Candidate for Council, Film/TV/Streaming Sector
My name is Nicole, and I’m running to be a Council member in the Film and TV Sector. Most of you probably know me from shouting into the megaphone during the last strike. But I’m not just involved with the Guild because I love the sound of my own voice (that’s why I have a podcast). I’m running for council because of a throughline that runs through my career in TV and Online Media: jobs and benefits made precarious by corporate and political maneuvering at the C-suite level.
From late night cancellations that (maybe) facilitate mergers, to newsrooms shuttered by vindictive billionaires, to tech companies making record profits off content generated by users who get paid a fraction of a percentage, I know what it means to be a writer whose livelihood is swept away by the currents of business.
I’m currently a writer for The Daily Show and previously wrote for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. As you’ve probably noticed, late night is facing serious challenges. Comedy/Variety writers are a huge share of WGA East membership, and the stability of those jobs helps anchor the union. That stability is now under threat—possibly even from the White House.
Before TV, I worked at Online Media publications before their writers joined the Guild. I worked at Jalopnik during the Hogan/Thiel lawsuit that ultimately killed Gawker, and at SB Nation under the “pivot to video” that led to hundreds of layoffs at Vox. Some might argue that I’m a harbinger of doom for media companies, but I prefer to think of this as valuable experience working at successful, popular shops that were ruined for no good reason by meddling tech and finance guys, left to be stripped for parts by private equity.
I’ve also worked with yet-to-be organized groups, from independent YouTube creators, to Audible and scripted podcasts, to new streaming services like Nebula. These formats offer a new level of freedom and autonomy to writers, but lack our hard-fought union protections. I’m generally bullish on a lot of these opportunities, but it would be all too easy for writers to receive the Uber treatment, where good union jobs are replaced by unregulated “disruptive” tech, leading to the exact same work for lower pay.
The business side of Hollywood has always been at odds with the workers – the whole reason the WGA exists is that studios didn’t want to pay writers a living wage – but now, our economic futures have less to do with the quality or success of what we’re writing, and more to do with financial mechanisms and political machinations completely divorced from our craft. Looking forward, the WGA needs to ensure that writers continue to receive fair treatment for the work we’ve always done, while also looking for solutions to novel problems and supporting new avenues for writers to continue to make money and maintain their union standing.
Responses to Candidate Questions
1. What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the Guild and what steps will you take to address it?
To maintain a healthy base of working writers, we need to start figuring out how to expand covered work to outlets that aren’t traditional TV or news publications.
The phrase “the media landscape is changing” is so overused as to be meaningless but, well… the media landscape is changing. I’m not doom-and-gloom about traditional media (kids are still binge-watching Friends), but it’s true that more people are turning to platforms like YouTube for regular viewing, and much of that content involves the same work we do at union jobs (tell me the difference between Last Week Tonight and Some More News). Reporters are switching to platforms like Ghost and Substack, both for the editorial freedom and to have some semblance of regular income amidst a dwindling freelance market. This is all writing, but it all exists outside the WGA.
I’m speaking from personal experience here. When I was between Comedy/Variety jobs for 2 years, I made a living writing for YouTube channels and other nontraditional formats, but none of that income counted toward union dues. This is a rare issue where we don’t have to fight an uphill battle, because it’s mutually beneficial — even successful creators lack union protections and support they don’t realize they could have. Organizing this space not only brings new people into the Guild, it also expands opportunities for WGA writers, who can bring their room experience to creators who are flying by the seat of their pants.
Of course, this can’t come at the expense of the TV, film, and media protections we’ve fought for. The Guild must ensure that audience shifts aren’t used by studios as an excuse to undermine workers. In fact, Guild efforts to organize creators and their staffs strengthen our defenses against such setbacks. If the Guild is already helping a creator who later gets a TV deal, why would that creator settle for anything less than a union show?
It’ll take time to define how the Guild engages with nontraditional platforms, and step one is information-gathering. On Council, I’d organize feedback sessions and surveys to learn what uncovered work members are doing, or want to do. I’d also invite independent creators to share what value the WGA could bring to them. I’m also conscious of the trepidation many traditional film and TV writers feel towards over-expanding. I’d gather feedback from those Guild members and consult with our health & pension team to ensure expansion doesn’t jeopardize our sweet sweet benefits.
