In an ongoing battle to end the Writers Guild boycott against talent agency CAA (Creative Artists Agency); the dispute between CAA, WME (William Morris Endeavor) and WGA East and West is focused on efforts to reaching a deal to end the boycott but now it’s more of an animus-driven revenge campaign to put CAA out of business. WGA is still boycotting CAA. The hearing is scheduled for this Friday, December 18.
Talent agencies may have control over their clients, but it seems they have no control over The Writers Guild.
According to reports on Deadline.com, CAA seeks a court injunction because of the Guilds’ unlawful boycott with them in the last month. Instead, WGA is in favor of franchising other competitors (UTA and ICM) and threatening to put CAA out of business. CAA was denied the same terms as their competitors and WGA admits that they encourage writers to work with unlicensed managers admitting its leverage against CAA; sparking irreversible damage to the company.
The dispute began in 2019 when WGA ordered its members to fire their agents when they refused to sign the Guild’s Code of Conduct. The agreement banned packaging fees and agency affiliations with related production companies.
CAA explained in a statement on Deadline.com, “Maintaining a group boycott in these circumstances is not a legitimate labor purpose,” CAA added. “The Guilds do not benefit from any ‘labor exemption’ to the antitrust laws. Nor may the Guilds take advantage of the anti-injunction provisions of the Norris LaGuardia Act (NLGA), particularly since they previously admitted that this is not a NLGA case. And even if the NLGA did apply, CAA easily qualifies for a NLGA injunction.”
They further implied, “CAA’s consent to the Franchise Agreement is the core issue before the Court. But the Guilds barely address it. Instead, the Guilds amalgamate CAA with WME (which has distinct issues). The Court should not be distracted. CAA seeks a narrow preliminary injunction, enjoining the Guilds from continuing the boycott given CAA’s agreement to the Guilds’ own terms. The Court should grant the injunction.”
CAA told the court that it agreed with WGA to conform to the terms of the franchise agreement. It also said it had taken a stance that is far more protective of conflict-of-interest concerns.
WGA has argued in court that CAA and WME are more conflicted than other agencies that have signed WGA’s franchise agreement because they have more entangled relationships with corporately affiliated production entities: CAA with wiip and WME with Endeavor Content. They also stated that “the trust is not actually blind; there is no time limit on the trustee’s disposition of the trust asset; there is no limitation on who may purchase the asset; the Guilds were not consulted on the trustee’s selection.”
CAA has taken steps to sell its interest in its ‘affiliated’ production company (wiip) to the level required by the Guilds, until that sale is complete, to put its entire interest in wiip into a blind trust that CAA does not control.
This YouTube video explains it all. It’s a ‘tug of war’ with the talent agencies against WGA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a21D1s-UlQA&t=1s
The arguments in court continue until an official agreement between the agencies is reached.