"Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

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  • "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

    This youtube video is pinned on Craig Mazin's twitter feed. It's heartbreaking.


    Agencies conflicts of interest.

  • #2
    Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

    Good, simple (I emphasize 'simple') presentation.

    But being a 'shoe on the other foot' type of analytical guy, I'd like to hear the other side's arguments on each of these points. This isn't to imply I'd just outright accept them, but you need to be prepared for what they're going to say, in these debates.

    Suffice it to say, I'd expect that what we're really seeing is merely the results of the other side simply hiring lots of IT specialists and MBAs to figure out how to evolve with the times and maintain and increase revenue.

    Yes, Agents have a specialized access to marketing our talents - ie. exploiting their relationship to writers, due to a legislative connection ie. rules that they have to follow. But 'conflict of interest' is going to be a tough multi-year battle.

    At the end of the day, the Guild is probably just going to collect a pittance of compromise, and the big fight will move to another day.

    Meanwhile, the other side will continue to... you get the idea.

    Far easier, isn't it, for the Guild to hire some MBAs of their own and move more into DIY productions. Given the value of collective buying power and the availability of incredible and cheap technology, not to mention the extreme knowledge-base in this writing community, wouldn't it be best to just take charge of your own destiny?

    That is, cutting out the middle men might scare the other side into a lot more than a few trinket trades over the upcoming negotiations. And it may be a far, far better way to spend members' money, instead of attorneys.

    Note: Take all of the foregoing with the proverbial grain of saline crystals, but I'm never going to be in the union and yet I have, throughout my working life, been just as suspicious of my buyers (employers) as any union member has, and have simply faced them down in my own individual way. However, surely my DIY ideas have some merit in the 21st Century.

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    • #3
      Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

      Originally posted by catcon View Post
      Good, simple (I emphasize 'simple') presentation.

      But being a 'shoe on the other foot' type of analytical guy, I'd like to hear the other side's arguments on each of these points. This isn't to imply I'd just outright accept them, but you need to be prepared for what they're going to say, in these debates.

      Suffice it to say, I'd expect that what we're really seeing is merely the results of the other side simply hiring lots of IT specialists and MBAs to figure out how to evolve with the times and maintain and increase revenue.

      Yes, Agents have a specialized access to marketing our talents - ie. exploiting their relationship to writers, due to a legislative connection ie. rules that they have to follow. But 'conflict of interest' is going to be a tough multi-year battle.

      At the end of the day, the Guild is probably just going to collect a pittance of compromise, and the big fight will move to another day.

      Meanwhile, the other side will continue to... you get the idea.

      Far easier, isn't it, for the Guild to hire some MBAs of their own and move more into DIY productions. Given the value of collective buying power and the availability of incredible and cheap technology, not to mention the extreme knowledge-base in this writing community, wouldn't it be best to just take charge of your own destiny?

      That is, cutting out the middle men might scare the other side into a lot more than a few trinket trades over the upcoming negotiations. And it may be a far, far better way to spend members' money, instead of attorneys.

      Note: Take all of the foregoing with the proverbial grain of saline crystals, but I'm never going to be in the union and yet I have, throughout my working life, been just as suspicious of my buyers (employers) as any union member has, and have simply faced them down in my own individual way. However, surely my DIY ideas have some merit in the 21st Century.
      The Guild can't get into feature film production without all its leaders going to jail. They can't legally be the negotiating body for writers while also employing writers; that's called "racketeering."

      The agencies, of course, are attempting to do that very thing, and it's a pretty brazen violation of the spirit of the law. They argue that they've found enough loopholes and split enough hairs to make the whole thing TECHNICALLY kosher, but no judge has ruled on the matter-- so we'll see.

      And as to the agencies' "arguments"... they don't really have any. They say things like "but TV packaging allows writers to save on commissions!," which basically amounts to "Our practices have REALLY only led to a 16% decline in writer income, not 26%!"

      They also say things like, "We couldn't support our model without packaging," which is only true because their "model" includes palatial offices in Beverly Hills, and yachts, and $10m+ paydays for high-level agents.

