President, Writers Guild of America West

Stiehm walked a tightrope with the expiration of her union’s big movie/TV contract on May 1. Under Stiehm, the union issued a report in January criticizing ongoing media-industry consolidation for reducing jobs and won an October arbitration enabling writers to get back unproduced scripts. Late last year, the union negotiated tens of millions in back-pay settlements with Amazon Studios and Netflix. The Beverly Grove-based union won a historic, three-year industry battle forcing talent agencies to drop “packaging fees” on film/TV projects in February 2021. Emmy-winner Stiehm, whose writing credits include “ER,” “Homeland” and “Cold Case,” was elected in late 2021.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 1