The Writers Guild escalated its fight with Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, filing federal suits against 3 of them, alleging racketeering and antitrust violations
were filed Monday in Los Angeles, and represent a further escalation of a months-long fight over the agencies' practice of taking"packaging fees" from studios for putting together programming deals that include the clients they represent.
Earlier this year, on orders from the union and its West Coast local, some 7,000 members fired their agents after the agencies declined to sign a"code of conduct" banning such fees, and negotiations repeatedly stalled out. The newest lawsuits also allege that three agencies attempted to strong-arm smaller agencies to maintain a united front against the union, and to"blacklist writers or other individuals or entities who object to packaging fees or agree to" the code of conduct. Four smaller agencies have broken ranks and signed the new code of conduct with the WGA.
“Over the years, the major agencies have repeatedly broken federal antitrust law by conspiring to fix the price of packaging fees,” said WGA West President David A. Goodman. “Their current campaign to preserve the packaging-fee model by strong-arming smaller agencies also violates the law. We are simply asking the court to stop these agencies from illegally enriching themselves at the expense of writers.
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