Writers Guild, Agents Going Down to Wire Over Tight Rules – Variety
Hollywood's great talent agencies have offered to share some of the revenue generated from TV and film packaging fees with WGA to avoid the prospects of thousands of writers shooting their agents as early as Saturday.
The financial offer was part of a long proposal submitted by the Association of Talent Agents to WGA dealers late Wednesday. It is assumed that the offer called the clan to create a special fund that would receive a percentage of each agency's purchasing fee. ATA has been cautious about putting a hard number on the table because of the expectation that other Hollywood guilds – especially DGA and SAG-AFTRA – will expect a similar revenue sharing.
"In particular, agencies will give a percentage of their recurring profits to authors ̵[ads1]1; 80% of these will be shared among a shows writers who do not participate in the profits of the series, regardless of which agency
represents them. The remaining 20% will Be invested in business initiatives and programs to promote and expand the inclusion of historically underrepresented authors, this is a meaningful investment in the author community, "wrote ATA CEO Karen Stuart in a message to members sent late on Thursday.
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The guild's proposal was designed to take into account the concerns of the WGA management that a subset of authors is being squeezed at a time when the revenue gap between Hollywood's A list and The rest of the creative community is growing. Complaints from lower and mid-level writers helped spark WGA's focus on renegotiating the terms of its agency franchise agreement to aim for packaging fees, which the guild quotes as a factor in financial pressure on some authors.
The ATA offer also included a $ 6 million over three-year payment for what is described as "a broad fund to promote and encourage inclusion."
The pages met earlier in the day or their fourth meeting in six days, but were unable to conclude an agreement on the main issues of packaging fees and agency-related ownership of manufacturing companies. Sources on both sides of the table expressed pessimism about the chances of the pages getting a deal.
ATA's decision to disclose details of the proposal is an indication that negotiations can return to a death. The agents want broader industries to have an understanding of the traits they have made in an attempt to reach a compromise, avoiding mass separation of authors and agents.
On Wednesday, ATA held a membership meeting at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, which provided solidarity for more than 200 agents. Sources said many participants swung the microphone and expressed the feeling that if agents admit too much in the fight against packaging and production, a deployed WGA may decide to aim for other issues in the future, such as cutting commission fees to less than the current 10%. standard.
Guilden and ATA are trying to avoid the disturbance of thousands of WGA members burning their agents mass from 12:01 on Saturday. The guild has pledged to implement its new mission rules if it cannot reach an agreement with ATA on a new franchise agreement – which, as suggested, will eliminate packaging fees along with prohibiting ownership of manufacturing companies by parent companies.
The pages had been facing an expiry date of April 6, but an eleventh-hour gathering on that day led to the WGA coming to a six-day delay in implementing the code.
Hollywood's largest agencies, represented by Talent Agent Association, have turned on the Guild's Code of Conduct reform. WGA claims that charging fees from packaging studios and owning production companies are conflicts of interest to the agency's fiduciary duties to its author clients.
The franchise's franchise agreement with ATA, called the Artist's Basic Agreement, had not been renegotiated since 1976.
Here is the full ATA letter:
Dear ATA Members,
] As you know, we have worked diligently to reach an agreement with WGA. Thanks to all of you who participated in our membership this week – we greatly appreciate your input, guidance, and overwhelming support as we work through these talks as a unified front. As we discussed, WGA's Code of Conduct is a threat to the agency business – whether it's two agents or 2000.
The past few days have been a quick crescendo to this important moment in our negotiations. We have now presented WGA with extensive counter-proposals that address their problems.
We have listened and heard meaningful feedback this week from WGA leadership, and in our own agency meetings and town houses with author customers in recent months. These meetings helped us understand and reflect on the basic issues, including greater transparency requirements, deeper understanding of agency operations, increased support for lower and medium-sized writers, and ultimately better alignment in agent / writer compensation. Our goal throughout the discussion to date has been to avoid a destabilizing industry fallout.
Outlined below is a summary of our draft motions:
- Partnering with the guild: Agents are and have always been, on the side of the author, and are committed to protecting authors from free rewriting and late payment. WGA has requested access to customer contracts and invoices so that they can intervene directly with studios / employers to correct situations on behalf of authors. Although WGA already has the authority to collect the information from its Guild members and studios, it is also necessary to send to the Guild, the collection has been problematic. Agencies have agreed to provide the Guild with copies of author's executed contracts and financial information for writing services within the Guild's jurisdiction – with the author's ability to choose to share their confidential information.
- Sharing Success: When a packaged show does well, writers will now successfully share and receive part of the agency's packaging fee. In particular, agencies will give a percentage of their surplus profits to authors – 80% of them will be shared among a shows writers who do not participate in the profits of the series, regardless of which agency represents them. The remaining 20% will be invested in business initiatives and programs to promote and expand the inclusion of historically underrepresented writers. This is a meaningful investment in the author.
