Jack Thorne Elected WGGB President, Sounds Alarm on AI and Copyright Theft

Jack Thorne takes WGGB presidency and calls writers to defend copyright

Jack Thorne has been elected president of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), stepping into the role after Sandi Toksvig completed her six-year term. He framed the moment as an honor and a warning: writers face a fight over copyright, commissioning caution, and the growing use of AI without consent.

WGGB represents writers across TV, film, theatre, audio, books, comedy, poetry, animation, and videogames. Thorne says the next few years will demand unity, echoing a chant he learned marching as a kid: "together, united, we'll never be defeated."

Why this matters to working writers

Conditions are tough. Commissions feel safer, budgets bite, and AI systems are scraping work to train models. Thorne's message is clear: organize, protect your rights, and push back with collective action.

• Expect tighter briefs and more risk-averse notes. Lead with clarity: audience, outcome, and cost awareness.
• Protect IP in contracts. Add explicit clauses covering AI training, synthetic performance, and reuse without consent or payment.
• Keep clean records: drafts, dates, and delivery notes. It strengthens your position in any dispute or rights discussion.
• Join your union. Collective bargaining beats case-by-case battles. Learn more at WGGB.
• Track policy shifts (copyright, text/data mining, AI). Start with the UK guidance on copyright: gov.uk/copyright.

Thorne's track record

Thorne's TV start included Skins and Shameless, followed by award-winning work with Shane Meadows on This Is England. He's written across mediums, from His Dark Materials and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to the BBC film Then Barbara Met Alan, featuring exclusively disabled talent. His Netflix series Adolescence became a global hit this year, cementing his influence with socially conscious storytelling.

What Toksvig hands over

Toksvig's presidency spanned a pandemic, AI's rise, Brexit fallout, a cost-of-living crisis, far-right re-emergence, and deep arts cuts. She praised WGGB's fight to protect writers' jobs, rights, and livelihoods, and wished Thorne well in taking that work further.

What you can do this week

• Review your boilerplate. Add AI, data-mining, synthetic likeness, and reuse clauses. Make consent and compensation explicit.
• Audit current deals. Check who holds what rights (and where) across adaptations, translations, and formats.
• Contribute to union efforts. Share case studies and pressure points so campaigns reflect real conditions.
• Skill up on AI to protect value and stay competitive. If you're exploring practical tools and prompts for writing workflows, see AI tools for copywriting.

The takeaway

This is a line-in-the-sand moment. Defend your copyright, sharpen your contracts, and act together. The more organized we are, the better we negotiate-and the harder we are to ignore.