A Data Modeling Case: Writers Guild of America, East

Journal of Information Systems Education, Spring 2004 by Wedel, Thomas L, Behnezhad, Ali R, Gray, Glen L

3.1 Overview

Film, television, and radio production companies that have signed a collective bargaining agreement (known in the industry as a Minimum Basic Agreement) are referred to as signatory companies. When an eastern writer sells a script to a signatory company, that writer must join the WGAE as a freelance member. Woody Alien, for example, is a prominent freelance member of WGAE. If a signatory company hires an eastern writer as an employee to work as a news writer, graphic artist, researcher, or serve in other staff positions, then that writer must join the WGAE as a staff writer. Al Franken began working on "Saturday Night Live" in 1975 as a staff writer. Approximately two-thirds of the WGAE members are freelance writers and one-third are staff writers. Writers must pay an initiation fee that varies by employment category to join the WGAE. To remain a member in good standing, writers must p ay union dues to WGAE amounting to a fixed fee of $25 per quarter plus 1.5% of their gross compensation received for writing services.

3.2 Signatory (Production Company) Requirements

There are approximately 2,000 companies, both large and small, that have signed Minimum Basic Agreements. Any production company wishing to sign such an agreement with the WGAE must complete an application form from the WGAE Signatory Department. The company is required to provide information regarding officers and stockholders, current projects, and financial information. There are several different versions of the agreements including Motion Picture Screenwriters, Television Dramatic Writers, Television Episodic Writers, Television Serial Writers, Children's Television Writers, and many more. The agreements specify the salary, wage increases, working hours, overtime rules, holidays and vacation, layoff, and seniority rules.

The Signatory Department processes the application and sends a copy of the requested agreement(s) to the company for appropriate signatures. Once the executed agreements are received, the information from the application is entered in the system along with a six-digit company number assigned by WGAE. The following information is entered into the system: company's legal name, address, phone, fax, email address, a primary contact person and his/her phone number, and the officers of the company and the positions they hold. In addition, an agreement code indicating the specific agreement signed plus the sign date and the agreement effective date range (agreement start and termination dates) are recorded in the system. Agreement effective dates typically range between two and four years in duration. A company may be signatory to any number of agreements. For example, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is signatory to several television agreements covering writers involved with episodic, serial, dramatic shows, etc. The terms and conditions of the contracts are too extensive to be housed in the database and are published in book form.

3.3 Agency Requirements