The screen writer (Apr-Oct 1948)

us), must be paid for the treatment upon delivery, and must be notified within a week of any changes required of them. Article 10 stated that no producer might discharge a member without notice, in the case of short-term employment, unless the member could terminate without notice. An Agents-Writers Code figures in Guild history for the first time in August of 1933, when Ernest Pascal attended a meeting, held at 1655 North Cherokee, to report on such a Code. A Guild Committee met on March 31, 1948, with a Committee of the Artist's Manager's Guild to bargain for a Minimum Basic Agreement between writers and agents. The Treasurer's Report at this August meeting showed a cash balance of $13,307.47. NRA was discussed on the same date. The attorney, Mr. Beilenson, was instructed by the Board as follows: 1. The Code for Screen Writers under N.R.A. must include a provision for arbitration and conciliation procedure between the SWG and the producers in regard to all complaints of writers against producers, and vice versa, and for protective action and arbitration in all matters of plagiarism. 2. That Mr. Beilenson meet with Jack Natteford, and discuss with him the free-lance writer problem, arrive at some definite workable procedure, and submit it to the Board at its next meeting. 3. That in the Code submitted under NRA, these provisions to protect Readers be incorporated : A minimum of $50 per week for anyone with six months' experience as a Reader. Established minima for Outside Readers. A copy of the Code of Working Rules for Readers, submitted by the Code Committee of the Readers' Branch, was sent to Mr. Beilenson. THE treasurer was authorized on August 14, 1933, to pay John Howard Lawson's expenses to New York and back in connection with the NRA. Mr. Pascal was instructed to meet with the agents' representatives as soon as possible, and to tell them that the Screen Writers' Guild insisted upon fulfillment of the agreement with the Guild, and that no changes in the agreement, beyond mere details of legal language, might be made. He was also to insist that an agreement be reached within two weeks. Again it must be noted that there has been a fifteen year delay in achieving this agreement. Jack Natteford was instructed to confer with the publicists Landy and Hunt, with regard to the preparation of a weekly bulletin to the membership. A general membership meeting was called for August 21, immediately following which, Jack Lawson was to fly to Washington as the representative of the Guild. The call to the meeting stated that the Executive Committee, in collaboration with the Dramatists Guild and the Authors League, had shaped its demands, to be laid before the Federal Government. During 1933, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had fallen into disrepute among workers in the industry, because it had been used by the producers in their efforts to institute a fifty per cent salary cut. At the membership meeting, John Howard Lawson urged all SWG members who still remained in the Academy to resign. A motion was passed requiring Guild members to quit the Academy "as those who refuse are acting in direct prejudice to the best interest of the Guild." The content of the N.R.A. code was discussed, and Section 4 was amended to cover specifically the Guild's protest against the then existing pact among producers, which precluded a writer from bargaining for his services with one studio while employed by another, even though his contract was soon to expire and he had decided not to re-sign. Jack Lawson was empowered to present the SWG demands for a code. The Executive Board on September 20, telegraphed Mr. Lawson in Washington, stressing four major objectives in the NRA Code negotiations: compulsory arbitration on individual writer disputes, the Authority to represent writers in arbitration, balloting to be conducted by the Authority; collective bargaining with the Guild to represent writers; elimination of the Academy; establishment of a Code Authority with employees represented equally with employers, the Guild to name its representative when employee problems were concerned. Ted Paramore succeeded Jack Natteford as Editor of the Screen Writers' News in August, 1933. Oliver Garrett acted as President during Jack Lawson's absence in Washington. Louis B. Mayer issued a statement attacking Garrett, and threatening to release all Guild members from their contracts with his studio. This had been provoked by the Guild's action prohibiting members from signing long-term contracts. The Board released to the press a counter-blast. Jack Lawson returned from Washington on October 3. The Board empowered Luise Sillcox, Executive Secretary of the Authors' League, to represent the Guild at Eastern meetings on the NRA code. A membership meeting was called to oppose Articles 9 and 10 of the proposed NRA code. Eddie Cantor, President of the Screen Actors Guild, accepted an invitation to speak. Luise Sillcox wired from New York, proposing that the Code include provision for a Board of eight, four writers, four producers, for control and licensing of agents, and responsible only to the Administrator; and a committee of five writers and five producers on working conditions for writers, with provision for compulsory arbitration. The Board endorsed these proposals, told Miss Sillcox that "creative talent of all kinds is trying to map out course of action for defense against intolerable propositions of the Code," asked that it be informed immediately as to whether her two proposals were to be included in the Code, and threatened that if the objectionable features were written into the Code, the Guild would seek < GO > Z z < X H z w w H i— ( The Screen Writer, April, 1948 27