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There is a very big fight happening in Hollywood right now.
So what, exactly, is going on?
Heres everything you oughta know.
First of all, who are these people?
Remember that100-day strikein 2007 that resulted inFriday Night Lightshaving a really off second season?
Together, these companies dominate the industry.
What do agents do?
In the most basic sense,agents find jobs for writers and negotiate their pay.
Wahlbergs payday was said to bethe work of his agent, famed Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.
Why is this fight happening now?
According to the WGA, the median weekly earnings of TV writer-producers dropped by23 percentbetween 2014 and 2016.
(Though WGA president David A. Goodman sayswage growth is an issuethat far predates season shortening.)
Negotiations for a new contract didnt really start between the groups until February, and they didnt go well.
On April 13, the 43-year-old deal between the WGA and the ATA was officially kaput.
What does the WGA want?
The Guilds desired changes to those practices would dramatically affect how Hollywood agencies do business.
Ina February address to Guild members, Goodman laid out his case.
If writer pay were steadily rising as agencies continue to package, we wouldnt be sitting here.
But as writers we share a common knowledge that writers overall are not doing better, were doing worse.
Lets break these terms down.
Whats packaging and why does it have fees?
Historically, packaging refers to the process through which agencies bundle talent to bring a project together.
Say, for example, that a writer comes up with an idea for a TV show.
(Movies can be packaged, too, and often are.)
The Guild wants to eliminate the fees that studios pay agencies for delivering those packaged bundles.
What does the ATA say about packaging fees?
Deals with streamers like Netflix also dont include back-end profits.
Goodman counters that the UTAs study was based on a false premise.
Agency packaging is so dominant that it controls the whole market for writers in television, he says.
Why are you on this ride at all?
Or, as Goodman puts it, Agency income should be directly tied to writer income.
That would mean reverting to a commission-only model that has not been in practice for a long time.
What are affiliate producers and how are they related to this fight?
While packaging has been around for decades, agencies opening upaffiliated production companiesis a much newer phenomenon.
We know that company structure can eventually take advantage of employees in really bad ways, Gary tells Vulture.
And so we need to eliminate that incentive for them to take advantage of us.
Theyre great companies with great people working there.
They just cant be owned by the same people who own the agencies.
You cannot be both a judge and a prosecutor at the same time.
Can the WGA stop agencies from collecting packaging fees and working with affiliate producers?
But virtually all of them have refused to do so.
So the agencies wont sign this code of conduct.
Well, were seeing what happens right now.
But it is crucial for us to understand there is no meaningful compromise where conflict of interest is concerned.
Its a binary choice.
Wereanyconcessions made in the negotiations?
It does not change your incentives at all.
It is not a serious proposal and we reject it.
How will writers get jobs without agents?
Will it hold up production realistically?
What do those systems look like, exactly?
Will the new measures be efficient enough?
Will they provide adequate opportunities for lower-level writers who lack industry connections?
Right now, its all up in the air.
In other words, thingscould get litigious.
Speaking of the law, has anyone sued anyone yet?
What are people in Hollywood saying?
Meanwhile, a studio executive who spoke to Vulture called packaging fucking evil.
Film producer Keith Calder (Blindspotting,Anomalisa) drew an unfavorable analogy between representation in Hollywood and sports.
David Simon was even more unsparing in his criticism.
Inan essay detailinghis earliest Hollywood experiences, Simon wrote, Packaging is a lie.
And only an agent whose priority is having his client paid competitively is a means to achieving that result.
Some say theyve had shows sold as packages without even being informed.
And not because they dont want to, but because the system doesnt reward them for it.
Just realized that the WGA-ATA midnight deadline is PST.
My rep has been honest and diligent for over 40 years.
Not his fault, but we’re a union family.
Come on, ATA.
Come on, WGA.
Agencies will not be a willing participant to any further chaos, she wrote.
Thats the Guilds plan.
Their course of action has thrown the entire entertainment ecosystem into an abyss, affecting stakeholders across the spectrum.
How many writers have split from their agents?
The WGA hasnt released an exact number yet.
Have any agencies sided with the WGA?
None of the Big Four agencies have signed.
In fact, Greenburg is the president of WME, and both entities are owned by Endeavor.
It has been corrected throughout.
