2024 Award Recipient

2023 WGA Negotiating Committee co-chairs Chris Keyser and David A. Goodman have been named joint recipients of the WGAW Morgan Cox Award in recognition of outstanding services to the Guild for their leadership through the 2023 MBA negotiations and 148-day strike. Goodman and Keyser will be honored at the Writers Guild Awards L.A. show on April 14 at the Hollywood Palladium.

WATCH THE SPEECH

“David and Chris love this union,” said WGA West President Meredith Stiehm. “They both served as presidents of the membership, were brave leaders in the uncharted territory of the Agency campaign, and unstoppable forces in our crucial MBA negotiations last year. They were strong and steady every day of the strike—on the picket line, in the negotiation room, and one on one with any member who approached them. It’s a privilege to work with them and to honor them with the Morgan Cox Award.” 

“Chris and David have been leaders of every important Guild campaign over the past decade,” said WGA West Executive Director Ellen Stutzman. “They put in countless hours to build solidarity among the membership, voicing the problems writers were facing and outlining the collective action needed to address issues ranging from agency conflict of interests to the future of the writing profession. They have built a stronger union of writers.”  

In the weeks leading up to negotiations, Goodman and Keyser took feedback expressed by members in surveys and membership meetings and articulated the existential threat facing their profession, thus inspiring solidarity within the Guild membership. Through their presence on picket lines, their communications to the membership collectively and to any individual member who reached out to them, they ensured members were informed and engaged through the prolonged work stoppage.  

The writers played critical roles in negotiating the unprecedented gains writers won in 2023. When negotiations broke down on May 1, after the AMPTP refused to address WGA's core proposals, Keyser and Goodman led the committee in the necessary decision to call a strike. They were instrumental in direct negotiations with company CEOs which ultimately led to a deal 148-days later—definitively winning substantial gains for screenwriters, minimum staffing and guaranteed duration of employment in television, a viewership-based bonus in streaming, protections against AI, minimum terms for comedy-variety programs on streaming, and more. 

After becoming a WGA member in 1989, Keyser worked with writing partner Amy Lippman on multiple TV series before, together, they served as co-creators, showrunners, and executive producers of Golden Globe and Humanitas Award-winning Party of Five. Since then, Keyser has—alone or with partners—brought to life the television series Significant Others, Time of Your Life, Lone Star, Tyrant, The Last Tycoon, the remake of Party of Five, The Society, and the Writers Guild Award-nominated Julia. 

David A. Goodman joined the Guild in 1988 when he became a staff writer for The Golden Girls. Goodman has since written for over 20 television series and served as showrunner for Family Guy, American Dad, Star Trek: Enterprise, Allen Gregory, The Orville, and the upcoming Hysteria! His feature film Honor Society won the 2023 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding TV and New Media Motion Picture. 

Both Goodman and Keyser have long histories of Guild service. From 2011-2015, Keyser served as President of the Writers Guild of America West and, from 2018-2021, was co-chair of the Agency Campaign Negotiating Committee. Goodman served on the WGAW Board of Directors from 2006-2014, was WGAW Vice President from 2015-2017, and was WGAW President from 2017-2021—leading the Guild through the successful campaign to realign talent agency interests with those of their writer clients. 

The Morgan Cox Award honors that WGAW member whose vital ideas, continuing efforts, and personal sacrifice best exemplify the ideal of service to the Guild. During his lifetime, Cox devoted his professional career to serving the Guild, working to ensure television writers were included under WGA jurisdiction. Previous recipients include Joan Meyerson, Dan Wilcox, Del Reisman, Frank Pierson, Carl Gottlieb, Patric M. Verrone, Daniel Petrie, Jr., Jeff Melvoin, and Arthur Sellers.