For those who were hoping for a miracle bargaining session between the WGA and ATA this afternoon that would break the stalemate between the two sides over the new Agency Code of Conduct before the midnight deadline, there was no miracle, and there was mot much of a bargaining session either.
I hear that, right off the bat, the leaders of the WGA negotiating committee told the agency representatives that they were rejecting ATAs latest proposal, introduced yesterday, which included the agencies sharing a percentage of their packaging fees with the writers. (In the WGAs lengthy statement after negotiations broke down today, the guild said that the proposal was for just .8% of agencies backend”.) The WGA did not offer a counter proposal.
The sit-down was well attended on both sides by the top negotiators as well WGA and ATAs legal teams. I hear that included WGA West President David A. Goodman, Executive Director David Young, David Shore, Michelle Mulroney, Mike Schur, Travon Free, Marjorie David and Deric A. Hughes on the guild side, and ATA executive director Karen Stuart, WMEs Rick Rosen and Ari Greenberg, CAAs Bryan Lourd, UTAs Jay Sures, ICM Partners Chris Silbermann, Kaplan-Stahlers Elliot Stahler and APAs Jim Gosnell, who serves as ATA President, on the agencies side.
The agents reportedly suggested staying in the room to try and negotiate a compromise until the clock ran out but the writers responded that the two sides were so far apart, bridging the gap in a few hours after little progress over the past few months was not feasible. In Youngs statement after the end of the meeting, he detailed where both sides are currently on all main issues, noting that indie features was the only area where they made progress in their talks.
Said Stuart in ATAs statement after the meeting, “the WGA leadership today declared a pathway for compromise doesnt exist.”
I hear only five people spoke at the meeting, three on the ATA side and two on the WGA one. There was some rhetoric on the part of the guild, mostly Young, repeating some accusations of collusion from statements made earlier in the negotiations, including evoking the RICO Act and referring to agencies as “the Mafia”.
Immediately after the brief meeting was adjourned, the WGA informed its members that there had been no settlement and, since the membership had approved a new Agency Code of Conduct banning agency packaging and involvement in producing, the guild called upon its members to fire agencies that would not sign it. That is the vast majority of Hollywood talent agencies, including all of the major ones.
Thus the tug of war between the WGA and ATA once again shifts to WGA members after their overwhelming vote for the new Code of Conduct gave the guild leverage in the negotiations last month. This time, the number of WGAs 13,000 members who dismiss their agent would determine who has the upper hand. The WGA need the majority of its troops to sever ties with their agents to be able to continue its campaign against the agencies on packaging and producing from a position of strength.
If a significant number of writers do not follow through and stay with their agents, that would shift the balance of power to the agencies.
Privately, many writers have said that they would support they guild and would fire their agents even Read More – Source
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