WGA, talented agents on the brink of total war: how did we get here

A look at how we got here:

The current WGA franchise agreement with the ATA – known as the Artist Artist Basic Contract – has not been renegotiated for 43 years. This allowed for packaging, but the guild was never happy even when it signed the agreement in 1976.

The guild began organizing a series of membership meetings last March to lay the groundwork for renegotiating the agreement, noting that its members were increasingly concerned about the "inherent conflict of interest in production and packaging ". With many writers leaving these early meetings, it was clear that members' adherence to the goals of the guild was strong and growing stronger. "We are united" was the common refrain.

The guild made the first big step in this direction on April 6, 2018, notifying the ATA 12 months' notice of termination of their existing agreement, then presented to ATA its list of proposals, which she said had been designed to "realign" the talent agency sector.

A few weeks later, Karen Stuart, ATA Executive Director, criticized the guild's proposals, stating, "It's hard to understand the WGA's assertion that it should be able to dictate the type of work that talent management agencies should be allowed to do and those of its members. to hire."

"Given the success of this agreement over the years," she said, "and the fact that the WGA has never officially contacted the ATA to oppose it." One of its provisions – we found the announcement as confusing as it is surprising. Trying to remove agents from the opportunities and the right to order traditional services will not benefit the authors; on the contrary, this will have the opposite effect. "

"The fact is that many of the practices presented by the WGA are problematic," she said, "create exactly the opportunities that its members ask their agents: access to other client agencies to help them." to advance their projects, innovative transaction strategies, aggressive strategies. " negotiation tactics and an expanded range of services for writers and the world of talents in general. Nevertheless, she said: "The ATA and its members are determined to negotiate in good faith, in order to ensure the defense of the interests of writers. served. "

Last August, Stuart proposed to the guild to take part in informal talks before the formal negotiations, stating, "We want to work together to find the right solutions so that we can deal with the threat in the most effective way possible. collective posed. by a changing industry. Such an initial discussion, she told the guild, "is appropriate before sitting on the opposite sides of the bargaining table."

WGA West executive director David Young, however, ignored and rejected his offer nearly two months later, saying that "the guild is ready to meet you well in advance to reach a new deal" .

He then accused the SAG of failing in its attempt to renegotiate its own franchise agreement in 2002, even though its own members had voted against the agreement approved by the union's board of directors. "In 2002," he says, "ATA agencies have broken the SAG franchise agreement against your request to become a producer. Given that similar concerns are part of our proposals for 2018, we do not assume that the partnership will prevail, but the conflict will prevail, but we remain hopeful. With this in mind, we are expecting in due course our formal discussions with you. "

The official WGA talks with ATA only began on February 5, 2019. ATA proposed a compromise whereby the packaging contracts would be structured in a transparent manner so that that agencies never make more money than fans of final participation – an important source of profit for truly successful shows.

After the meeting, however, the ATA accused the guild of not responding to its counter-proposals and expressed "serious doubts as to the sincerity of the WGA management's desire to find a negotiated solution." Young called it "misleading and pathetic".

The prospects for a negotiated settlement faded again on February 13, when WGA West President David A. Goodman said at a general meeting that there was no need to compromise on main demands of the guild. "There are negotiations where there is no ground for agreement, where there are basic principles that are not subject to compromise," he said.

"Our collective power here is the power to divide and conquer," he said, acknowledging that "we are seizing power, a necessary, appropriate, and just stroke of power.

"Of course we have already been called unreasonable by the agencies, and that will continue," Goodman said at the meeting. "Be ready. As writers, we often have the doubt of ourselves and the desire to be considered just, reasonable and willing to compromise. But it is crucial for us to understand: there is no significant trade-off in conflict of interest. It's a binary choice. Either agencies put our interests first and derive their money from our success or, as now, they will continue to maximize their own success as writers suffer. We hold the cards here – do not allow our own sense of fairness to be opposed in this agency campaign. "

The ATA retaliated, accusing the guild of creating a "false narrative" about the negotiations and violating the terms of the existing agreement by attempting to move the ATA agents away by through its "divide and conquer" strategy. To date, we know that only the smallest member agencies of the ATA have signed the code of the guild.

In a stern letter to the guild leaders, Stuart sent them an ultimatum: publicly confirm that they are ready to return to the bargaining table in good faith, otherwise the future talks would be in vain. She also sent a message to her members that, according to Goodman, "the Code proposed by the WGA is, in its own words, a" coup ". This is a radical attempt on the part of the WGA. to remake the entire industry, not only for screenwriters and agents, but also for actors, directors, producers and even studios. "

A few days later, the guild threatened to sue the agencies, claiming that the packing charges "constituted illegal bribes for a representative of employees under federal labor laws."

Both parties returned to the bargaining table on February 19. These discussions seemed more productive than the first. A source told Deadline, "There was more dialogue and more in-depth discussion than at the first meeting. in the right direction. "

Indeed, two days later, the WGA made three changes to its initial proposals, the most important being the withdrawal of a proposal that would prohibit agents from collecting their commissions of 10% on the scale of writers – the minimums negotiated by the guild. "It was a difficult decision," said the guild. "Protecting the minimum required for large-scale writers remains a worthwhile goal. Yet, many small agencies have convincingly argued that without the ability to charge commissions on a scale, they could not afford to invest time and effort to improve the career of beginning writers. And we have heard from a large number of concerned members that their own and other newer or lower level writers would simply be abandoned by their agencies. "

This demonstration of flexibility was an encouraging sign, but on March 4, Goodman told his members that "the parties are deadlocked," he said, "this occurs in all negotiations where there is differences so strong that they can only be solved by actions of the bargaining table. "

Stuart fought back, saying the talks were not deadlocked, that "the ATA has not withdrawn from the negotiations and committed to developing a new agreement" and reaffirming "Our willingness to negotiate in good faith on every WGA proposal. "That," she told the guild leaders, "demands only the same commitment in good faith from you." Young replied, "We are of course ready to meet with you. We hope to reach a new agreement.

