Letter of resignation from WGA members – Variety



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Some influential members of the Writers Guild of America, including Patton Oswalt, David Simon, Shawn Ryan, Michael Schur, John August, Amy Berg, Danny Zuker and others, have released letters officially returning their agents in accordance with the order of the WGA. do this.

The WGA order was sent out Friday night after negotiations between the guild and the Association of Talent Agents failed. The WGA has sought to reform the long-standing practice of the agency sector that levies packaging fees for television series and films, among other rule changes. The largest Hollywood agencies have refused to join the new code of conduct for WGA agencies, resulting in the massive splitting of thousands of writers and agents.

The writers quickly adopted social media to express their solidarity with the guild. The hashtag #IStandWiththeWGA tended to Twitter on Saturday as writers posted images of the letter of termination that the guild sent to members on Friday night.

Oswalt dismissed UTA diplomatically, stating, "I have an extraordinary agency that represents me. But I have an even better guild that stays by my side. "

Natasha Rothwell, editor for "Insecure" and former editor for "SNL", wrote that it was "fighting for a system that works for all of us, not just for some".

Thomas Schnauz, Executive Producer of Better Call Saul, fired ICM Partners stating, "My agent is a friend. He went to my wedding and he visited me at the hospital when I was in poor health, but for the moment: #IStandWithTheWGA. "

Zuker, an executive producer of "Modern Family," tweeted, "Look, I love my agent. I mean, I'm not in love with him … although there was once in The Palm where the light danced in his eyes and … anyway I support 100% the position of my union! "

David Simon, the respected showrunner who spoke in the WGA campaign against packaging costs, shared his letter to CAA with the following message: "Union, Union, Union".

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg described as "more than unfortunate" the fact that the parties could not agree on an agreement.

Screenwriter John August, whose credits include "Big Fish" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," tweeted, "My agent over 20 is a great friend and a great fighter for my career. I'll give him a kidney tomorrow. But it's not about him or a single agent. Until the agencies put #Conflict clients we can not work together. As simple as that. #IStandWithTheWGA. "

Michael Schur, "Parks and Recreation" and "The Good Place" showrunner and a member of the WGA's bargaining committee, said on his Ken Tremendous Twitter account: "WGA members: what's going on now? We stay together.#IStandWithTheWGA. "

Michael H. Weber, Academy Award nominee for "The Disaster Artist", has dismissed UTA.

"I love my movie agent as a family. It's the first and only one I've ever had, "he writes. "He is honest, loyal and kind. I know that our relationship always goes before the agency. I can not imagine my life now without all he has done for me in the last 14 years. "

The WGA on Friday asked its 15,000 members to send letters of dismissal to the agencies at the same time as it announced the collapse of negotiations for a new franchise agreement: "In this situation, two actions must be undertaken: a non-franchisee agent to represent you in any future work covered by WGA. Second, inform your agency in writing that it can not represent you before signing the code of conduct. "

The WGA had previously stated that it would ask its members to dismiss their agents if they had not accepted a new "Code of Conduct for Agencies", which eliminates packaging costs of agencies and ownership of production companies, after the expiry of the current agreement. The code was approved in late March by 95% of the guild members who voted.

None of the big agencies has signed the agency code of conduct. According to the WGA website, more than 40 agencies, most of which were boutiques, had signed this Saturday afternoon.

Karen Stuart, executive director of the Association of Talent Agents, was blamed shortly after the order was fired against the agents.

"WGA management said today that the path of compromise did not exist," she said. "The agencies have committed to reaching an agreement with the WGA, but despite all our efforts, today's result was motivated by the Guild's predetermined chaos trajectory."

WGA West President David Goodman said Friday in a long response to the ATA that the two sides had not reduced the gap.

"As I said, we granted the extension of the week as a sincere effort to try to find a solution," he said. "But it's clear to us that we are not noticeably closer. We are willing to continue to meet you when you submit a proposal that truly addresses our concerns, but Friday's deadline has arrived and we are making progress in implementing our code of conduct and the application of our rule working 23 WGA ".

This rule prohibits members from being represented by agents who are not signed into a WGA franchise agreement.

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(In the photo: Patton Oswalt)

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