Patric Verrone, Betsy Thomas Re-Elected to WGA West Board

Former Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone and negotiating committee co-chair Betsy Thomas have won re-election to WGA West board seats.

Incumbents Deric A. Hughes, Ashley Gable, Patti Carr, David Slack and Travis Donnelly also won re-election along with “Empire” and “Power” co-executive producer Eric Haywood. Other candidates were Katherine Beattie, Daniel Kunka, Rob Forman, Andrew Ti, John Lopez and Leland Jay Anderson.

A total of 2,204 valid ballots were cast, reflecting the usual turnout of about 25% of eligible members. The ballot count was announced Monday and supervised by Votenet Solutions.

“A heartfelt thank you to all the candidates that ran this year,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “The work of the board continues, and we’re fortunate that we have so many members ready to step forward and give their free time to help protect and advance the interests of all our members.”

The seats are for two-year terms. The WGA West president, vice president, secretary-treasurer and eight other board seats will be up for election next year.

Verrone, best known for leading the bitter 2007-08 writers strike while president, is a veteran of WGA politics and has a long career in animation, writing on shows like “Futurama.” Thomas, who has credits on “My Boys” and “Whitney,” was named co-chair of the negotiating committee with Michele Mulroney and Shawn Ryan late last year.

The WGA reached a three-year successor deal with the companies on its master contract on July 1, a few hours after the previous deal expired. WGA leaders explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had removed the possibility of mounting a campaign for a strike authorization.

The WGA leaders have successfully campaigned for the past 18 months for agencies to eliminate packaging and limit affiliate ownership as conditions for agents to represent WGA members. Only WME and CAA have held out. CAA announced a week ago that it had agreed to the rules but the WGA said it will not accept the terms as presented by the agency powerhouse.