SPIRO SKENTZOS
for WGAW
Board of Directors
UPDATE
Thanks to all the members who attended Candidates Night on August 29th. It's great seeing members getting involved in the guild. Our solidarity is what got us a 96.3% strike vote last year, which we used to secure a new contract - and that is awesome! But we live in an increasingly anti-union/pro-corporation environment pushed by the current regime. Unions are under attack in this country. So we're going to have to work even harder, and make sure all members' voices are heard, in order to get the deal we want in the next MBA to avoid a strike. Solidarity is our strength.
STATEMENT
As a lower/mid-level writer, I’ve experienced, along with many of you, the mid-level drought: you don’t have a high enough title to be among the first offers, but you're also not an inexpensive Staff Writer anymore, so you sit out a season. Or you’re asked to repeat Staff Writer again. I know firsthand how these setbacks can handicap your career trajectory, prevent your ability to buy a house, have a family, and prepare for retirement. That’s why I’m running for WGA Board.
I want to give lower/mid-level writers a stronger voice on the WGA Board to help resolve these issues. I’m in a unique position to champion our needs to WGA leadership from my years of Guild service, which have included:
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Serving as Co-Chair of both the LGBTQ+ Committee and the Genre Committee. In addition to that, I also serve on CAP, the Board-appointed committee that advises the Board on related policies to ensure their success.
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Creating the Genre Committee’s Mash-Up Event, which puts Guild members into writers’ rooms for an evening with experienced showrunners – creating connections, sharing experiences and fostering mentorship.
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Organizing and moderating the annual TV staffing panel in the spring, bringing together a variety of showrunners to share their experiences and give valuable insight into what they look for when staffing their writers rooms.
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Moderating the annual summer pitch panel, where veteran showrunners shared their knowledge and experience with less practiced writers on how to pitch their projects to potential partners/buyers.
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Coordinating “Meet & Greet” events for the Latino Writers Committee and the LGBTQ+ Committee – getting diverse writers in front of executives. These events have led to many writers getting studio meetings and actual work.
This consistent service has allowed me to experience how the Guild works. If elected, I’ll bring this knowledge base as well as intense dedication, focus and energy to my work on the board to help our membership thrive.
To that end, there are three things we need to eliminate in order to improve lower/mid-level writer’s careers:
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Repeating Staff Writer after you’ve completed 23 episodes.
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Staff Writers not getting paid for scripts.
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Staff Writer studio-forced paper teaming.
To do this, lower-level writers need agency and a strong voice on the board.
Diverse mid-level writers face additional challenges in their careers. They often suffer from a lack of employment after their staff writer season or diversity program ends, despite the Guild’s successful Writers Access Program and several studio initiatives.
There’s a lot of work to be done for midlevel TV writers, especially diverse ones. Through the programs I’ve produced within the guild’s various committees, I’ve set out to be part of the solution. Now we need to take it to the next level, which could include:
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One-On-One Mentoring. I’ve learned that fellow writers want to discover and hear more diverse voices. The Guild should initiate a mentoring program where higher-level writers mentor mid-level, and mid-level writers mentor lower-level. It’s a pay-it-forward ideology that will connect more writers with each other.
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Writer Shadowing Program. Available to TV writers who have not worked in over a season - and feature writers looking to break into TV - this program would allow a writer to shadow a TV room for a week. This is not working for free; this is observing, learning and making new connections. We could even discuss this in the next MBA to make it –
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One-Week Paid Writer Residence. This program would allow a writer who has not worked in a season to be eligible to be hired on a show for one week to add their voice to the room, make connections, and be paid the minimum WGA weekly rate. This would allow a room/showrunner to have a fresh voice in the room, which could lead to new relationships, staffing or freelance opportunities.
These are a few of the ideas I have to help members create connections and get work opportunities.
Beyond this, we, as writers, need to recognize that our audiences are becoming more diverse every year. That means our writers rooms need to be just as diverse in order to create content that speaks with authentic voices to better engage what will soon be the majority of the population. Increased viewership means more money: inclusion makes good business sense. As a board member, I will continue to advocate for more inclusive writers rooms to move this important business practice forward.
My passion for WGA writers doesn’t end with lower/mid-level and diversity issues. There are more aspects of the Guild’s purview I will champion to foster a sustainable writing career for all:
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Continuing the hard work the Guild has done in pushing for New Media coverage – not just the Netflixes, but all new programming platforms. This includes Facebook, Oath (formerly Verizon’s Go90), and the Apple deal the guild made this summer – so that they all pay Guild minimums and contribute to our Health and Pension.
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Expanding and promoting global employment for our members by securing more international signatories. This will provide more opportunities for work and benefit not only seasoned TV writers, but also feature writers transitioning into TV.
