Each year, the members elect the National Executive Council alongside Branch Committees that represent each Australian state.

Founded on the notions of misrepresentation within Australian society, exceptional underfunding and poor professional treatment, the AWG aimed to aid in these areas.

This left minimal room for the local market and severely impacted the state of the Australian Media industry.

A pivotal moment in societal advancement in switching from predominantly focused radio entertainment to the television, the founders of the guild were determined to ensure Australia was not left behind.

The first interim committee comprised Don Houghton, Richard Lane, Ric Aspinall, Kay Keaveney and Lyle Martin.

[6] Nearing the end of 1962, the Australian Writers Guild was officially registered as a Trade Union in New South Wales.

[6] 1963 saw the AWG's first industrial dispute over an Australian network offering an unacceptable amount for a script written by Eleanor Witcombe.

As a result of this, the AWG united with the Council of the Society of Authors and Actors' Equity in an attempt to resolve tensions between the ABC's treatment of its creators.

The ABC eventually found an agreement to the Guild's terms of worker equity and signed off on the standard contract by the early 70s.

This threatened the Guilds status as a Trade Union in NSW, so the association was split into fully operative state branches as determined at the annual Federal Conference involving all members.

[13] Later 1973 saw the guild join the Film Action Committee in order to raise media attention against visiting Jack Valenti in the US due to his ideology towards copyright.

Australian production houses were delaying their signing of an Industry-Wide agreement to produce a standard contract that saw for writers enforced rights and fair pay.

Wilson sought for further government funding to help greater support the local film and television industries, offering that five out of the seven production projects taking place in Australia should be Australian written.

Approaching the end of the 1980s, the Australian Film Committee was in close contact with the Guild, strengthening the claims and actions taken by its members.

1988 saw the appointment of New Guild president Geoffrey Atherden, A Sydney University graduate infamous in his comedic screenwriting (particularly for his co-writing credits in The Aunty Jack Show).

[13] With offices in Sydney and Melbourne and chapters in every other state, the guild had established itself as a powerful force within the performative writing world, standing firmly for workers writers in the film, television, radio and theatre industries across Australia.

Negotiating the Theatre Industry Agreement,[19] writers received minimum rates and commissioning rights for each piece crafted for the stage.

This also involved that writers would share in box office receipts, 10% to each ticket sold, one of the highest rates in the world.

This protected Australian writers intellectual property and furthered the ramifications for breaking authorship integrity and workplace morality.

[35][34] Winners have included: The Monte Miller Awards, open to AWG members, recognise excellence in screenwriting and playwriting.

There are a variety of tears of membership, and the accompanying fee paid by each member enables the Guild to create opportunities for its affiliates.

[52] The benefits of this membership include access to model contracts, recommended rates in the industries, industrial advice, networking opportunities, entry to AWG competitions, access to professional development seminars, Opportunities to Pathways and discounted prices on the industry-standard software among other elements.

This gateway program enables members to have their works published and produced within the Australian industry, essentially jump-starting networking opportunities and careers.