      I know it's tempting to think that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle," but in this case, the Guild is right and the Agencies are wrong, and everyone knows it. The only question is who is more powerful. My hunch is that the Guild will be more powerful in the end, but that hunch is, I suspect, about to be tested.

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      • #4
        Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

        Originally posted by AnyOtherName View Post
        The Guild can't get into feature film production without all its leaders going to jail. They can't legally be the negotiating body for writers while also employing writers; that's called "racketeering."...
        Well, I'm suggesting it put into place ways to help writer-producers DIY (or, do it themselves). I wasn't suggesting the Guild turn into a Studio, per se. That would be surest way to become what you're fighting, because we know who'd get the fruits of the new entity: The top 1% o the members.

        "The old boss is the same as the old boss", etc. Even better: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

        I'm talking literally the Union helping members produce independently. What law's that breaking? Many writers are already doing that, but scattershot, so it's not very efficient.

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        • #5
          Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

          Originally posted by catcon View Post
          I'm talking literally the Union helping members produce independently. What law's that breaking? Many writers are already doing that, but scattershot, so it's not very efficient.
          How do you suggest the Guild "help" members produce independently? There's no shortage of seminars on the subject. The twin difficulties are getting talent and getting $$$, and those are difficult because demand outstrips supply. There's not much the Guild can do about that, save for becoming a financier, which would take us back to the whole "law breaking" thing.

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          • #6
            Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

            GeeEEEeeeEEEzzz!

            I'm just throwing ideas out there. Like student memberships to refresh the membership (and get 'em hooked, early), access to better loan rates for h/w and s/w (maybe it has this), etc. etc.

            Nowadays, every year is like a 90s moment, when people in the biz realize almost too late that CGI was really revolutionary, or an 80s moment that "Nobody will want to record movies on a VCR", or a 70s moment that "there's money to be made in those big silly Summer blockbusters", or a 60s moment that "swears and sex in movies with big movie stars was here to stay", etc. etc.

            Like anyone can even know that...

            Change is in the offing! Ya' gotta change! etc. etc.

            Or... you can just keep chasing the tail and trying to keep things "just the same" through endless lawsuits, over and over and over.

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            • #7
              Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzTX8SVJtis&t=0m14s
              - - - - - - -
              Script consulting still going strong.

              Details and updates here, as always: http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ead.php?t=9901

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              • #8
                Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

                Originally posted by catcon View Post
                ...I'd like to hear the other side's arguments on each of these points.
                The two main points are Packaging fees and affiliated production entities, both are serious conflicts of interest that makes a mockery of an agent's legally required fiduciary mandate.

                They have two main responses to packaging: A) When we package writers don't have to pay us commission. B) We've been doing this for a long time, why is it a problem now? When it comes to agency/parent owned production companies the only retort is, "this is good for writers; there's more buyers for their projects."

                The bottom line is they don't have good responses so they harp on the WGA for not being willing to negotiate for slightly less egregious conflicts of interest. There is no reasonable middle ground between aggressive representation/negotiation and financial conflicts.
                Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                -Steve Trautmann
                3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                • #9
                  Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

                  And no sooner did I post the above, Deadline.com posted this:
                  https://deadline.com/2019/04/wga-12-...ld-1202589435/
                  Last edited by KitchonaSteve; 04-05-2019, 03:05 PM. Reason: punctuation clarity
                  Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                  -Steve Trautmann
                  3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: "Hollywood talent agencies have a business model rife with conflicts of interest"

                    I've been impressed throughout with the WGA's approach to this issue. The fact that all of these smaller agencies (24 at last count) are signing the Code of Conduct will put pressure on the ATA to follow suit. Although it will undoubtedly fight to the end.

                    I think many writers will make the calculation that they ultimately don't need the flash of a CAA or WME when they can use a boutique that can fulfill the exact same function without all the conflicts of interest. It's kinda fascinating (and empowering) to see them realize their power like this.
                    "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.-- Peter De Vries

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