The Writers Guild of America and Hollywood talent agencies have agreed to resume talks on June 7 over how agents represent WGA members.
The WGA agreed last week to resume negotiations with Hollywood’s talent agents, six weeks after talks between the two sides fell apart. WGA West president David A. Goodman announced on May 22 that the WGA had approved a proposal by UTA co-president Jay Sures to return to the bargaining table.
Verve defected from the major agencies on May 16 when it became the first sizable Hollywood talent agency to sign the WGA’s code of conduct. That gave the guild a win in its standoff with agencies over the issue of packaging fees and ownership of production companies. The guild directed its nearly 15,000 members on April 12, when negotiations collapsed, to terminate relations with agents who refused to sign its new code.
The WGA negotiating committee told members of the date on Wednesday afternoon in a brief note: “Just to keep you up to date, yesterday afternoon the agencies cancelled the meeting that was scheduled for today. They’ve asked to reschedule for June 7th.”