First ATA agency breaks ranks

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  • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

    Originally posted by LRic54 View Post
    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.

    Same thought. The newer agents should be sh!tting their pants.

    They're likely being told by the partners that everything's fine. Don't believe it! When they fire you, it's like, TODAY! Zero warning. Blindsided. Been through that.

    EX (crying) PHONE CALL: They just called me in. ___ ___ and ___. Fired me...

    ME: What the fukk? Seriously??? After 15 years that's it? Just like that?

    EX: Yup... I'm out.

    ME: Fukkkkkk...

    CUT TO: Trades say "Left to pursue other opportunities." Bullsh!t. Fired.


    If you're a young agent reading this sh!t DO NOT feel your job is safe. No matter what they tell you. Swear! They've already done the math on when to fire you if this isn't resolved the way they want. You'll find out THAT day. Put your backup plan together NOW!
    Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

    Comment


    • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

      Originally posted by KitchonaSteve View Post
      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!!!
      OY is right!

      though i will admit i assumed she had a manager and was still able to navigate the landscape, so that's a good point. it isn't the same for her and i'd wager there are a lot of writers that had agents but not managers, so that does change the perspective.

      how can she be president when she's not going to be here? seems this is a single minded, "get my agent back," move. i did read that they other day about her thinking she could run it from abroad. nope, she can't. she'd miss too much and really, in two years, you can lose a lot of focus by simply not being available.

      the question that those that follow her should be asking is IF she was voted president, what is she going to accomplish for writers after the ATA is taken care of? i'm thinking it's a big fat ZERO. because that's not why i think she's running-- she running to serve her own career.

      idk, she is a huge turnoff to me. i'm hoping the membership votes for the existing leadership, i think they can make sh!t happen.
      "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

        My only question is, when this is all over, will any writer than isn't a Top 5% writer even want an agent?

        I recall my first set of big managers went out with my spec w/o agents and got the same juice it seemed. They said, we shouldn't get agents until we needed them, and that they just in the way...

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        • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

          Originally posted by Bono View Post
          My only question is, when this is all over, will any writer than isn't a Top 5% writer even want an agent?

          I recall my first set of big managers went out with my spec w/o agents and got the same juice it seemed. They said, we shouldn't get agents until we needed them, and that they just in the way...
          i suspect there will be some in the Shonda/Berlanti/Murphy echelon who go Fi-Core regardless of how things ultimately shake out (although there were similar threats during the 2007 strike and only a handful of writers, and no real big names, actually followed through). frankly, it would be better for next year's negotiations with the studios if they did it now and relieve the guild of a replay of these same shenanigans when the MBA negotiations get underway

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          • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

            So, the writers that fired their agents...where are they going? Verve? The lure of CAA and WME is that they have all this juice and intel that smaller firms don't have, but the packaging thing is a turn off.

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            • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

              Originally posted by Friday View Post
              So, the writers that fired their agents...where are they going? Verve? The lure of CAA and WME is that they have all this juice and intel that smaller firms don't have, but the packaging thing is a turn off.
              well... if they're staffed on shows, presumably they either returned to the room for the current season or hustled, e.g., WGA Staffing Portal and connections, to land a new staffing gig on an existing show.

              and if they're developing, that's kind of starting to happen now so either they're with Verve/KS/Buchwald or just hustling through connections to get meetings.

              then there are those who purportedly fired their Big 4 agents but (allegedly) continue to have them set stuff up for them...

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              • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
                well... if they're staffed on shows, presumably they either returned to the room for the current season or hustled, e.g., WGA Staffing Portal and connections, to land a new staffing gig on an existing show.

                and if they're developing, that's kind of starting to happen now so either they're with Verve/KS/Buchwald or just hustling through connections to get meetings.

                then there are those who purportedly fired their Big 4 agents but (allegedly) continue to have them set stuff up for them...

                Hmm. Interesting. Thanks. I guess it hurts the writers who are on the shyer side, who might have really relied on their agents rather than hustling themselves.

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                • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                  I don't know if it's remotely interesting or relevant, but recently I pitched a long-time executive and found out that she's joined Verve as an agent. This was in 2018, and is either in addition to her ongoing creative projects, or is her new majority career - I don't know.

                  But, a creative/producer becoming an agent? What might that mean? Anybody else know of such things?

                  (She didn't respond to this particular pitch, to her @gmail address, but had previously, once.)

                  PS. I absolutely don't mean to suggest anything's amiss; only that I'm wondering if this suggests some sort of hiring strategy etc. on the part of agencies
                  Last edited by catcon; 08-19-2019, 05:20 AM. Reason: Added PS

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                  • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                    People in Hollywood switch jobs all the time....

                    Exec to Manager/Agent
                    Agent to Manager
                    Manager to Agent
                    Manager to Exec
                    Manager to Writer
                    Writer to Manager

                    And all those to depressed.... I mean rich. Sorry typo.

                    Yada Yada...

                    It's very common from what I've seen. Nothing amiss...

                    In a town where hair dressers to stars become big producers (JON PETERS) this is nothing....

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                    • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                      Yup, all people like Shonda/Berlanti/Murphy really need is a lawyer.

                      If I was them I wouldn't have a manager nor agent. Why bother. And please don't say packaging. LOL
                      Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

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                      • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                        Is this response in the right thread Gucci? Maybe. So many threads!

                        Comment


                        • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                          Originally posted by Bono View Post
                          Is this response in the right thread Gucci? Maybe. So many threads!
                          Yeah, JoeBanks mentioned them a few post up. I'm a little late.
                          Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

                          Comment


                          • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                            https://deadline.com/2019/08/working...te-1202672007/

                            the only writer who didn't fire his agent. and he's wondering why he's being singled out? idk, maybe it's because you broke the rules?

                            i mean, he cites the rule, but doesn't seem comprehend its meaning?

                            https://deadline.com/2019/08/phyllis...es-1202671383/

                            and Nagy's fear mongering is really irritating because it's so manipulative. the current leadership cannot respond with information that's sensitive to the on going negotiations.

                            she says the WGAs will go on strike if the don't have the ATA resolved before the new contract for flim and TV is signed. but correct me if i'm wrong but SAG doesn't have a signed contract with ATA either, and they're doing just fine with their status quo.

                            her complaints about not having an Agent are disingenuous-- she can have a new agent tomorrow, she just can't have one that hasn't signed the new agreement. so, if she really wants an agent, get one.

                            the truth is she doesn't want an agent, she wants her agent and the lucrative packaging deals that go with it.

                            from Nagy's twitter feed...
                            We are not running on a "moral premise." Leadership is. We're the pragmatists.
                            iow, "status quo."

                            she deflects questions she doesn't want to answer with rhetoric to support her thin messages.

                            i mean, if you're running for the highest office in the guild you have a responsibility to answer the ****ing questions posed by the membership you intend to serve. but she can't, because it doesn't seem like she even knows what she would do. she clearly deflects questions. direct questions.

                            she doesn't seem to be in it for anything other than getting her agent back.

                            am i being too harsh? i'd love to hear an argument that proves i'm wrong.
                            "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

                              "I mean, sure, I want what's right. But I don't want to be inconvenienced by what it requires to get there."

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                              • Re: First ATA agency breaks ranks

                                Writers are withholding donations to UCLA because of Nagy.

                                http://dailybruin.com/2019/08/22/scr..._slrqCg_sA6RGw

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