The Global Initiative Committee

The Global Initiative Committee is a natural extension of the Writer’s Guild of America, East Foundation. The Foundation, started with a mission to perpetuate the art and craft of storytelling, either by professionals or amateurs through education and practical experience. A success from the outset, The Foundation soon realized that there was a need for this kind of outreach not just in the United States but throughout the world. In a time when technology too often separates people and cultures, The Guild wisely recognizes that something as fundamental as direct communication and the written word can have a profound impact.

One of the first projects The Initiative will undertake is an extensive trip to Brazil to meet with members of the two Writer’s Guild/Associations – the AR (Associacao Dos Roteiristas) and the AC (Autores de Cinema). The trip, in the works for several months, is planned for the beginning of 2010. It will give the Committee an opportunity to meet with fellow writer’s on a host of different subjects and allow for the exchange of ideas, experiences, working methods and organizational skills. The Committee will also have a unique opportunity to support the solidarity and power of the writing community in Brazil; and to work with other like-minded organizations in order to facilitate and expand the needs and goals of writers everywhere.

The Guild realizes that this is only one part of a larger picture and that education is the ultimate key to success. The Committee, working in concert with the Film Department at The University of Sao Paulo (USP), will conduct a master class for students and meet with faculty to discuss the development of the next generation of writers for film and television. In addition, plans are in the works for the participation of a major public University in Rio, as well.

Several of the events in the program will be open to the public, including the screening of a film picked by the WGAE followed by a discussion by members from both Guilds. The Group will also conduct a seminar with leading Brazilian Producers and Directors to discuss: “Developing The Screenplay: The American Experience.”

The trip to Brazil is expected to be the first of many that the Foundation hopes to make. It is very rare that one is given the chance to make such a difference in people’s lives; to begin a dialogue based on mutual respect and the understanding that the issues the Guild cares so much about also affect so many other people around the world. And that maybe, just maybe the desire to recognize what we have in common as professional artists and writers makes us closer than what we all thought.