A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the three major agencies to pursue a lawsuit against the Writers Guild of America, finding that the guild’s agency boycott is not immune from antitrust scrutiny.
Will Hollywood writers wait another 14 months for a resolution to the ugly standoff between the largest talent agencies and the Writers Guild of America? The timeline for the legal fight playing out in federal court calls for the trial in the lawsuit filed by WME, CAA and UTA against the WGA to begin in March […]
The pitch seemed promising: a true crime podcast about a vengeful zookeeper from Oklahoma, starring and executive produced by “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kate McKinnon.
The Association of Talent Agents is calling out the WGA on its demand that agents turn over their writer-clients’ contracts and invoices to the guild.
For the attorneys of Hollywood’s writers — currently locked in the worst labor dispute in a decade — the summer of 2019 was the summer that wasn’t.
The campaigning around the Writers Guild of America West’s Sept. 16 election has focused in large part on the intense debate over the guild’s handling of its franchise contract renegotiations with Hollywood’s largest talent agencies.
Nick Jones Jr., the opposition candidate for secretary-treasurer of the WGA West, is a Marine Corps veteran who said in a statement today that the guild has been outflanked in its ongoing battle with Hollywood’s talent agents.
“Seeing the handwriting on the wall, two days ago the WGA dismissed without prejudice its state court case against the four agencies and simultaneously filed a counterclaim to the suit that was brought against three of the agencies for antitrust violations on the part of the guild,” Ken Ziffren said Wednesday as he laid out the battle between the WGA and […]
ICM Partners has accused the WGA of dropping the lawsuit it had filed in state court against the Big 4 talent agencies because “WGA leadership knew their lawsuit against the agencies was about to be found baseless and be dismissed.” The agency on Tuesday claimed the guild dropped the suit “instead of incurring that embarrassment right before their […]
WGA West presidential candidate Phyllis Nagy is accusing the guild’s leaders of “electioneering” in their latest legal maneuver against Hollywood’s talent agencies. WGA West president David Goodman has fired back, calling her claims “reckless and inflammatory.”
The Writers Guild of America, West on Monday moved to dismiss its own state lawsuit against several talent agencies as the union took its case to federal court, escalating a fight that has rattled Hollywood for months.
WGA West presidential candidate Phyllis Nagy says the guild’s ongoing standoff with the Association of Talent Agents threatens to “permanently destroy the primacy writers have enjoyed in television” and will lead to a strike.
As Hollywood writers’ showdown with their agents drags on, the writers are beginning to fight among themselves. It’s getting ugly.
The slate of Phyllis Nagy is getting a massive showing of support from some of the biggest names in film and television. More than 300 writers of all levels in the film and TV business, from up-and-comers to superstars, have signed an open letter endorsing Nagy, who is running for president of WGA West, as […]
Like many of his peers, writer Rasheed Newson, a co-executive producer on the Showtime drama “The Chi,” was supportive of his union’s efforts to rein in some of the aggressive practices of talent agencies.
The two unions representing television and movie writers took a firm stance in April, when they instructed their members to fire their agents and sued the four biggest talent agencies in Hollywood. Now a faction of writers who belong to the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East are beginning to go public […]
Members of the Writers Guild of America West saw their earnings grow 4.2% to $1.56 billion last year thanks to gains in feature films and television.
The Abrams Artists Agency was unable to reach a deal today with the WGA, despite chairman Adam Bold’s offer to forego packaging fees and any affiliation with related production entities. Bold spoke for about 20 minutes with WGA West executive director David Young, but they couldn’t come to an agreement. If Bold had agreed to […]
The Writers Guild of America on Tuesday rejected an offer by Abrams Artists Agency to abide by key WGA terms, rebuffing the mid-tier agency’s attempt to break the stalemate that has paralyzed the representation business for almost three months and forced Abrams and its peers to stand by as the union battles the top agencies.
2ND UPDATE, June 21: Oscar-nominated Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy has responded to WGA West executive director David Young in what has become a meaningful discussion of main issues stemming from the current standoff between the Writers Guild and the Association of Talent Agents. Nagy wrote the original June 17 letter to Young, signed by 20 […]
More than two months into the feud between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood’s top talent agencies, the WGA rejected the agencies’ latest offer, while distrust of guild leadership by its members wears down solidarity within the union.
A judge on Wednesday ruled that the Writers Guild of America lawsuit against the major talent agencies is a “complex” case, likely postponing the day when it would get to trial.
A judge has granted a request by William Morris Endeavor and Creative Artists Agency to designate the Writers Guild of America’s lawsuit against them a “complex case,” which will transfer it to a new judge and likely slow down the trial process.
Saying that “this is not the way to get a deal done” and frustrated by the WGA’s lack of response to its last proposal for a new franchise agreement, the Association of Talent Agents’ negotiating committee said today that “it has become clear as more days pass that the guild is not interested in making a […]
The Writers Guild of America has flexed its considerable muscle in mounting the campaign to ban talent agencies from collecting packaging fees and expanding corporately into the production-distribution arena. But in doing so, the WGA has exacerbated long-simmering tensions among its members that could handicap future efforts to rally the scribe tribe around guild priorities, […]
David Young is hated by the agents — and even some writers — but will the WGA executive director’s aggressive tactics of lawsuits, criminal accusations and screaming matches help lead his guild to a better day, or blow up the whole industry?
A group of showrunners, feature writers and directors are meeting in an online forum — set up by one of their kids — to communicate their concerns about the situation: “The guild calls us snivelers and whiners. The reality is, people on here are desperate to solve this thing.”
