Amid the confusion and tensions of the WGA-ATA dispute over
packaging fees and agency ties to affiliated production entities,
more than 7,000 termination letters have been sent out to
non-franchised agents who once represented WGA members.1 The
mass firing was "mandatory rather than optional"2 and
92% of writers who voted in favor of the Code of Conduct acted in
concert as insisted by the Guild. As WGA West president David A.
Goodman said, "when the guild takes action, we do so as a
group... we don't ask an individual member to take a stand. We
do it together..."
The WGA has sent a strong message to the ATA through the
coordinated firing, but there remains uncertainty as to how the
average writer will procure employment when he or she no longer has
ccess to the only person (other than the writer him/herself) that
is legally entitled to procure employment—a licensed talent
agent.3