WGA-ATA Showdown

UPDATED with latest: WME followed CAA’s lead Wednesday, asking a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction that would force the Writers Guild to drop its group boycott against the agency. The move comes the day after CAA filed a similar request in their long-running legal battle with the guild over packaging…

UPDATED with WGA response, Bryan Lourd declaration details: CAA asked a federal judge Tuesday to issue a preliminary injunction that would force the WGA East and WGA West to drop their group boycott against the agency. The move comes just two months after CAA said that it thought it had a deal with the guilds to end…

The WGA said Wednesday that it is in talks with WME and CAA for an agreement that would end their nearly 18-month standoff over packaging fees and the agencies' affiliations with corporately related production entities. "In short: our conversations continue," the guild said in a communique to members. The chief holdup…

UPDATED with WGA response: The WGA has responded to this morning’s news of CAA announcing internally that its long stalemate with the WGA was about done, except for a couple of points having to do with affiliated production company wiip. Well, the WGA said that it has not accepted CAA’s terms. Likely that means some…

The WGA says it's had "cordial discussions" with WME and CAA about signing its agency franchise agreement, but told its members Tuesday that it's not close to a deal with the two largest packaging agencies. The WGA has signed more than 100 agencies to its franchise agreement over the past 18 months, including UTA and…

Due in part to public health circumstances beyond everyone's control, the WGA isn't going to trial against WME and CAA over packaging fees next spring after all. "The parties' threshold discovery disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic have created significant litigation delays, which have caused unforeseeable delays in…

The WGA on Wednesday provided details of its deal with ICM Partners on a new franchise agreement, a pact pretty much in line with one the guild inked last month with UTA. The deal that will also allow ICM to again represent WGA members for covered writing services also satisfies a clause that will end TV packaging by…

UPDATED, 12:06 PM: It’s a done deal. ICM Partners and the WGA just confirmed that the agency has signed a franchise agreement with the guild which will allow the agency to once again actively represent WGA members.    "We are looking forward to getting back to work for our writer clients," ICM Partners Co-President…

Now that UTA has signed the WGA's franchise agreement after lengthy negotiations, speculation is mounting over which of the other Big Four agencies – WME, CAA or ICM Partners – will be the next to sign. Sources tell Deadline that WGA West president David A. Goodman told members at a captains meeting Tuesday night that…

The WGA told its members Wednesday that the sunset clause in its newly struck agreement with UTA "ends the practice of packaging" at the agency on June 30, 2022, and that "until then packaging is only permitted with the informed consent of the writer." The guild also said that the deal allows the agency to have "have…

2ND UPDATE, 9 AM: UTA co-president Jay Sures just sent an email confirming the deal with the WGA — and it’s a labor-relations whopper. “After many long discussions and significant work by both sides, we've successfully found middle ground that sets asides our core differences,” Sures stated in the three-page letter…

The Big 3 talent agencies have won another skirmish in their ongoing legal battle with the WGA over packaging fees – this time over a protective order they proposed that would prohibit the guilds' in-house lawyers from having access to certain confidential financial and business records that the agencies have agreed…