These are conversations we need to have now, before it’s too late. Otherwise the only TV jobs left will be as human guinea pigs in Mr. Beast’s Torture Labrynth.
2. WGAE is divided into three sectors: Film, Television, and Streaming; Broadcast, Cable, and Streaming News, and; Online Media. How will you work with and represent all Guild members, including those outside of your own work sector?
Before I got my break in television, I worked for several Online Media shops now represented by the WGA, which gives me perspective into their experiences and connections with our Online Media members.
The lines between sectors are already blurring — CNN has Roy Wood Jr’s late night show Have I Got News For You, Texas Monthly created a podcast that turned into Taylor Sheridan’s show Landman, and it’s practically a requirement for every news anchor to have a podcast and YouTube presence now. Our content already lives across sectors, and as such, the best way to represent all Guild members is to foster conversation and collaboration between these groups. I’d like to host more events specifically designed to get writers across sectors talking, both about their work and potential creative collaboration, and also about the unique labor issues in their sectors.
3. What qualities or characteristics do you look for in a Guild leader?
As Guild leaders, we need to stay laser-focused on the mission of protecting writers. While the Guild exists in a broader political context, its primary purpose is as an economic organization that provides income and labor protections for its members. Guild leaders need to be willing to engage not just in acts of political resistance, but also in the dull, tedious, nitty-gritty work of reviewing contracts and policies to make sure everyone is treated fairly without being taken advantage of by their employers. We also must be responsive to feedback from our members to ensure we’re actually representing your interests. Believe it or not, I think my most relevant experience as a council candidate comes from my Masters degree in Urban Planning (surprise!). During grad school and while briefly working in the field, all I did was read boring contractual language and track community feedback in response to projects and proposals. It doesn’t exactly make for a thrilling campaign slogan, but I am willing and able to do the monotonous, unexciting stuff that ensures you get paid what you’re worth.
4. What do you think WGAE’s role should be in the broader labor movement?
Unions across the country are facing greater threats now than at any time since the New Deal. This administration has tossed out union contracts with multiple sectors of federal employees (the termination of 360k VA contracts is a loss of 2.5% of ALL union members in America). The tech industry is particularly hostile to organized labor, and its tentacles run deep into Trump’s staff, motivating the administration to roll back more and more union protections. The WGA is one of the only unions with a small toehold at tech companies (streamers), and it’s incumbent on us to support other organizing efforts within those companies specifically, by offering experience, public support, and of course, assistance writing their messaging campaigns. One thing we could certainly do as writers is give union-skeptical employees a clearer picture of how lives and livelihoods change when labor organizes. I’d like to see the WGA launch an initiative that tells the stories of successful union drives, both present and historical, and why they matter to workers.
I’ve heard a lot of people say the WGA is a union that “punches above its weight.” Our relatively small membership is able to capture a lot of attention. As one of the country’s more visible unions, we have a unique platform and responsibility within the broader labor movement to amplify other unions as well as encouraging unionization efforts in places that have faced resistance.
Endorsements
JD Amato, Johnathan Appel, Kristen Bartlett, Daniel Chamberlain, Micharne Cloughley, Kevin Cortez, Devin Delliquanti, Ariel Dumas, Glenn Eichler, Jo Firestone, Claire Friedman, Christopher Gethard, Jason Gilbert, Sudi Green, Hallie Haglund, Matthew Hardigree, Jim Hart, Liz Hynes, Michael Kayne, Matthew Koff, Pratima Mani, Kate Melville, Sarah Montana, Carley Moseley, Taylor Phillips, Celine Robinson, Seth Rosenthal, Lanee’ Sanders, Katherine Sidley, David Sidorov, Brian Stack, Sasha Stewart, John Thibodeaux, Felipe Torres Medina, Kate Villa, Steve Waltien, Colleen Werthmann, Bowen Yang, Alison Zeidman, Moujan Zolfaghari, Sophie Zucker
WGAW: Billy Domineau, Anna Drezen, Brad Evans, Henry Gammill, Keaton Patti, Troy Walker
Endorse Nicole Conlan for Council, Film/TV/Streaming Sector
Note: WGAW members who wish to endorse a candidate may follow the process outlined in section G.1.B of the 2025 Election Policy.
