The Writers Guild of America East has found its next leader.
Veteran television creator and showrunner Tom Fontana was elected to be the East Coast writers union’s next president on Thursday after running on a platform that emphasized meat-and-potato wage and benefits issues in addition to the importance of defending free speech. Fontana’s two-year term will start on Friday as current leader Lisa Takeuchi Cullen steps down.
Fontana will serve alongside Sasha Stewart and Michael Rauch, who both ran unopposed for the secretary-treasurer and the vice president of the film, television and streaming sector positions, respectively. Stewart has written on the limited FX/Hulu series Dying for Sex and the Netflix docuseries Amend: The Fight for America, while Rauch has written and produced shows like Fox’s Monarch and CBS’ Instinct.
The six open seats on the union’s council dedicated to film, television and streaming were filled by Nicole Conlan, Chris Gethard, Liz Hynes, Sarah Montana, Sharyn Rothstein and Erica Saleh. Three open seats devoted to online media went to Sie Morley, Nitish Pahwa and Samantha Smylie.
These elected leaders will serve alongside members who still have one year left on their terms, including vice president for online media Sara David and vice president for broadcast, cable and streaming news Beth Godvik, as well as council members Monica Lee Bellais, Larry J. Cohen, Don P. Hooper, Victoria Pollack, Céline Robinson, Suzanne Weber, Susan Rinkunas, Jessica Schulberg, Justin DiLauro, Gail Lee and Phil Pilato.
Turnout for the election, which took place between Sept. 5 and 18, was low, with only 14 percent of eligible voters in the film, television and streaming category, five percent of voters in online media and seven percent in broadcast, cable and streaming news participating. EBallot supervised the ballot count.
