WGA West Cancels Los Angeles Award Show as Staff Continues to Strike

The Writers Guild of America West has cancelled its Los Angeles award show due to an ongoing staff strike, the organization announced in a press release on Sunday morning.

The show was originally scheduled for Sunday, March 8 in downtown Los Angeles, though its status has been in question since February 17, when the 110 non-supervisory WGA West staff members who comprise the Writers Guild Staff Union formally went on strike.

“As a labor union, we would not ask our guests to cross a picket line to attend the awards show,” WGA West President Michele Mulroney said in a statement. “The WGAW staff union has the right to strike, and our exceptional nominees and honorees deserve an uncomplicated celebration of their achievements… I would like to thank the talented WGAW staff, WGAW Awards Committee, producers, writers, event planning professionals, presenters, host Atsuko Okatsuka, and crew who all poured their creativity into what was certain to be an incredible event. I look forward to celebrating our 2026 nominees later this year, and returning next year with a great show.”

“We are saddened by the cancellation of the Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles ceremony, an event many of us take great pride in producing each year,” the WGSU wrote on the union’s official Instagram account. “We hope that guild management returns to the table and bargains in good faith so that future disruptions to guild members can be avoided.”

The news ensures that the 2026 WGA Awards will look much more like a conventional award show. The guild’s awards are traditionally unveiled via two simultaneous ceremonies, one in New York and one in Los Angeles, that often present the same awards at different times. The New York ceremony will proceed as scheduled in the Edison Ballroom next Sunday — and while the two shows are organized by two separate locals, winners are voted on by the entire WGA. Given that the WGA East operates under a separately negotiated collective bargaining agreement, and its workers are not on strike, the ceremony can proceed with nominees in attendance as usual. The results will be unchanged, so all eyes will be on the New York ceremony for one of the final major guild award shows of the 2025-2026 season.