Craig Mazin, a member of Phyllis Nagy’s slate of challengers in the Writers Guild of America West officer and board elections, on Wednesday withdrew from the race citing family medical issues. The decision leaves two candidates for vice president: incumbent Marjorie David and challenger Carl Gottlieb, both of whom support the guild’s current approach to its war with the major talent agencies.
The three-way presidential race will remain hotly contested, with Nagy and slateless independent William Schmidt both disagreeing with the approach taken by leadership, including president David Goodman, who is seeking a second term.
“I am regrettably withdrawing from the race for Vice President of the WGAW due to a medical issue with an immediate family member that will require more of my attention and care in the next year than I had expected,” Mazin said in a statement emailed to guild members. “I would have loved to serve, but I will not be able to. As the election season continues, I hope we can all keep these beautiful, final words from the late screenwriter Don Rhymer in mind: ‘Focus on the good.’”
Mazin’s name will be removed from the ballot, The Hollywood Reporter has learned, and there will be no replacement candidate.
Seperately, THR has also learned that board candidate Chris Roessner is withdrawing, as well.
“Now is not the time for anyone, especially at the Officer level, to seek votes unless they have a history of service to the Guild, can demonstrate their role in earning codified, verifiable gains for our membership, and/or speak for an underrepresented constituency,” he said in a letter to members. “Good ideas are simply not enough. For the many that have endorsed me … please transfer that energy to supporting [secretary-treasurer candidate] Michele Mulroney [and board candidates] Dante Harper, Liz Alper, Robb Chavis and Zoe Marshall.”
The other two candidates for secretary-treasurer are Nick Jones, Jr. (on Nagy’s slate) and Evette Vargas. The other 16 candidates for eight open seats on the 16-member board include four incumbents (Meredith Stiehm, Luvh Rakhe, Nicole Yorkin and Angelina Burnett), eight candidates on Nagy’s slate (Rasheed Newson, Nicholas Kazan, Ashley Edward Miller, Sarah Treem, Ayelet Waldman, Courtney A. Kemp, Jason Fuchs and Marc Guggenheim) and four candidates who support Goodman and/or the guild’s current course (Ed Herro, Mike Mariano, Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rob Forman), as do Alper, Chavis and Marshall.
The WGAW will host its annual candidates night for members on Wednesday, Aug. 28. Guild members will receive candidate, non-candidate and rebuttal statements, if any, with their ballots prior to the election. The voting period concludes Monday, Sept. 16, at 12 p.m. PT. Members may vote online or by mail.
