Monday, April 22, 2019
The Story Behind Hollywood Writers vs. Their Agents
The Atlantic: In the summer of 1962, MCA Inc.—the giant Hollywood talent agency so dominant in its field that industry insiders called it The Octopus—acquired a majority stake in Decca Records and Universal Pictures, giving it control of a full-fledged movie studio and a major recording company. For the better part of a decade, MCA had already been the country’s largest creator of television programming. The agency was known for controversially “packaging” its star actors with writing and directing clients into ready-made shows for one-stop, near-monopoly sale to the networks.
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This article was really interesting. I never even considered the economic challenges and disparities that being a buyer and seller of something as intangible as talent was. Having control over the content that a client creates is a really interesting balance, and one that I don’t think I would ever want to find myself in. The limitations that it puts on a writer’s artistry and creativity is really challenging. This kind of a deal makes way more money than having a 10% commission on creation of content. It allows the company to take their own commissions as well as profiting off of the final product. This sort of bundling allows companies to pocket incredible fees for themselves, so the Writers Guild of America is really fighting back against agencies being able to put their financial interests over representing their clients and their clients’ work. Stepping up is a really difficult thing to do because it is jeopardizing some of the long-standing, successful relationships that writers have built throughout their careers.
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