Guilded!

It's been a while since I posted anything on this blog, mainly because I've been too busy with various worky type things, while at the same time not having much of any significance to report. But something good did happen this week, good enough that I feel compelled to update with a self-congratulatory post; I finally got my WGA card.

The Writers Guild of America (west) is effectively the Hollywood screenwriters' union, and it has a byzantine and very strict system of criteria for entry. Each piece of professional screenwriting work for a legitimate production entity you do, be it a full screenplay, rewrite, polish, treatment or whatever, is assigned a certain credits value, and when you've accumulated enough credits you're invited to join the guild.

It feels good. Apart from the health plan and pension and all that other good stuff, it finally feels like I've been "anointed" in some way by my peers. Of course joining the WGA is no guarantee of success as a screenwriter; there are plenty of starving WGA card-carrying writers out there, but joining the guild is still a pretty significant step in the career of a screenwriter and a sign that you must be doing *something* right. Those who know me know that I require very little reason to open a bottle of booze in celebration; this will more than suffice.