# Outreach Letter: Writers' Guild of Great Britain

**Date:** 22 November 2025
**To:** Writers' Guild of Great Britain
**From:** Palimpsest Stewardship Council
**Subject:** Protecting Writers' Creative Rights in the Age of Generative AI

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Dear Writers' Guild of Great Britain,

We write to you with deep respect for the WGGB's tireless advocacy for writers across all media—from screenwriters and playwrights to radio dramatists, poets, and authors. In an industry characterised by power imbalances and precarious income, the Writers' Guild has been essential in establishing minimum terms, defending creative credits, and ensuring writers receive fair compensation for their work.

## The Palimpsest License: AI-Era Rights for Writers

The **Palimpsest License** addresses an existential threat to writers' livelihoods and creative autonomy: the unconsented use of literary and dramatic works to train generative AI systems that now compete directly with human writers. This affects WGGB members across all sectors—screenwriters, television writers, theatre practitioners, poets, novelists, and games writers.

## The AI Crisis for Professional Writers

### 1. Training Without Consent or Compensation
Large language models (GPTs, Claude, Gemini, etc.) have been trained on:
- Published novels, short stories, and poetry
- Film and television scripts (often from leaked databases)
- Theatre plays and radio dramas
- Games dialogue and interactive narratives
- Published essays, criticism, and creative non-fiction

This extraction typically occurs:
- Without individual writer consent
- Without additional compensation beyond original publication fees
- Without ongoing attribution when AI generates derivative works
- Without preserving the creative intent, cultural context, or symbolic meaning

### 2. AI-Generated Scripts Undermining Writers
Studios and production companies now use AI to:
- Generate first-draft scripts from prompts
- "Punch up" dialogue trained on professional writers' work
- Create "derivative" works that bypass writers' creative input
- Undercut writers' fees by claiming AI reduces labour requirements

This directly threatens:
- **Screenwriters** – Studios using AI drafts to avoid WGA/WGGB minimum terms
- **Television writers** – AI-generated soap opera/serial drama dialogue
- **Theatre writers** – AI-generated plays based on existing dramatic traditions
- **Games writers** – AI-generated dialogue trained on published games narrative

### 3. Cultural and Narrative Devaluation
AI systems trained on literary works often:
- Strip cultural context from diaspora and minority writers
- Flatten emotional complexity in trauma narratives
- Erase stylistic innovation and linguistic experimentation
- Homogenise distinct voices into generic outputs

This particularly harms:
- **BAME writers** whose cultural specificity is appropriated without recognition
- **Regional writers** whose dialects and cultural references are extracted
- **Experimental writers** whose innovations become training data for derivative AI outputs
- **Working-class writers** whose narratives are commodified without community benefit

### 4. Pseudonymous and Emerging Writers
Writers operating under pseudonyms or early in careers face:
- Attribution confusion when AI-generated work mimics their style
- Difficulty proving their work was used in AI training
- Lack of bargaining power to negotiate AI rights
- Erosion of reputation when AI-generated inferior work is mistaken for theirs

## How Palimpsest Protects Writers

### 1. Informed Consent for AI Training
Writers can explicitly specify whether their work may be used to train AI systems, including:
- **Individual control** – Writers retain AI training rights regardless of publication agreements
- **Retrospective protection** – Published work can be relicensed with AI protections
- **Collective bargaining** – WGGB can negotiate AI training terms industry-wide

### 2. Mandatory Attribution in AI Outputs
Palimpsest requires:
- **Synthetic lineage tags** – AI-generated scripts/narratives must disclose their training sources
- **Writer credit preservation** – Bylines and creative attribution survive AI transformation
- **Style attribution** – When AI mimics a writer's distinctive voice, credit is required

### 3. Emotional Lineage and Thematic Integrity
Particularly crucial for:
- **Trauma narratives** – Protecting the emotional context of difficult stories
- **Cultural works** – Preserving diaspora, indigenous, and regional cultural context
- **Experimental writing** – Maintaining connection between innovation and originator
- **Symbolic works** – Protecting mythological, allegorical, and symbolic narratives

### 4. Commercial Use Provisions
When AI systems trained on writers' work are used commercially:
- **Revenue sharing** – Ongoing royalties, not just one-time fees
- **Collective licensing** – WGGB-negotiated industry agreements
- **Residuals** – Similar to broadcast/streaming residuals, but for AI training use

### 5. Quantum-Proof Traceability
Future-resistant attribution mechanisms ensure writers receive credit and compensation even as AI technology evolves, protecting long-term career recognition and income.

