Jamie Rhodes is a Lecturer in Creative Writing for the BA Media undergraduate programme at UCL East, part of UCL’s School for the Creative and Cultural Industries (SCCI) and UCL Institute of Education. His appointment was announced at the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s (WGGB) Annual General Meeting (AGM) earlier this month.
The WGGB is a trade union representing professional, emerging, and aspiring writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation and videogames. It has been negotiating better pay and working conditions for writers since 1959.
Several new appointments were announced at the WGGB AGM on 12 September, which was opened by union President Sandi Toksvig OBE. General Secretary Ellie Peers praised the activism and engagement of members around the UK, saying “Thank you for being trade unionists, thank you for being activists and thank you for being members of the WGGB”.
Each region of the UK needs a writer to oversee Guild matters locally – to programme events, field contractual questions, give career advice, and lead on trade union activism. After stating his ambitions for the role, and with recommendations from his peers, Jamie was elected to represent and advocate for writers in the London and South East region at the national level.
Jamie praised the work and support of the WGGB. He said:
“I’ve worked as a professional writer across several writing crafts and the Writers’ Guild has been a huge support for me from the start. I joined when I had just finished my undergraduate degree in philosophy and only had a couple of writing credits in short film. It was instrumental in helping me to build a network, learn from other writers, and diversify my writing skillset as my career developed.”
Jamie is keen to use these experiences and his new position to help students and aspiring writers. He says:
“I plan on using my position to help students and graduates to access and navigate the professional writing community. I’ll be programming events for aspiring and early-career screenwriters, game writers, theatre writers, authors, and radio drama writers, to meet established writers and other professionals in these fields.
“I would like to highlight the benefits of engaging with large national writing organisations like the Writers’ Guild. The Guild has student membership and associate membership tiers for which there is no requisite for professional writing credits. This allows anyone to join and access resources for building a career as a writer for any of the numerous writing crafts that the Guild supports.”
Jamie Rhodes is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at UCL and writer, working in prose fiction, graphic novels, screenwriting, and tabletop role-playing games. His notable works include the Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel A Castle in England (2017) and the internationally recognised short film Amputee (2020). Jamie’s research and creative projects explore the immersive experience of storytelling, blending philosophy, creative writing, and visual arts.