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Building our solidarity as a Guild in between MBA negotiations through outreach and organizing the membership.
As a board member, I will take my experience, passion and years of Guild service to the next level. I have the temperament and the expectations to get the hard and unglamorous work done for writers of all levels. In these turbulent times, it’s vital that the board has representation from every part of its membership, so we can cultivate effective communication, stay united, and maintain solidarity.
Thank you for your consideration.
SPIRO
ENDORSEMENTS
CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS
Marjorie David*°, Vice President
Board member: 2012-2016
Former Board Nominating Committee
Co-Chair, Committee Advisory Panel
Former Negotiating Committee
Co-Chair, Board Subcommittee On Sexual Harassment
Aaron Mendelsohn* , Treasurer
Board member, 2004-2012, 2014-2015
Secretary-Treasurer, 2015 –
Negotiating Committee, 2004, 2007, 2017 (ex officio)
Zoanne Clack*°
Courtney Ellinger*
FORMER BOARD MEMBERS
Nancy De Los Santos
Shawn Ryan*
Thania St. John
* Negotiating Committee,
recent or former
° Show and/or Strike Captain,
recent or former
CURRENT & FORMER COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Michelle Amor
Co-Chair, Committee of Black Writers
Committee Advisory Panel
Steve Chivers
Chair/Vice-Chair, Career Longevity Committee
Committee Advisory Panel
Daniel Dominguez
Former Latino Writer's Committee, Vice-Chair, Co-Chair, Chair
Douglas Eboch
Co-Chair of Activities Committee
Maria Escobedo
Former Chair, Latino Writers Committee
Jason Gavin°
Chair, Native American & Indigenous Writers Committee
Gary Goldstein
Co-chair, LGBTQ+ Writers Committee
Committee Advisory Panel
Hilliard Guess
Vice-Chair, Committee of Black Writers
Vice-Chair, The Education Committee
Former Vice-Chair, LGBTQ+ Committee
Dwayne Johnson-Cochran†
Founder/Co-Chair Genre Committee
Luisa Leschin
Former Vice-Chair, Latino Writers Committee
Christiana Miller
Former Co-Chair, Committee of Women Writers
Suzan Olson Davis
Former Co-Chair, Committee of Women Writers
Cynthia Riddle
Former Vice-Chair, Committee of Women Writers
Former Committee Advisory Panel
Maria Elena Rodriguez
Former Vice-Chair Latino Writers Committee
Former Vice-Chair Committee of Women Writers
Chelsea Steiner
Vice-Chair, LGBTQ+ committee
Danny Tolli°
Co-Chair, Latino Writers Committee
MEMBERS
Cameron Alexander
Sabrina Almeida
Davah Avena
Simran Baidwan°
Elias Benavidez°
Josh Berman
Tawnya Bhattacharya
Brusta Brown
Victor Bumbalo
Julie Bush°
Deborah Calla
Jim Campolongo
Tyron Carter
Natalie Chaidez
Alessia Costantini
Carter Covington
Hadi Nicholas Deeb
Alan DiFiore
Jeff Dix
Margaret Dunlap
Ava DuVernay
Tom Farrell
Christopher Fife
Ruth Fletcher Gage
Robert Forman°
Christos Gage
Omaira Galarza
Kevin Garnett
Valentina Garza
Roger Grant°
Drew Greenberg
Josh Greenberg
Paul Grellong°
David Grubstick
Cole Haddon
Seth Harrington
D. Harrington Miller
Haley Harris
Richard Hatem
Jim Head
Tiffany Ho
Gillian Horvath
Kristine Huntley
Andrea Janakas
Paul Keables
Jack Kenny
Neville Kiser
Ken Kristensen°
Miranda Kwok
Hallie Lambert
Niceole Levy°
Cameron Litvack
Marcos Luevanos°
Jim Macak
Luther Mace°
Donald Martin
Chris Masi
Terry Matalas
Addison McQuigg
Diana Mendez
Brian Millikin
Ubah Mohamed
Jose Molina
Michael Narducci°
Judalina Neira°
Beverly Neufeld
Rasheed Newson
Anupam Nigam°
Jaime Paglia
Michelle Paradise
Kase Pena
Don Perez
Ken Pisani
Rashad Raisani°
Jorge Ramirez-Martinez
Dailyn Rodriguez°
Chitra Sampath°
Naren Shankar
Keto Shimizu
John Alan Simon
Victoria Stewart
John Todd
Theo Travers°
Ray Utarnachitt°
Ligiah Villalobos
Dan Vining
Eric Wallace*°
MW Wilson
Robert Wolfe
Roger Wolfson
Paula Yoo
Stan Zimmerman
* Negotiating Committee,
recent or former
° Show and/or Strike Captain,
recent or former