First ATA agency breaks ranks

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  • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

    Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
    big agencies have been mafia-esque since the days of Lew Wasserman and Sidney Korshak at MCA -- Ovitz certainly acted like the Godfather of CAA at his zenith

    but mostly i think it's just the timing of events. staffing season came and went without any significant disruption for TV writers. the Big 4 can absorb that kind of hit and even the mid-tiers. i would look more to how they start acting as development and pilot season rolls around and shows sell without any agents attached to them

    Yup, agreed. I remember the days of Ovitz. Me and my ex were little kids in the industry and knew nothing/knew no one. Over the years she (and I by association) were folded into said mafia. I bought it for many years. Especially once I was repped there. After all, they'd literally call it "the ___ family" at intimate gatherings during pontiferous toasts (they LOVE to give speeches and congratulate each other). It was an air of "We're better than everyone else in the industry, we're the tip top and NO ONE can take us down... long as we stick together, as a family."

    Telling that nowadays I can call no one that I knew for 20 years. Exiled.

    But, hanging out with those people, you have that 6th sense that something ain't quite right about this picture. Reason being, just like the mafia, the'll shoot you in the head and dump you in the dumpster if it serves them. You were just at their kid's birthday party yesterday. That's when I knew the last 20 years weren't real to them.

    The mafia... good analogy.

    Agreed... once development and pilot season rolls around we'll get to see what their real strategy is. Should be hella interesting.
    Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

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    • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

      That's the problem with thinking The Big 4 will be actually willing to sit down to real negotiation.

      "You don't understand who you're dealing with."

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      • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

        Originally posted by DangoForth View Post
        That's the problem with thinking The Big 4 will be actually willing to sit down to real negotiation.

        "You don't understand who you're dealing with."
        Pretty much...

        Swear to god, it's a cult-like environment in there. You ever tried to convince a cult (a rich and powerful one) that they're wrong? Gonna be tough.
        Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

        Comment


        • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

          Not even that -- if 98% of the people that are agents or work there agree with WGA -- it doesn't mean anything... it's up the few people in charge. Thats' the thing.

          I wish someone had an ex wife at a big agency they could get some gossip out of...

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          • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

            Originally posted by Bono View Post
            Not even that -- if 98% of the people that are agents or work there agree with WGA -- it doesn't mean anything... it's up the few people in charge. Thats' the thing.
            Yup. Which means it's likely gonna be hard.

            I'm not convinced they have agency wide support from a majority of the agents. I'm guessing it'd be a minority vote. Pretty sure the convo in my household would have been a negative one (she can correct me if I'm wrong).

            I'm just surprised none of the locker room talk made it past the front door. This town loves to gossip.

            Did they make all agents sign something? Is the top brass keeping agents in the dark? No idea. Agents gotta be scared by now.
            Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

            Comment


            • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

              that's what I don't get... the whole town should be freaking out... and I assume they are quietly.... but when were they ever quiet?

              NO manager gossip?

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              • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                Originally posted by Bono View Post
                that's what I don't get... the whole town should be freaking out... and I assume they are quietly.... but when were they ever quiet?

                NO manager gossip?
                I got nuthin...
                Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

                Comment


                • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                  Originally posted by Bono View Post
                  that's what I don't get... the whole town should be freaking out... and I assume they are quietly.... but when were they ever quiet?

                  NO manager gossip?
                  What's in some ways stranger is that there's a similar eerie silence coming out of the Guild leadership. They keep saying, privately, that they're in possession of information which makes them extremely confident as to how this will proceed-- or at least, as to how the next several dominoes (including two of the B4) will fall-- but they have been otherwise 100% close-lipped about said info, even as (presumably specious) rumors swirl among membership that they have "no plan."

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                  • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                    Originally posted by AnyOtherName View Post
                    What's in some ways stranger is that there's a similar eerie silence coming out of the Guild leadership. They keep saying, privately, that they're in possession of information which makes them extremely confident as to how this will proceed-- or at least, as to how the next several dominoes (including two of the B4) will fall-- but they have been otherwise 100% close-lipped about said info, even as (presumably specious) rumors swirl among membership that they have "no plan."
                    Radio silence during negotiations usually means things are happening behind the scenes. At least that's been my experience.
                    Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                    -Steve Trautmann
                    3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                    • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                      yes, but that's what I don't get... they can't talk about it... okay that's what JA was saying on his podcast like a month ago... then Craig runs and drops out... then all of a sudden JA can write a blog post about what's been happening (what changed?) and they talk about stuff I thought he said he couldn't talk about a month ago...

                      I am so confused! I keep saying that because, well I am!

                      And I wonder how many WGA members don't really know either. It seems 100 to 200 people are really tuned in and the rest of the group is relying on them to explain it to them... pretty much like every election ever.

                      One side is let's stick to the plan!
                      Other side is like let's change the plan!

