Talks have broken off between the Writers Guild of America (the folks who represent writers) and the Association of Talent Agents (the folks who represent their agents). The issue on the table is packaging — when the agency that represents you, the writer, also represents (or is) the production entity. The contention here is that when you're in this situation, your agent's main loyalty is to the show or movie, not to you. Your agent(s) could actually profit by not getting you top dollar for your services or by advising you to accept terms or offers that are in the best interest of the movie or show, not you.
This has been going on for a long time in this town. I'm not entirely sure why it has become a battle to the death right now but the membership of the WGA recently voted 7,882 to 392 — that's 95.3% — to take a stand on this. There's a new document agencies must sign and in it, they agree not to engage in packaging arrangements. The agencies responded by saying they have to do business that way in the changing marketplace wherein they deal with mega-corporations. They proposed settling the dispute with a list of concessions which include sharing packaging fees with writers and increasing transparency in where the money comes from and where it goes.
The deadline in these negotiations was extended once but expired today. Today, the WGA told the ATA that their offers were woefully inadequate in terms of scope and numbers. WGA members are now being told that if they are represented by an agency which has not signed onto the new agreement — which is almost all of them, including the major agencies/packagers — they must fire their agents. They can do this by signing a letter online via DocuSign and the WGA will deliver them.
So you know what side I'm on but — full disclosure — this does not directly affect me since I don't have an agent at the moment. If I did, I'd fire him or her if I had to. I was with three different agencies over thirty years but none of them were "packagers" while I was with them. I declined all offers of representation by agents who did that kind of thing because I was always at least a little suspicious of such arrangements. At times, I became quite aware how a writer can be horribly wronged when his or her agent has this kind of conflict of interest.
To be fair, some writers profited greatly from these arrangements but many did not. The practice needs to be eliminated or at least changed in ways that will prevent all that wronging. Since I haven't followed the current brouhaha closely, I have no idea how likely a compromise is…or if it comes down to a big game of "Chicken," who'll flinch or cluck first.
I do know it's going to be messy. And I hope that we don't wake up and find Show Business sprawled on the pavement unmoving while the police draw a big chalk outline around it. I'm imagining every agent in town is on the phone, trying to sell the whole thing as a new series with "CSI" in the title and a lot of his clients in key positions.