The WGA just announced a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against CAA, WME, UTA, and ICM(major agenices) for violating state and federal laws with respect to the fiduciary duties to their writer-clients. After the WGA and ATA failed to enter into an agreement renewing their partnership, nearly every writer in the WGA walked away from their agents last week. This caused a stir in Hollywood as lawyers and managers took over negotiating duties for the clients. This is an unprecedented split and another way the landscape of Hollywood is changing. With the early rumblings of agencies going public those companies were not willing to step away from the extra profits garnered by packaging and their offer of a minuscule piece of back end didn't get the WGA excited to find common ground. Now the bad blood has extended past the negotiating table and into the courtroom. The suit against CAA, WME, ICM Partners and UTA has two claims: 1. Packaging fees violate state fiduciary duty laws 2. Those packaging fees violate federal unfair competition laws under the Taft-Hartley Act. Read More...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Wednesday, 17 April, 2019