The Writers Guild of America is making plans to bring their upcoming talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) into their ongoing conflict with Hollywood agencies and packaging fees, as they plan to require that studios only negotiate with agencies that have reached an agreement with the Guild.
The requirement was included as part of a list of demands sent out by WGA West President David A. Goodman and WGA East President Beau Willimon to members for approval for mutual bargaining agreement negotiations in a few months. Other demands included on the list include expansion of the types of streaming shows and movies subject to minimum pay, increase of that minimum pay, increase of contribution to the Guild’s health and pension funds, and stronger anti-discrimination protections to promote diverse hiring and pay equity.
“Your approval of a Pattern of Demands is the constitutionally-required first step of the bargaining process,” read the memo. “While the Pattern does not detail specific proposals that will be made during negotiations, it is designed to inform the memberships of our two Guilds of the general objectives we will pursue.”
But the agency agreement requirement is connected to the recent surge in deals made between the Guild and mid-sized, full-service talent agencies. In the past two weeks, Gersh, APA and Innovative Artists have all signed agreements pledging to phase out packaging fees — payments from a studio to an agency in exchange for packaging talent for a project that the Guild calls a “conflict of interest” — by July 2021.
While the memo from the WGA does not directly mention packaging fees or the conflict over them, getting an agreement from studios to only work with studios that have agreed to eliminate them would put immense pressure on top agencies like CAA, UTA, and WME, all of whom have flatly refused to eliminate packaging fees and are now preparing for legal battles against the Guild in a pair of dueling lawsuits.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Wrap