WGA West ratifies Ellen Stutzman’s contract with 97% vote

Members of the Writers Guild of America West voted overwhelmingly to approve the contract of Ellen Stutzman as the union’s executive director, a year after she led the union in a historic strike.

The Stutzman Agreement was ratified by 97% of the votes, with 2,279 votes in favor and 72 against.

Stutzman was promoted to executive director last November when the union announced that David Young, its longtime leader, was retiring. Young took a medical leave earlier this year, leaving Stutzman as chief negotiator in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

In the last fiscal year, Stutzman made $680,000, about twice her salary when she was deputy executive director.

The union also announced on Tuesday that three new people had been elected to its board.

“Nancy Drew” showrunner Melinda Hsu was the top vote-getter with 1,491 votes. Chris Hazzard and Danny Tolli were also elected as new board members, finishing fifth and seventh. They join five incumbents who were re-elected: Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Deric A. Hughes, Justin Halpern, Travis Donnelly and John Rogers.

Hsu hosts the podcast “Lead With Kindness,” which aims to change the culture of Hollywood to emphasize kindness and inclusivity. She also ran for board membership on a platform of kindness.

“Specifically, the goal of living kindness was what led me to run,” she wrote in her candidacy statement. “If elected, I will help launch Guild-led training to drive long-term positive change in writers’ rooms and wherever the Guild can reach.”

Hsu was a writer on the series “Lost” and currently has a master deal with ABC Signature.

Hazzard is a reporter who was part of the “rapid response team” during the strike, which picketed and shut down early-morning location shoots. Tolli was a strike captain and set coordinator at Netflix.