The 2025 Writers Guild Awards premiered Saturday at the Beverly Hilton and highlighted the originality and talent of the many union members while also calling for better support for labor in a tumultuous political environment. 

Joel Kim Booster — actor, standup comedian and card-carrying member of the Writers Guild of America — was the evening’s host, and his opening monologue was a mixture of light-hearted and serious topics. He poked fun at President Donald Trump and his administration’s hostility towards the entertainment industry, but he also joked about the inability of writers to dress up properly for the event. 

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Booster mentioned the firefighters who helped save many union members in evacuations and acknowledged that alongside the fires and the current political climate, the guild has also had a rough few years with its nearly five-month-long strike in 2023. Throughout the evening, multiple guild members highlighted the importance of belonging to a union and the benefits membership provides for a historically unstable profession.

“You are part of a community of writers that goes back, and not only a current community but a historical community that fought so hard for writers’ acknowledgment, for rights, for everything that we have and continue to fight for. And so, to be a part of that history — that’s also extremely special,” said Aron Eli Coleite, winner of the award for Children’s Episodic, Long Form and Specials, in an interview after the event. 

Director and writer RaMell Ross as well as producer and writer Joslyn Barnes received the Paul Selvin Award for their film “Nickel Boys” (2024), which tells the story of two Black boys sent to a notoriously abusive reform school in the Jim Crow-era South. The Paul Selvin Award celebrates the legacy of union lawyer Paul Selvin by highlighting writing that uplifts the constitutional and civil rights and liberties that are necessary for the free and independent survival of all writers. 

Ross and Barnes also won for Adapted Screenplay. Ross accepted both awards, and his speech called on all the union members present to create films that value human dignity and refuse the erasure of American history. 

“The imagination is the most powerful form of resistance,” Ross said.

USC alum Joshua Zetumer, creator, executive producer and writer of “Say Nothing,” was part of the team nominated for Limited Series but lost to the writers of “The Penguin.” He said in an interview that his education at USC taught him how to lift up personal stories in his writing, such as those of the two main characters in “Say Nothing,” which explores the Troubles in Northern Ireland. 

The series was a passion project for Zetumer and took five years to be released. He was intent on telling a story that was not his own, and he worked hard to capture the right voice to communicate the complicated tale; he worked with Northern Irish director and executive producer Michael Lennox, who also directed all 19 episodes of the popular series “Derry Girls,” to develop the show. For student filmmakers looking to get their foot in the door of the industry, Zetumer’s advice is to be confident in one’s self.

“Don’t be afraid to take big swings … I just took this left turn and said, ‘Here’s this incredible story, and the likelihood of it getting made is very, very slim, frankly, but I’m just gonna go for it,’” Zetumer said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[I] bet on myself and bet on the quality of the material. Ultimately, that paid off. Bet on yourself. Don’t be afraid.” 

Actor Edwin Lee Gibson, who plays Ebraheim in the critically acclaimed drama “The Bear,” presented the award for Short Form Streaming to Tripper Clancy for “Die Hart 3: Hart to Kill.” 

As an actor-turned-writer, Gibson went back to school and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in writing for the stage and screen from Point Park University in 2016. He said that he loved writers so much that he became one, and he appreciated the structure of a degree program to learn the basics of writing. Gibson’s advice for young screenwriters is to be comfortable with working with no end goal in mind — just to get better.

“I think as artists, we all work in the dark,” Gibson said in an interview after the event. “I’ve written a few different pieces as a writer, and I will say that the expectation should be that you get better and that you get the practice … You just have to keep working in the dark. You never know who’s watching or listening or reading.”

Another important moment in the show was when Kyle MacLachlan presented the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement to David Lynch. The famed writer, director and actor had accepted the award prior to his passing on Jan. 15, and the posthumous award presentation was a celebration of Lynch’s unique life and legacy with clips from his projects and heartfelt words from MacLachlan, one of his closest friends and collaborators. 

WGA President Meredith Stiehm took the stage about halfway through the broadcast to make remarks about the current state of the industry. The entire night was a celebration of labor and solidarity, and Stiehm’s speech was no different as she first thanked those there supporting labor, including politicians, both local and national, and representatives from other unions. 

Stiehm also highlighted the WGA wildfire relief fund, which has raised over $1.5 million for union members affected by the fires. 

She did not mince words in her speech, including calling out what she called theft “plain and simple” of artificial intelligence companies that take scripts without permission to train their models. Moreover, she called out President Trump as being puppeted by the richest man in the world and reminded union members that the guild’s values have not changed.

“We believe in labor, in freedom of speech, in civil rights, inclusion and equity. We do not cower in the face of bullies, we do not turn our backs on people being bullied, we protect and push back,” Stiehm said.

This sentiment was echoed by the winner of the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, Vince Gilligan. Gilligan wrote for “The X-Files,” where he learned how to be a showrunner, and he had the chance to become one when he created both “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” 

Rhea Seehorn, his friend and collaborator, who played Kim Wexler on “Better Call Saul” presented the award to him. Gilligan’s speech encouraged his peers to write scripts that center heroes, such as George Bailey (James Stewart) from “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), and to not make the villains “too sexy,” especially in the current political climate.

“I got people in my family who think this was a mistake. Maybe it was. I don’t go political. I’ve never done it in my life. It felt like there’s so much going on in the world that’s happening so quickly. This is like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ I couldn’t help myself. I had to talk about the idea [that] we have to start celebrating heroes again, good people again,” Gilligan said in an interview after the event.