Latest in Karen Stuart

The Association of Talent Agents, which has been locked in an 11-month battle with the Writers Guild, has shut down its offices and its staff will be working from home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "These are uncertain and unprecedented times, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the health and safety of…

Saying that "the time has come for the WGA's leadership to start bargaining in earnest," leaders of the Association of Talent Agents have told their member-agencies that they hope the WGA will return to the bargaining table with a counteroffer to the proposals the ATA made on Friday to end their 59-day standoff over…

UPDATED, 5:45 PM: The Writers Guild has issued a statement in response to the ATA’s letter to members. Read it at the bottom of this post. PREVIOUSLY, 3:22 PM: The Association of Talent Agents said today that it is "evaluating all legal options" to address the WGA's claim that it has the legal right to deputize…

The WGA declared today that no deal was reached with the Association of Talent Agents on a new franchise agreement, and ATA executive director Karen Stuart and WGA West President David A. Goodman issued separate statements about the impasse. "The WGA leadership today declared a pathway for compromise doesn't exist,"…

The ATA today has offered to share its packaging fees with writers. In a memo to her members, ATA executive director Karen Stuart said, "When a packaged show does well, writers will now share in the success and receive a share of the agencies' packaging fees. Specifically, agencies will provide a percentage of their…

The ATA said tonight that the WGA's new Agency Code of Conduct is “unacceptable to all agencies,” and without holding out any hope that the two sides will return to the bargaining table before tomorrow night's deadline, has instead said that it will host a meeting of member agencies next Wednesday to discuss "the…

Karen Stuart, executive director of the Association of Talent Agents, accused the WGA again today of not bargaining in good faith for a new agency franchise agreement. "There is no real exchange of ideas,” she said in a letter to her member agencies. “There are no answers to our questions, many of which your own…

The WGA says it has made a "significant move" toward reaching a deal with the Association of Talent Agents for a new franchise agreement. The move comes ahead of the two sides returning to the bargaining table Thursday. "It is our hope that this significant move on our part will bring the parties closer to an overall…

The Association of Talent Agents has reached out to the WGA with an offer to sit down for informal talks in advance of negotiations for a new franchise agreement that governs how agencies represent writers. It's the first conciliatory move by either side since April, when the WGA East and West gave the ATA a 12-month…

A bill pending in the California Assembly would require talent agencies to provide sexual harassment prevention training to their employees, and for the state Labor Commission to provide child actors and their parents or legal guardians with training in sexual harassment prevention prior to the issuance of a permit to…

The Writers Guild's proposals for a new talent agency agreement were greeted with skepticism from the Association of Talent Agents today. The WGA has proposed 30 changes to its 42-year-old agreement with the ATA that would reshape the talent agency business by putting an end to packaging and stopping the agencies'…

Representatives from Hollywood's talent agencies are taking part in a training session today on preventing and reporting sexual harassment in the workplace. Chaired by Karen Stuart, executive director of the Association of Talent Agents, the seminar is aimed at teaching agents to act as "first responders" when their…