## Legal Framework

Palimpsest operates under:
- **Primary jurisdiction:** Netherlands (Dutch Civil Code, strong creative rights protections)
- **Enforcement:** Scottish courts (highly relevant for UK-based WGGB members, particularly Scottish writers)
- **Bilingual:** Dutch (legally binding) + English (primary language for WGGB members)

The **Palimpsest Stewardship Council** includes creator representatives and could accommodate WGGB representation for writers' specific concerns.

## Proposed Collaboration with WGGB

### 1. Model Contract Clauses
Developing WGGB-endorsed contract language for:
- **Film/TV agreements** – Reserving AI training rights, specifying consent requirements
- **Publishing contracts** – Distinguishing publication rights from AI training rights
- **Theatre commissions** – Protecting dramatic works from AI extraction
- **Games writing** – Interactive narrative AI training protections
- **Adaptation rights** – Ensuring AI-generated adaptations require same permissions as human adaptations

### 2. Collective Licensing Frameworks
Exploring:
- **Industry-wide agreements** – WGGB-negotiated AI training terms with studios, publishers, broadcasters
- **Revenue sharing** – Collective payment from AI companies training on WGGB members' work
- **Minimum terms** – AI-era equivalents to existing WGGB minimums
- **Credit standards** – Attribution requirements for AI-generated content

### 3. Policy Advocacy
Collaborating on:
- **UK government AI policy** – Ensuring writers' protections in AI legislation
- **Parliamentary inquiries** – Creative industries, AI, and intellectual property
- **DCMS consultations** – Media policy and AI-generated content regulation
- **Copyright reform** – Updating UK copyright for AI era (building on EU AI Act precedents)

### 4. Educational Resources
Creating materials for WGGB members on:
- Understanding AI training and writers' rights
- Negotiating AI provisions in contracts
- Implementing Palimpsest or similar protections
- Collective action strategies (building on WGA 2023 strike lessons)

### 5. International Solidarity
Connecting with:
- **Writers Guild of America** – Sharing lessons from 2023 AI strike provisions
- **Writers' unions globally** – International Federation of Journalists, International Affiliation of Writers Guilds
- **European writers' organisations** – Coordinating on EU AI Act implementation

## Case Studies Relevant to WGGB Members

### Screenwriting
**Scenario:** A studio uses AI trained on a screenwriter's previous scripts to generate a "first draft," then hires a cheaper writer to polish it, bypassing the original writer and WGGB minimums.

**Palimpsest Protection:** Requires consent and attribution, establishing that AI training constitutes derivative use requiring original writer involvement and compensation.

### Diaspora Fiction
**Scenario:** A BAME novelist's culturally specific work is used to train an AI that generates "diverse" narratives without cultural context or community consultation.

**Palimpsest Protection:** Mandates cultural context preservation and community consent provisions, protecting against cultural appropriation at scale.

### Experimental Poetry
**Scenario:** An experimental poet's innovative linguistic style is extracted to train an AI poetry generator, which produces work mimicking their style without credit.

**Palimpsest Protection:** Requires style attribution and consent, protecting distinctive creative voices from unconsented commodification.

## Invitation to Collaboration

We would be honoured to work with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain to:

1. **Present at WGGB events** – AGM, regional meetings, craft sessions
2. **Develop WGGB-specific guidance** – Tailored to UK writers' context
3. **Collaborate on policy advocacy** – Joint campaigns for writers' AI protections
4. **Support collective bargaining** – Providing legal frameworks for WGGB negotiations
5. **International coordination** – Connecting with WGA and global writers' organisations

Would you be available for an initial conversation? We are flexible regarding format—video conference, presentation at WGGB offices, participation in relevant committees, or written exchange.

## Contact Information

**Palimpsest Stewardship Council**
Email: [contact information to be provided]
Repository: https://github.com/[repository-path]
Documentation: [documentation URL]

Thank you for your consideration. The Writers' Guild of Great Britain has defended writers' creative and economic rights through profound technological changes—from video to streaming, from theatrical to digital. We aspire to support WGGB members navigating the AI era, ensuring writers retain control, credit, and compensation for their creative work.

In solidarity with working writers,

**The Palimpsest Stewardship Council**

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## Appendices Available Upon Request

- Full text of Palimpsest License v0.4 (English and Dutch)
- Model contract clauses for film, TV, theatre, publishing, and games
- WGA 2023 strike AI provisions: comparative analysis
- Case studies: Screenwriting, diaspora fiction, experimental writing
- UK legal analysis and enforcement mechanisms
