said that despite the hardships imposed by the pandemic, “overall our members’ earnings remained remarkably strong.” Freelance film, TV and streaming writers, he wrote, “have mostly remained employed throughout the pandemic,” though “some members certainly lost work opportunities – series that did not go forward, pitches left unmade, potential feature projects stuck in limbo.”
The guild’s office in New York City has been closed since March 2020, with all work done on Zoom and by phone. “As vaccines become available, we hope to reopen the office at some point in 2021,” he said. “Like many organizations, we will figure out the best balance between working and meeting remotely and in-person.”
That new agreement, he said, “drastically changes how talent agencies work. The agreed upon Code of Conduct establishes that agents cannot collect packaging fees in lieu of commission, and that agencies and their private equity investors will be limited to no more than a 20% combined stake in any production or distribution entity. The new agreement also mandates the sharing of information between agencies and the Guilds.