advocating for the truth, both in nonfiction production and the labor movement, why the time to unionize is now and what it means to be fairly compensated in nonfiction television.
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast

Host T Cooper is joined by Ron Nyswaner to discuss having the confidence to push Hollywood's boundaries, staying flexible during the unpredictable reality of being on a TV set, telling authentic LGBTQ+ stories without always centering suffering, and more.
Ron Nyswaner is the 2024 recipient of the WGA East’s Walter Bernstein Award, and creator of the Showtime series Fellow Travelers. He is known for his feature screenplays, including Smithereens, Philadelphia, and My Policeman. He is also known as a writer and producer of the Showtime series Ray Donovan and Homeland. Over the course of his career, Ron has been nominated for numerous awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
His most recent project is the Showtime series Fellow Travelers. Based on the 2007 fictional novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, the historical drama follows the paths of political staffers Hawkins Fuller and Tim Laughlin, whose paths converge at the height of the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Despite the constant threat of getting caught, their searing love for each other only intensifies in the tumultuous decades that follow. Their volatile romance spans the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, as they face obstacles in the world and in themselves.
This episode is hosted by T Cooper, a Writers Guild of America East member with credits including The Get Down and The Blacklist. T. also serves as co-chair of the Guild's LGBTQ+ Writers Salon.
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast

Host Greg Iwinski is joined by CBS New York writer-producer Kathy McGee and CBS Chicago writer-producer Beth Godvik for a conversation about their work in the Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News sector. They discuss the winding paths that make a career, trusting your instincts in a fast-paced news environment, and keeping up with a constantly evolving media landscape.
Kathy McGee is a news writer-producer at WCBS-TV with more than 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism — and over 20 years of experience as an active leader in the WGAE. She writes stories about theater and cultural arts, has served as shop leader at CBS News New York since 2007, and was on the negotiating committee for four CBS contracts.
Beth Godvik is a news writer-producer at CBS Chicago, WBBM-TV, where she has worked since 2004. Beth currently works on the 4:30 to 7 A.M. show cut-ins and 9 A.M. and 11 A.M. newscasts, and she designed the format for WBBM-TV’s weekend morning shows. She’s a union co-steward in her newsroom and has served on three negotiating committees for CBS News contracts.
Kathy and Beth also both serve on the WGAE Council – Beth as a Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News sector councilmember, and Kathy as the Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News Vice President.
This episode of OnWriting is hosted by Greg Iwinski. Greg is an Emmy-winning comedy writer and no-award-winning performer whose writing includes LAST WEEK TONIGHT and THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT. He recently finished writing the first season of GAME THEORY WITH BOMANI JONES on HBO, and can be found on Twitter @garyjackson
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast

Host Geri Cole sits down with documentarian John Wilson to discuss How To choose episode titles that will make for good stories, How To make your writers room feel like a therapy session, How To find serendipitous interview subjects, and more.
John Wilson is a New York City-based documentary filmmaker known for creating and hosting the acclaimed comedy-docuseries, How To with John Wilson.
How To with John Wilson chronicles self-proclaimed "anxious New Yorker" John as he films his fellow New Yorkers while attempting to give advice on topics ranging from “how to watch birds” to “how to put up scaffolding.”
The HBO series premiered in October 2020 and has received widespread critical acclaim and several accolades, including Primetime Emmy and Writers Guild Award nominations. The third and final season concluded in September 2023, and all three seasons are available to stream on HBO Max.
This episode of OnWriting is hosted by Geri Cole, a writer and performer based in New York City. She is currently a full-time staff and interactive writer for SESAME STREET, for which she has received Writers Guild Award and two Daytime Emmys. She also performs sketch and improv at theaters and festivals around the country.
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast

To kick off a brand new season, host Taffy Brodesser-Akner sits down with Succession creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong to discuss how he staffed and ran his writers’ room, the importance of maintaining distance and perspective in your artistic endeavors, what's next for Jesse now that Succession is over, and much more.
Jesse Armstrong is a screenwriter, showrunner, and producer known for his work on several critically acclaimed television series. He rose to prominence as co-creator and writer of British sitcoms Peep Show and Fresh Meat, as a writer on the first three seasons of The Thick of It and cowriter of its 2009 feature adaption, In the Loop, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Most recently, Jesse served as creator and showrunner of the HBO black comedy Succession, for which he received – among others – four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, three Golden Globes, and two Writers Guild Awards for Drama Series.
Succession centers on the ultra-wealthy and ultra-dysfunctional Roy family, owners of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, and their fight for control of the company amidst uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch. The series—which is nominated for the 2024 Writers Guild Award for Drama Series—concluded its fourth and final season concluded last year, and the entire series is available to stream on Max.
This episode of OnWriting is hosted by screenwriter, journalist, and author Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Taffy is the creator and showrunner of the FX on Hulu miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble which is based on her 2019 novel of the same name. She has previously worked as a freelance writer and as a contributor for GQ and The New York Times, where she is currently a staff writer. You can follow Taffy on Twitter at @taffyakner.
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast
 

Host Alison Herman talks to writer-director Sarah Polley about finding a balance between reality and allegory in a film adapted from a fictional novel based on true events, how her process has changed since becoming a parent and recovering from a head injury, what writing (and rewriting) this film taught her about rigor, and much more.
Sarah Polley a writer, director, and actor. She wrote and directed the 2006 film AWAY FROM HER, which earned her first Academy Award nomination for adapted screenplay, as well as the 2011 film TAKE THIS WALZ, the 2012 documentary STORIES WE TELL, and is the writer of ALIAS GRACE, the 2017 miniseries adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel.
Most recently, Sarah is the writer and director of WOMEN TALKING. The film is adapted from the Miriam Toews novel that was inspired by true events, and stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, and Frances McDormand as a group of women who have only two days to decide how to take action against a group of men who have been arrested for years of abuse toward the women in the remote and isolated Mennonite community.
WOMEN TALKING premiered in December 2022 and is currently nominated for the Academy and Writers Guild Awards for Adapted Screenplay, as well as the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Alison Herman is a staff writer for The Ringer, where she writes about culture in general and television in specific. When not fighting a losing battle against Peak TV, she tweets at @aherman2006.
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Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives.
Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/
Follow the Guild on social media:
Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast
Facebook: /WGAEast
Instagram: @WGAEast