06/25/2026
From top to bottom: Actor Richard Ward, writer-producer Gene Boland, and writer-actor Eric Monte in a scene from the works of students in the Writers Guild Open Door School Program.
A major effort during WGF's early days was to pay operational expenses and provide monetary student awards for the WGA-administered Open Door Writing Program (ODWP). This was the WGA’s first program focused specifically on helping diverse writers, with classes taught 6 days a week by volunteer WGA members. Hundreds of mentors and students worked together during the program. Octavia E. Butler was one of these students, and she met her first mentor, Harlan Ellison, there. The program was initiated in 1968 and ran until 1976.
The WGA Newsletter, Variety, the LA Times, The LA Sentinel, and national publications periodically profiled the activities and accomplishments of ODWP students.
