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With no talks scheduled between the WGA and ATA and just two days to go before the expiration of their franchise agreement, the two sides havent even reserved a conference room at the Beverly Hilton, where theyve been holding their bargaining sessions. “Not at this moment,” said a source at the hotel.
Thats almost the same answer a source close to the stalled talks said just minutes ago when asked if there are any plans to resume the negotiations: “Not at this point.”
Their deal is set to expire at midnight PT Saturday.
The Writers Guild and Association of Talent Agents havent met at the bargaining table since March 27, after which the Association of Talent Agents accused the WGA of threatening to throw “our industry into chaos,” and the guild saying, “The agencies ignored everything we presented.”
The talks, which got underway on February 5, have not made any progress at all on resolving the two main issues: the WGAs demands that agencies give up packaging fees and sever their corporate ties to affiliated production entities.
WGA members voted overwhelmingly last weekend to authorize their leaders to implement a new Agency Code of Conduct if no deal is reached by Saturday night at midnight. If no agreement is reached on a new franchise agreement, the WGA could order all of their members to fire their agents as soon as Sunday morning. Only agents who sign the Code would be exempted, and all of the major agencies have pledged that they wont sign.
WGA members, meanwhile, are even more fired up about firing all their agents next week than they were about going on strike against the film and TV industry two years ago – and they were pretty revved up then, too.
How The WGA-ATA Tug Of War Is Flipping The Script In Hollywood & Whats Next
In April 2017, some 6,077 writers voted to authorize a strike, but last weekend, 7,882 voted to authorize the guild to call for a walkout on agents — thats 31% higher than the strike-authorization vote two years ago. A strike was averted two years ago after intense bargaining that went right up to and past the expiration of the conRead More – Source
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