In April, the Writers Guild of America declared war on the big Hollywood talent agenciesabout longstanding business practices they say are unfair and rife with conflicts of interest. In a show of solidarity, more than 7,000 movie and TV writers subsequently fired their agents, according to the guild.
Now some writers are waving the white flag and have secretly gone back to their agents for career advice and representation. Many writers see the dispute as having devolved into a tit-for-tat exchange of lawsuits with no end in sight, and they are urging for a return to negotiations.
“This may very well fracture the guild,” said Phyllis Nagy, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter whose credits include the 2015 film “Carol.” Ms. Nagy, who hasn’t returned to her agent, is part of a group that started last spring with about three-dozen writers after negotiations broke down between the guild and the agencies. The group, dubbed Writers for Negotiations, has since grown to more than 500 people and has become an influential voice for dissenting writers.
While no official figure is available, agents at two of the top firms and several WGA members estimate at least 200 writers have gone back.
“We were sold a bill of goods about how this was going to play out,” said one writer who has returned to his agent.
Unhappy with the strategy implemented by WGA leadership, longtime TV writer Rob Long said he hasn’t gone back to his agent “but it’s definitely in the cards.”
At issue are packaging fees that agencies receive from studios when they bundle clients such as writers, directors and actors for a project. Usually, when an agency packages talent, it waives the 10% commission it would charge its clients and instead collects a fee from the studio that buys the package.
The writers guild argues packaging makes the agency a partner in the production, creating a conflict with the agency’s role representing clients sitting across the table from studios.
The agencies—led by Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Endeavor, ICM Partners and United Talent Agency—say packaging saves their clients from paying commissions and creates more opportunities for work.
Another sore spot with the writers is that some of the talent agencies are themselves starting to enter the production business, which the guild sees as another conflict of interest. The agencies counter that their production arms are run as separate entities.
