A bitter dispute that has plagued thousands of film and television screenwriters against the major Hollywood talent agencies came to an end on Friday, almost two years after it began.
William Morris Endeavor became the last of the largest agencies to reach a new franchise agreement with the two unions Writers Guild of America, and said he did so on Friday afternoon.
“Writers have been part of this agency since our inception, and they will continue to be part of the lifeblood of WME,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, which controls WME. “We look forward to serving as advocates again during their unprecedented time in our industry.”
Eventually, the writers’ unions got what they asked for, but only after an argument with court battles and a number of accusations of bad behavior. In one episode, a top executive of the WME accuses a union leader of wanting to “kill” him; the union leader denied that he had said that.
“I have repeatedly said that no one wants the agency more than I do, and I am very pleased that we have achieved our goal,” said David Goodman, president of the guild’s West Coast branch. He added that “the agencies we represent now have their financial interests in line with their writing clients.”
In April 2019, thousands of Hollywood writers fired their agents over what union leaders described by the agencies as corrupt practices. The dispute focused on two agency practices that, according to the unions, clashed with gross interests. The agencies have long maintained that the practices exist to benefit writers and not harm them.
But the slowdown in Hollywood productions during the pandemic stressed the agencies, and the top three fired dozens of their staff last year. The union dispute cost them income they would earn by buying their writer clients well.
Last July, the United Talent Agency entered into an agreement with the writers’ unions, and ICM Partners followed a month later. In December, the Creative Artists Agency signed a new agreement with the unions.
As part of the agreements, the agencies said they would soon end a practice called packaging. In addition, they will only hold a minority stake – with a maximum of 20 percent – in manufacturing entities they have started building up in recent years.
Packaging, a decade-old practice, was to collaborate writers with other clients of the agency for a TV or film project. When agents would take packaging fees, they would waive the usual commission of ten percent of their writing clients, and would rather be paid directly by the studio. The unions argued that this meant that agencies did not put the financial interests of their authors first.
When agencies started sister production entities to make TV shows and movies themselves, the unions argued that writers could not be justified by people who were also their bosses. The agencies have argued that the companies will create more competition in an industry dominated by well-funded technology giants such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon.
For the past 22 months, the writers have remained largely united, although in 2019 there was an attempt – supported by many of Hollywood’s greatest writers – to oust union leaders with people who were more willing to enter into an agreement with the agencies. This effort failed after nearly four out of five writers still supported the leadership team.