The WGA Poker Group’s very own Myles Warden is running for the WGA Board of Directors. I’ve known him in several roles: friend, writer, guy who won all my poker chips… At every turn (and river), Myles has shown the qualities our guild needs most: honesty, kindness, and a relentless drive to strengthen our community. I invited Myles to share his vision directly with you in the statement below. Please give it a read and remember to vote starting September 4th!
– Aaron Ho, WGA Poker Group Founder
Hi, I’m Myles Warden. I’m a lower-level writer with a focus on half-hour comedy. While I may be newer to the guild, having officially joined right before the strike authorization vote, I hit the ground running, signing up to be a captain and a strike captain literally seconds after my new member meeting ended. During the strike, I was the assistant lot coordinator at Radford. I’m now a member of the Solidarity Steering Committee, the Committee of Black Writers, its subcommittee Strategy & Impact, and I’m a host on the WGA’s 3rd and Fairfax podcast.
Now, I’m running for the board, and there are a couple of key reasons why. One. I’m a true student of the guild, having studied its work and the board’s activities for over a decade before I became a member, and I’d be honored to build upon the work that has been done before me. The second is that I have a knack and a passion for responding to writers’ needs outside of the guild’s parameters, and I’d like to bring this skill set and energy to the board. For example, during the height of lockdown, conversations online took place with showrunners who still valued spec scripts and wanted to read them. However, lower-level writers were saying reps wouldn’t send them out. I reached out to Jackie Penn, and together we created a grid of over 100 specs. The list went viral. Mike Royce saw my spec for a show he had worked on, and loved it so much that he passed it on to reps for me, which led me here today. After the strikes, I started a monthly game night so people who met picketing would have a consistent way to stay in touch. It was a fun way to foster a sense of community.
Today, the reality is, you can have a good year employment-wise and still have a rough year financially. We survived til ‘25, but I’m not trying to stay in the mix til ‘26. I like to gamble, but I wouldn’t bet on next year being better unless we do the work to make it better.
I’m not great at math (which is why I often lose poker games), but I think communication and education will add up to the elevation of our union. Speaking of education, I’d like to create entertaining and informative videos that provide us with info typically received in an email. These videos would also guide us through processes such as paying our dues or determining what work we do for free that we should be compensated for, according to our MBA.
I want to create more social events that foster organic connections for everyone, which will help further careers and strengthen our union as a whole. I’m also interested in strategically organizing more work areas. Bringing more of YouTube and podcasts under the guild is a must, but Verticals is the newest thing that’s rapidly growing, and we can’t wait til it grows as big as YouTube.
During the streaming boom, many lower and mid-level writers, as well as writers of color, broke in. Since the downturn, we’ve taken a big hit. We have to address this.
It’s essential that we ensure writers of every color, at every stage of their career, and from all economic levels can see themselves represented on the board and have a seat at the table, and I’d love a chance to be part of that, while tackling the aforementioned issues as a member of the board.
Your endorsement and vote would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
For more information or if you have any questions, please visit my campaign site. https://elections.wga.org/2025/myles-warden
