Meet the Negotiating Committee: Nicole Yorkin
Bio: Nicole Yorkin (with partner Dawn Prestwich) has worked as a creator/showrunner for more than 25 years, including most recently Hit & Run, for Netflix, and Z on Amazon. They were writers/executive producers on AMC/Netflix's The Killing, as well as writers/showrunners of The Riches on FX. Other credits include Showtime’s Brotherhood (2006 Peabody Award), HBO’s Carnivale and Battlestar Galactica. In 2003, Yorkin and Prestwich won a Writers Guild Award for their pilot, The Education of Max Bickford. Before going into television, Yorkin was a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles about a 12-year-old prostitute.
What prompted you to join the Negotiating Committee?
As a passionate advocate for writers, both individually and collectively, I was honored to have been chosen to be on the Neg Com this year. This is my third stint, but I believe the issues we’re facing in 2023 have never been more critical to our very survival.
Tell us about a time when you have felt a strong feeling of solidarity with your fellow writers.
During the 2007-‘08 strike, I was part of a group of writers who produced Write Aid, a comedy fundraiser at UCLA's Royce Hall, starring such luminaries as Eddie Izzard, Sarah Silverman, and Patton Oswalt. Write Aid raised more than $67,000 to help below-the-line employees impacted by the strike. I was incredibly proud of this effort, because it proved to me, once again, that writers, as a whole, are an incredibly compassionate bunch!
What makes the 2023 contract cycle different from past ones that you have witnessed or in which you have participated?
This year, it seems to me that our membership is more unified than ever in recognizing the importance of our demands, which have to do with the very existence of film and TV writing as a viable career in the years to come. I’m very proud to be part of this effort.