EXCLUSIVE: Concussion and Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House writer-director Peter Landesman has gone public with his frustration following an email sent to WGA members by WGA West executive director David Young. Young excoriated “a histrionic, biased trade press” after Deadline and Variety revealed that Chris Keyser, the former WGA West president who is WGA-Agency Agreement Negotiating Committee co-chair, is about to take […]
Writers Guild of America West executive director David Young criticized the “histrionic, biased trade press” in an email to members Thursday evening in an effort to defend key WGA negotiator Chris Keyser against charges of hypocrisy, calling media reports on the matter “invidious propaganda.”
WGA leaders David Goodman and Chris Keyser have this week explained for Deadline readers the guild’s position driving its quest to eradicate Big 4 agency packaging and affiliated production companies. That doesn’t mean there aren’t working writers who believe that the strong point that has been made should be followed by a return to the […]
It’s been an emotional day for WGA members, with reports in Deadline and Variety that WGA-Agency Agreement Negotiating Committee co-chair Chris Keyser is pitching a new packaged series with Endeavor Content, drawing criticism from writers and sparking a heated debate.
Amid the legal battle between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood largest talent agencies, eyebrows are being raised as a leader of the effort to reform the guild’s rules about agency practices is in the process of a shopping a new series co-produced by Endeavor Content.
The Association of Talent Agents just proposed a June 7 meeting between the full negotiating committees of WGA and ATAto restart talks on a new franchise agreement. The date might create a scheduling conflict for WGA-Agency Agreement Negotiating Committee co-chair Chris Keyser, the former president of WGA West.
Hollywood’s newly agentless scribes have had success finding work through hashtags like #WGAStaffingBoost, but sharing scripts might lead to a wave of idea theft litigation: “It could be a ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ situation.”
In the first sign of a thaw between warring parties, the Writers Guild of America on Wednesday night agreed to a request by UTA co-president Jay Sures to reopen talks between the guild and the Association of Talent Agents, more than a month after negotiations between writers and agencies failed in an effort to reach […]
I am a proud member of the Writers Guild of America, but lately I feel about my union like I feel about the Lakers: I like the players, and hope our best days are ahead of us, but I’m beginning to have serious doubts about management.
With the Writers Guild of America locked in a bitter standoff with Hollywood agents, three high-profile screenwriters have slammed the severity of the WGA’s tactics. The letter, addressed to WGA leaders, was written by Brandon Camp, Peter Landesman and Phyllis Nagy. The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents saw talks crater on April 12 over efforts to revamp […]
In an email to the guild, however, John Glenn also noted that the agency business needed to change. SEAL Team showrunner John Glenn criticized the Writers Guild of America in an email provided to The Hollywood Reporter, calling out what he termed a “somewhat McCarthy-like tone” and adding that he felt lied to and threatened by the […]
The union that represents Hollywood writers has been sparring with the town’s biggest talent agencies for almost 3 weeks now — over how deals are made and something called “packaging fees.” The Writers Guild strongly encouraged — some would say coerced — their members to fire their talent agents. And now some writers — a […]
The main battle between the the WGA and the Association of Talent Agents, which represents the major talent agencies, has been over two thorny issues: packaging fees and agency-affiliated production companies. The issues do not impact most of the 234 guild’s franchised agencies, however. An estimated 94%-95% of the TV packages are controlled by the “Big 4” talent […]
The ‘Halo’ showrunner shares the termination letter he sent to WME: “I’m worried that the executive story editor who just tweeted his or her firing letter and is now seeking their next gig at a mixer or on a job board might be the one taking the real risk.” Kyle Killen is currently showrunner of Halo at […]
Writer Shalom Auslander blasts WGA in ‘Official Coerced Termination Letter’ to CAA Hundreds of WGA members rallied solidly behind their union last week as the industry grappled with uncertainties spurred by the sudden break between writers and their talent agency representatives. But as the standoff heads into its second week, signs of strain among some […]
The skirmish over managers acting as agents escalated with the ATA promise to “evaluate its legal options.” The Association of Talent Agencies on Thursday sent a letter to its membership criticizing the Writers Guild of America for “unlawful conduct” — namely, attempting to induce managers and attorneys to violate the California Talent Agencies Act by […]
What will happen to me, a workaday writer, on the other side of the WGA mess? Last week, I completed my 20th week of a 20-week contract as executive story editor on an upcoming Netflix show: the live-action reboot of the anime series Cowboy Bebop. Don’t let the word executive in that title fool you; nothing about my […]
Outspoken playwright and TV writer Jon Robin Baitz has become the first WGA member to openly challenge the guild’s directive that members fire their talent agents. Baitz penned a letter to WGA leaders explaining his refusal to sever ties with his representatives at CAA, praising Bryan Lourd, Joe Cohen and others for sticking by him during bad […]
On Day Two of the battle between the WGA and Hollywood’s talent agencies, the Association of Talent Agencies said today that “our resolve has never been stronger,” and that “we’ll keep fighting as a united front…against the WGA leadership’s threat to our agency business operations.” In a message to her members, ATA executive director Karen Stuart accused guild leaders […]
The ongoing dispute between the Writers’ Guild of America (“WGA”) and the Association of Talent Agencies (“ATA”) took a new turn recently when the WGA announced that it would use the authority granted to it under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) to “preempt” California state law and effectively “deputize” attorneys and managers to perform […]
The union’s move to delegate powers may run afoul of state law related to agencies. If the Writers Guild of America doesn’t come to terms with the major talent agencies by April 6, its members may soon fire their agents en masse. If that happens, the guild is suggesting to its writers that they should […]
Agents for Artists is a website from the Association of Talent Agents created to keep writers and agents informed and up-to-date on what agencies are doing to reach a new agreement with the Writers Guild of America.
