Damon Lindelof, Hart Hanson Among Top Showrunners Posting Termination Letters In Wake Of Failed WGA-ATA Negotiations

Damon Lindelof, Hart Hanson Among Top Showrunners Posting Termination Letters In Wake Of Failed WGA-ATA Negotiations

April 13, 2019 12:37pm Refresh for more updates. After the WGA and AT..

Refresh for more updates. After the WGA and ATA failed to reach an agreement, writers and showrunners started posting their letters terminating their working relationship with their agents. Damon Lindelof and Hart Hanson are the latest to post their letters joining a mass of other top industry names including Steven DeKnight, Alexi Hawley, Tim Doyle and Chrissy Pietrosh. Most are very cordial to their agents but not the wire creator David Simon who has been outspoken.

Lindelof, who is currently working on the forthcoming Watchmen adaptation for HBO, posted his letter to CAA on Instagram. My agents signed me in 1999,” he wrote. “When no one else believed in me, they did. For that, I will be forever grateful. Twenty years later, the business has radically transformed… as such, it is time to remember and reinstate the principle upon which “representation” is based. My agents have become my friends… I am relying on that friendship to persevere as we all move through a trying period of transition. As brutal as it is to send this letter, I UNEQUIVOCALLY stand with my sisters and brothers and my union. Only through collective action can we restore balance. #IStandWithTheWGA”

Hart took to Twitter posting his letter to WME, saying: “Standing with my Guild. #IStandWithWGA And I love my agent, Matt Solo. Weve been friends for 21 years.”

The form letter which was sent to each member to send to their agency read: “Effective April 13, 2019, if your agency has not signed a franchise agreement with the Writers Guild of America, whether in the form of a Code of Conduct or a negotiated agreement, under WGA rules I can no longer be represented by you for my covered writing services. Once your agency is again in good standing with the Writers Guild, we can reestablish our relationship. Thank you.”

The new Code of Conduct, approved by the WGA membership last month, includes the elimination of packaging and agencies affiliation with production entities, and all of the major agencies have said that they will not sign it.

The form letter was linked in WGAs missive to members this afternoon for each to sign electronically. The letter, the guild says, “in plain and respectful language accomplishes the task” of notifying the writers agency that they cannot represent him/her until they sign the new Code of Conduct. According to the WGA, the letter also protects the writers legally “in case there is a further commission dispute.”

Read Lindelof and Hansons posts below along with others.

Dammit. Just realized that the WGA-ATA midnight deadline is PST. So I have to stay up another three hours and one minute to send a pic of my naked ass to CAA. #WGA #UnionUnionUnion

— David Simon (@AoDespair) April 13, 2019

My agent hip pocketed me when she was an still an assistant. She attended my wedding. Shes one of the best there is. But the system needs to change. And the only way that can happen is with a show of union strength. #IStandWithTheWGA pic.twitter.com/fQztHIX8Rm

— Joel Church Cooper (@churchcooper) April 13, 2019

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