Discussions resumed on March 12, just hours after the WGA released a report accusing major agencies of operating as a "cartel". The talent agencies, said the guild, "represent actors, writers and filmmakers in Hollywood for nearly a century. But what began as a service to artists in their dealings with film studios has become a cartel dominated by some powerful agencies that use their talent control primarily to get rich. "

And at a news conference just before the resumption of negotiations, Chris Keyser, co-chair of the guild's bargaining committee, said: "The packaging fees and the agents' production weapons are jostling the # 39, the fiduciary duty of our representatives Yes, we have taken too long to demand the end of these practices, but the persistence of a corrupt system does not make it fair. "

Later that day, the ATA proposed to the guild an agreement that would increase transparency and disclosure of agency relationships, but did not eliminate packaging fees and production contracts with affiliates – the two main objectives of the guild in the negotiations.

"We are presenting you with a solution to make our industry work more efficiently and equitably for everyone," said Jim Gosnell, president of the ATA, president of the Agency for the United States, at the beginning of the session. scenic arts. "One thing is certain: if we want to reach a joint agreement, what our customers want, I know, we have to roll up our sleeves and get down to work on a constructive process that will lead to an agreement that works for everything. the world.

"We must avoid the insults and divisions that lead us nowhere and that will only turn us back. Your agents are not your enemies and they do not want to take advantage of you. "

"At the end of the day," he told the WGA team, "the industry is counting on us to find common ground and develop just and reasonable solutions to these problems. They make fun of our frenzied and unproductive rhetoric on both sides. "

The WGA called the bargaining session "a small step forward for the parties," but said that "all major issues are still on the table."

The two parties ended up two days later – their fourth trip to the bargaining table – and the guild presented its counter-proposals to the ATA. Goodman opened the session by making conciliation remarks.

"I want to take a few minutes to tell you how the WGA views this franchise contract negotiation," he said. "And I want to thank you for recognizing the unusual difficulty of this situation. The main difficulty lies in the fact that no one in this room has the experience of negotiating this deal. We are aware that our problem analysis is something that many of you personally have taken, and we sincerely appreciate your willingness to listen and try to solve the problems. "

"There is time to reach an agreement," said Mr. Goodman, "and we are committed, as you, to doing everything possible to do so."

The president of WGA West then resumed the offensive stating, "We do not agree with most of the solutions you propose," adding, "We always speak different languages ​​on the crucial issue of the role union in protecting writers' well-being. . "

Goodman then compared the ATA to employers with anti-union practices. "It may seem hard," he said, "but your proposals remind us of those generally received from anti-union employers, who often try to shield the union from power dynamics while paying tribute to individual choice. "

After the negotiation session, a representative of the agency told Deadline: "The WGA submitted a counter-proposal which they knew was not acceptable. It was almost no different from the original proposals, but they have a new title. It's like putting lipstick on a pig. "

Stuart then said: "Unfortunately, it seems at this point that the WGA really does not want to reach an agreement. Although we appreciate their openness, they did not present us with a significant counter-proposal today. Once again, there has been no progress on key issues.

On March 20, the guild announced that it had "reached a milestone" in the path of an agreement by amending one of its original proposals so that agents could still receive compensation – a type of packaging fee – when they provide financing services and feature film sales. as long as the writers were informed and gave permission. This was important because the ATA had stated that the guild's original proposal would have devastated independent cinema.

Both parties returned to the bargaining table for the sixth time on March 21. The ATA has stepped up counter-proposals aimed at resolving their quarrel over the packaging and affiliation to an agency. "We had an extensive dialogue with the guild today," Stuart said after the meeting. "We have presented its leaders with our official counter-proposals in a draft agreement and hope that they will follow in good faith to move this process forward."

A spokesman for the guild declined to comment, but unlike each of the previous five bargaining sessions, neither party took part in a post mortem grudge.

But Tuesday's talks ended on another disappointing note, with the ATA accusing the guild of threatening to throw "our industry into chaos". Stating that Young is still stuck in the "threatening phase" of his bargaining strategy, the ATA said that "It is unfortunate that they have not gone beyond this stage and they continue to stick their long-term strategy of not conducting meaningful negotiations before the vote. "

"The agencies ignored everything we had presented," the guild retorted, "including our offer on independent film packaging, and instead issued an ultimatum – essentially the same ultimatum they had announced for the the first time on February 26 – that, as a prerequisite for any future negotiations, we must first compromise on their request to continue with conflicting practices, which we can not and will not do. "

Speaking Saturday about the current state of negotiations, Mr. Goodman said at a meeting of members that "the arguments of the agencies regarding their conflicts of interest are absolutely not convincing ".

"And when we insisted on having a serious conversation," he said, "they resorted to threat and fear. So, although we made a series of proposals a year ago and we had negotiations, we did not make significant progress on the key issues. We have two basic requests and the agency's response to these requests is not serious. "

"As in any trade union struggle," he said, "it involves the exercise of collective power, and risk and uncertainty are unavoidable. Basically, a union is a fighting organization when it needs to be. Historically, this is how we realized the gains we made. "

And now, while both sides hope that the guild's code of conduct will be voted against and not, the final phase of the negotiations is about to begin, with April 6 still looming.