WGA Negotiatior John August Is Hopeful That Talks With Agencies Will Resume Soon – Deadline

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EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter John August, a member of the WGA's negotiating committee, says he's hopeful that the guild and the talent agencies will resume talks in the next few weeks to break their stalemate over a new franchise agreement. Formal negotiations broke off Friday, after which the guild ordered all of its members to fire their agents who refused to sign its new Code of Conduct.

"What's gonna happen this next week – is here hopefully gonna be more discussions, hopefully building on some of the small things that are being decided in the room," August said today on his Scriptnotes podcast.

But August, who also serves on the WGA West's board of directors, noted: "It's uncharted territory. We passed the event horizon and we do not know what the future holds for our relationship with our agents. "

His comments come as WGA plans to hold a news conference Wednesday to address the "next step" in its ongoing battle with talent agencies.

Before the talks broke off, the guild and the Association of Talent Agents.

So far, 48 smaller talent agencies have signed the guild's new Code. "They're not the big agencies that you would know, but they represent about 300 – or a little bit more – of our members," he said. "So that's something." To date, only one of them – the Pantheon Talent Agency – was an ATA member that broke ranks and signed the Code.

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August, whose credits include Big Fish and 2000's Charlie's AngelsCraig Mazin, a fellow fellow podcaster, has trained WGA West board member: "There is a lot of speculation about whether or not to make a deal. I think there's probably some betting pools about who that would be. "

Said Mazin: "The reasonable prediction would be that after a brief cooling-off period, everybody comes back to the bargaining table and starts talking again. There will be increasing pressure as time goes on. Time always delivers pressure. There are people who are not making money for the money.

You can listen to their podcast here.

Mazin, dont credits include Chernobyl and The Hangover Part II, said the current walkout is different than the guild's strikes in the past. "This is a kind of interesting difference between the typical labor force, like the kind where we go on strike," he said. "When we go on strike, we do not make money and they can not get new writing. In this case, we can keep getting hired. We can keep getting money. In fact, there is a point of contention that it is there, and that it is, and that it is, in fact, wildly in favor of the writers and wildly in disfavor of the agencies.

In the end, Mazin said, it could come to the side of the greatest bread-and-butter.

You're gonna have a lot of people, saying, 'Hey, you're kind of eliminating my career here,' "he said. "And there is some hope for this, because when you run a business and you have employees – I'm sure, some people are awful about it, and the larger corporation, I guess, the easier it is to be awful – but these are not massive corporations. They all work in a building. And I think people are going to see you in this world. They do not want to see this go on forever. And people will get hurt. So the question is, where's that sweet spot between what they can live with and what they can not? The truth is, the longer one goes on, the more dangerous they're in. "

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When talking to other writers, he said, "This is weird and uncomfortable, and that's probably good. It does not need to be uncomfortable because it feels normal, we would not actually solve it. So you're comfortable with being uncomfortable for a bit while we're going through these situations. "

He also said that he knows several "big screenwriters" who have not had agents for years and are enjoying successful careers without them. "One of them had not been an agent for eight years, and he works all the time. So it seems like it would be an agent, but there are folks for whom it's fine. "

Said Mazin: "Well, there's a danger for the agencies. So, that 's the greatest chance that – not everybody, but a number of writers – will say,' I do not notice the difference here. 'And that' s absolutely an existential threat for the agencies and their relationships with writers. "

Mazin also raised the specter of SAG-AFTRA becoming involved. Pre-merger SAG failed to reach an agreement with the ATA back in 2002 and still does not have a franchise agreement to this day. Last month, SAG-AFTRA said: "We congratulate the Writers Guild of America on their successful membership vote and applaud the guild for taking steps in the best interests of their members, We stand with our sister union in the ongoing struggle to protect members in the entertainment industry. "

Mazin said: "The other issue is that the actors are waiting out there. So if SAG – which does not have a signed agreement with the ATA, and it is not for a while – so they are just punted this way, the way I think, in a sense, the writers punted this too [for many years]. But that's going to be the case, SAG will do that same thing, and it's untenable.

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"So one of the tricky points for the agencies is that they can not simply make a deal and imagine that it is only with us," he added. "Whatever they are going to be, I would imagine, to the actors, and of course, to the directors – all of their customers, really."

The Directors Guild said Monday: "As our franchise agreement is currently in effect, we are not instructing hyphenate members to terminate their agents with respect to DGA-covered services at the present time."

"The simple solution, of course," Mazin laughed, is for the agencies to "simply revert to 10% [commissions]. Whether or not happens, I do not know. But I absolutely agree with you that it is uncomfortable – that it is a sign that it is probably moving in the direction it should be moving – since the whole point of this exercise is that the status quo and the comfort and stability was not worth the price we are paying.

"But on a personal note," he added, "it's distressing. It's distressing to me because I am close with my agents. My hand has been my agent for a decade, and I think the two of us feel a little bit like two brothers on different sides of the Civil War. It's sad. We do not like this. "

Even so, Mazin has sent his letter of termination, as did August, who said: "My agent of 20 years – if he needed a kidney, I'm on my way to Cedars. He's a genuinely good guy. But what is it that you are trying to do it? So hopefully, we can get this system fixed. "

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