Ellie Peers

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

Today, alongside @EquityUK + @Soc_of_Authors, we have launched a petition calling on Director-General of the BBC Tim Davie to rethink plans to eradicate audio drama from @BBCRadio3 – which will be devastating for writers, other creative workers and audiences

Sign the petition to Save Audio Drama at the BBC

https://t.co/93Fo71esN8

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

3/ "If the broadcaster has a spare £95,000, they would be better off investing in screenwriters rather than gimmicks. We strongly oppose this move from ITV, which also raises serious questions about IP. We will be talking about this to ITV as a matter or urgency.”

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

2/ WGGB General Secretary Ellie Peers said:

“We were shocked to hear that ITV are intending to bring in an AI expert to replace writers and other creators. There’s no shortage of story ideas out there, though sadly there appears to be an unwillingness to pay for them.

[David Nicholson @davidnicholson2]

Writers’ Guild general secretary Ellie Peers @UnionBaron supported the @NUJofficial News Recovery Plan and said the tech giants had to be regulated and called for better funding for public service broadcasting. #TUC2024

[Sian Meinir @sianmeinir]

TUC President- Matt Wrack- today in Brighton inviting the congress to send message of solidarity to us Welsh National Opera Equity members. #Thankyou @The_TUC @Equity_Wales @EquityUK #solidarity #SaveourWNO #solidariaeth #AchubOCC

[Shahid Kamal Ahmad @shahidkamal]

I drove east into London on the A40 this afternoon. Light breeze, not too hot. London is always beautiful in the sunshine.

Drove past Uxbridge. No riots, no looters, no cars overturned and ablaze, no sirens.

Drove past Greenford. No riots, no looters, no cars overturned and ablaze, no sirens.

Drove past Acton. No riots, no looters, no cars overturned and ablaze, no sirens.

Parked in Westfield. There is sun, no sign of rain, but the full rainbow of humanity is here indoors.

(They say they want their country back, but they actually want their empire back, the one their grandparents' generation lost. The Empire came home. And here we all are! )

The shop assistants everywhere were from every corner of the earth. The customers the same. Girls and boys, men and women, from every place in the world, peacefully going about their lives on a London Sunday in a cathedral to capitalism in Shepherds Bush.

No shouting. No swearing. No mugging. No knifing. No looting. No burning. Just the world in one city under a giant glass roof in peace.

Sometimes, you don't know how good you actually have it. When London is good, it's really bloody good.

Most places in England are good, most of the time. Most people in England are good, no matter what the forces that seek to divide us want us to believe.

I remember being broke and homeless 20 years ago this year, carrying my possessions in four bags and thanking God for my legs when I was deep in my material nadir.

You already have your country. I already have my country. Both can be true.

I don't want to take your job, unless I'm better at it. I don't want to put shariah in place over your head and in any case, the law in this country is about as close to shariah as I need. Why would I endanger that just to piss you off for some marginal gain? Think about it.

We can get along. We are not enemies. Those grifters are fooling you, scamming you, and they're thick. They think 1+1=Foreigners. Their sums don't add up. They get tax breaks. Do you? Work it out.

We aren't going anywhere and we won't roll over frightened like our parents did. We belong here. We ARE the British Empire. This is the legacy.

It's not us you want your country back from. It's the foreign papers, the con artists who took COVID money, the scum who bought our water, the financial institutions who gambled away our future and made us pay for their next round of bonuses in an endless era of austerity. We didn't freeze old people to death. We didn't make food banks necessary. Cameron and Co did all that. We're just easy targets. A distraction.

This is still a beautiful country. This is still a peaceful country. How about we find away to make it better for all of us:?

Isn't London beautiful in the sunshine?

[Kelly Jones @KMJwriter]

📣 🥳 Bloody over the moon to have my play #MyMothersFuneral as part of @painesplough 50th. Big love to @TheWritersGuild for the #NPCS that make it possible @mercurytheatre @BelgradeTheatre ❤️🔥💐

[StephenBrown @StephenBrown4TU]

So who’s actually earning this?

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that a single person needs £29,500 and couple £50,000 for a minimum standard of living.

Minimum wage will bring you in about £22,000 a year for full time.

See the problem here?

£15 per hour now!

[StephenBrown @StephenBrown4TU]

In fine voice #NoArtsCuts
@WeAreTheMU
@EquityUK
@bectu
@TheWritersGuild
#BirminghamCityCouncil

[Equity @EquityUK]

The Government's panel for a new plan to improve cultural education for young people has failed to engage the unions who represent those who will implement it.

Equity along with @NEUnion, @WeAreTheMU, @TheWritersGuild and @bectu have written to the Government highlighting this failure.

"If you want expert advice...listening to the hundreds of thousands of world-class educators and creative practitioners working every day to deliver the arts, culture and education."

Read the story here 👉

https://t.co/ZMS3NodC8N

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

General Secretary Ellie Peers said:

“For the first time in the UK, writers working for a global streamer will have their rights enshrined in a collective trade union agreement + will enjoy improved terms + conditions. We’re delighted to have reached this agreement with Netflix."

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

Huge thanks to our fellow FEU members @EquityUK @bectu @WeAreTheMU for supporting us today #solidarity

[The Hollywood Reporter @THR]

British Writers Guild Chair on WGA Solidarity: Studios “Are Making Billions,” But “Refusing to Share” https://t.co/GnoKp0n9BV

[The Writers' Guild @TheWritersGuild]

WGGB Chair @WorksWithWords writes in the
@guardian today on why trade union #solidarity + resistance is more important than it has ever been + why #ScreenwritersEverywhere are using their power to do what they do best - write a better ending for us all

https://t.co/1BvMXBWm1l

[Ian Brown 🇺🇦🇪🇺 @IanBrownwc1]

BBC Singers: decision to scrap choir reversed after public outcry https://t.co/aGuLYZyFut

[Writers Guild of America East @WGAEast]

AI can’t be used as source material, to create MBA-covered writing or rewrite MBA-covered work, and AI-generated text cannot be considered in determining writing credits. 2/7

[Writers Guild of America East @WGAEast]

Our proposal is that writers may not be assigned AI-generated material to adapt, nor may AI software generate covered literary material. 3/7

[Writers Guild of America East @WGAEast]

In the same way that a studio may point to a Wikipedia article, or other research material, and ask the writer to refer to it, they can make the writer aware of AI-generated content. 4/7

[Writers Guild of America East @WGAEast]

But, like all research material, it has no role in guild-covered work, nor in the chain of title in the intellectual property.

It is important to note that AI software does not create anything. It generates a regurgitation of what it's fed.
5/7

[Writers Guild of America East @WGAEast]

If it's been fed both copyright-protected and public domain content, it cannot distinguish between the two. Its output is not eligible for copyright protection, nor can an AI software program sign a certificate of authorship. 6/7