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                      • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                        Originally posted by Bono View Post
                        yes, but that's what I don't get... they can't talk about it... okay that's what JA was saying on his podcast like a month ago... then Craig runs and drops out... then all of a sudden JA can write a blog post about what's been happening (what changed?) and they talk about stuff I thought he said he couldn't talk about a month ago...
                        My guess is that he got permission. The board probably wanted to get some comforting yet non-specific info out to tamp down concerns that nothing is happening as is being asserted by some. That's the frustrating thing about Nagy and some of the others. They assume that because they're not hearing anything that nothing is happening. That's the thing about representative government: we elect people to represent us. We don't want to handle all the minutia, that's what our reps do. It's not smart for the negotiating committee to give constant updates to the rank and file during negotiations because things go back and forth and sometimes blow up, and that's assuming the other side is negotiating in good faith. In this case I'm sure that the individual agencies we're negotiating with don't want any other agencies or the ATA to know that they're talking with us. They expect a high degree of confidentiality, and to get those points made we keep those confidences and don't throw bombs in public.

                        Full disclosure: I don't know anything about the negotiations beyond what's already been released.
                        Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                        -Steve Trautmann
                        3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

                        Comment


                        • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                          Originally posted by KitchonaSteve View Post
                          My guess is that he got permission. The board probably wanted to get some comforting yet non-specific info out to tamp down concerns that nothing is happening as is being asserted by some. That's the frustrating thing about Nagy and some of the others. They assume that because they're not hearing anything that nothing is happening. That's the thing about representative government: we elect people to represent us. We don't want to handle all the minutia, that's what our reps do. It's not smart for the negotiating committee to give constant updates to the rank and file during negotiations because things go back and forth and sometimes blow up, and that's assuming the other side is negotiating in good faith. In this case I'm sure that the individual agencies we're negotiating with don't want any other agencies or the ATA to know that they're talking with us. They expect a high degree of confidentiality, and to get those points made we keep those confidences and don't throw bombs in public.

                          Full disclosure: I don't know anything about the negotiations beyond what's already been released.
                          i agree. i think that the opposition used the fact that the neg com couldn't say anything as a way to get writers on their side and to create an overall sense that nothing's being done. which, of course, is wrong and totally unfair, because the neg com can't respond to what they are doing because it could put negotiations at risk. it felt very manipulative to me, because at first they create an "unrest" but they didn't offer a better or even compelling new plan. i never bought into it.

                          Nagy seems to want to strike a deal with ATA and just move on. imo, it doesn't seem like her interests are aligned with the majority.
                          "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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                          • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                            Originally posted by finalact4 View Post
                            ... Nagy seems to want to strike a deal with ATA and just move on. imo, it doesn't seem like her interests are aligned with the majority.
                            Looking at IMDBpro Nagy only has agents and publicists. She has London agents and UTA here in the states. No manager is listed. If she fired her UTA agents per Guild directive, then she's most likely flying blind here in LA because she's a feature writer, and feature writers make their living on OWAs and pitches. The problem is that there are fewer and fewer studio movies being made in her wheelhouse. She has no one to point her to companies and studios with OWAs and needs that fit her skill set. Without representation, she has a very difficult getting work, which she has admitted.

                            I've heard she's teaching at UCLA, which leads me to assume that she's splitting her time between London (she's lived there since 1992 according to Wikipedia) and LA. She has admitted that she plans on spending the next two years writing and directing two features that will be shot in Europe and/or the UK. She might well have two mortgages in two of the most expensive cities on the planet. She needs to keep the money coming in, and without an agent that's probably a tough prospect.

                            Someone, I think it was Shawn Ryan, labeled her naive about running for WGAW president. I agree. She isn't a TV writer. She has a TV credit from 2005, Mrs. Harris, a made for HBO TV movie. She's never worked in a TV writers' room as far as I can tell, and her experience with the Guild and working writers in Los Angeles seems either minimal or non-existent. Why would I vote for her? Because she wants to $h1tcan everything the negotiating committee and the board has done up to this point? Leadership embarked on this campaign based on hundreds of hours of meetings with members, listening to their concerns, watching what the big agencies have been planning and doing, and analyzing the statistics of the membership and the biz overall.

                            As far as I know she's never served on a committee and possibly never even attended a board meeting. What does she really know about how the WGAW operates? I've never met Phyllis Nagy, but I'm willing to bet that in the past few years I've spent more time in and know more staff by first name at WGAW HQ than she does.

                            A London-based feature writer with a cushy teaching job at my alma mater and two years worth of overseas writing and directing gigs lined up is not the best choice in my opinion for a two-year leadership roll in an organization she seems to have had little interest or involvement with up until she had to fire(?) her agent who is probably whispering in her ear like a secondary Tolkien villain. Oh yeah, we also have negotiations with the AMPTP next year.

                            OY!!!
                            Last edited by KitchonaSteve; 08-17-2019, 04:24 PM. Reason: AMPTP negotiations mention.
                            Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                            -Steve Trautmann
                            3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                            • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                              if i were inclined toward conspiracy theory (not generally) i would think Phyllis was merely put forth as the public face of the Discorders as a means of taking fire for the usual backchannel suspects (the ones who sold out the WGA in 2007 during the strike) who are really driving the conversation behind the scenes with the Big 4

                              Comment


                              • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                                I have a friend who's a former agent and works at a prod co now. Sounds like there's definitely some concern within the agencies especially amongst younger agents about keeping their jobs should this continue a long time. I think in meantime some MP and TV lit agents will be reassigned. I met at least one who moved to a newly launched podcast division.

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