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The writers' union says that talent agencies play too large a part in negotiated contracts and that conflicts of interest may prevent them from working in the best interests of their clients.
David Livingston / Getty Images
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David Livingston / Getty Images
The writers' union says that talent agencies play too large a part in negotiated contracts and that conflicts of interest may prevent them from working in the best interests of their clients.
David Livingston / Getty Images
The Writers Guild of America is suing four of the largest Hollywood talent agencies in a fight against writers' wages – and is trying to find out if agents are keeping too much for them.
The guild, with eight writers whose Thread creator David Simon, filed the lawsuit in the California Superior Court. They sue William Morris Endeavor, the agency of creative artists, the United Talent agency and the ICM partners.
The issue in dispute is that of "packaging fees", which allow agents to be paid directly by the studios, rather than receiving an agent representing 10% of a screenwriter's income. The four agencies receive 80% of the packaging fees paid by studios and networks, says the WGA.
"The plaintiffs will seek a judicial declaration that the packaging costs are illegal and an injunction prohibiting talent agencies from entering into future packaging contracts in the past," said Tony Segall, General Counsel of the Writers Guild of America West, in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The WGA represents thousands of people who write for television and movies, as well as for other platforms.
Meredith Stiehm, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, created the crime drama Case closed, which ran on CBS from 2003 to 2010. Stiehm said it was only six years after the CAA negotiation that Stiehm learned that the agency was earning 94 cents for every dollar earned on this successful show.
"It's indefensible," she said in a statement. "An agency has to make 10% of what their client earns – not 20, not 50, not like in my case, 94% – 10% is enough."
Writers complain that not only do agents take more money than they should, but they prevent writers from being better paid. They also dispute the tendency of agents to become producers themselves, thus creating conflicts of interest.
The complainants' complaint is based on two legal complaints, says the WGA. First, under California law, talent agents are trustees, which means that they are required to faithfully represent writers without conflict of interest. Second, they argue that packaging costs are illegal "bribes" for agents, in violation of California and federal laws.
The Association of Talent Agents argues that packaging benefits writers by allowing them to earn a 10% commission if their agency is one of the show's packaging agents.
"The packaging agencies help to assemble the creative elements of a show before it is presented to potential buyers and continue to service the show throughout its life cycle," said L & # s 39, association of agents in a FAQ. If the packaging costs were to be removed, the ATA said that "these packaging fees would probably not be redistributed in any way to the talents." The studios would keep the money that they are now paying the agencies ". He also pointed to the United Talent Agency's analysis that its writers' clients were earning more money in shows that the agency produced than in those that it did not have. .
On Saturday, the WGA asked writers to dismiss agents who refuse to sign the union's code of conduct, which prohibits agents from collecting packaging fees. Some writers posted images of the letters that they had sent to their agents, indicating that, in accordance with the rules of the union, they can not be represented by the agency until the problem is solved .
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