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The Writers Guild of America has filed a lawsuit against WME, CAA, UTA and ICM as the guild steps up its fight against Hollywood's biggest talent agencies for reasons of conflict of interest.
"We are here today to announce the filing of a lawsuit establishing that the packaging costs are illegal under California law," said Wednesday the Attorney General of the United States. WGA, Tony Segall, at the Writers Guild headquarters in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of WGA West and East. Packing costs are at the center of the lawsuit, in the form of two claims that the agency's practice violates federal and state laws.
Meredith Stiehm and Barbara Hall, two writers, talked about their negative experiences with packaging costs. Stiehm was one of the creators of the CBS series "Cold Case". During the seventh season of the series, Stiehm was asked to weaken his budget, leave the filming in Philadelphia, give up a music license and make other concessions, harmed the quality of the series. . "
Meanwhile, she noted, CAA was earning $ 75,000 per episode as part of the package costs for the series. The production studio, Warner Bros., refused to cut costs. Stiehm estimated that CAA earned $ 0.94 for every dollar earned in the series, in addition to its commission as agent.
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Segall encouraged WGA members who have yet to reveal the dismissal of their agents – or openly denounce the code of conduct at the heart of the war – to "reflect on the well-being of their guild and its members".
The continuation of the WGA was expected in the middle of the fierce battle between the guild and ATA. Both parties had been trying to negotiate a new agency franchise contract in the past two months, but discussions broke off last week as tensions erupted and the WGA and ATA were far apart on key issues.
On April 12, the WGA ordered members to terminate their business relationships with agents who did not subscribe to the new WGA agency code of conduct. It is estimated that more than 1,000 such termination letters have been sent out in recent days, a move that has left the industry uncertain as to how to move forward negotiations involving WGA members.
The WGA is interested in the practices of the talent management agency industry, which have for decades been collecting packaging taxes on television series from production entities. The guild argues that it is an inherent conflict of interest and has widely blamed the officers for not having struggled for writers to have higher wages, in favor of protection of their own financial interests through the cost of packaging. The guild claimed that it was a violation of the fiduciary responsibilities of talented agents towards the writers' clients.
More soon.
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