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WGA-ATA negotiations sidebar. There seems to be a lot of confusion on the difference between packaging and packaging fees. The agencies seem to be purposely stoking the confusion in their communications with clients, so let’s clear this up.
(First, it’s important to note that the above has some killer alliteration in that last sentence and I’m very proud of it.)
Packaging is the process by which multiple entities represented by the same agency are put together to sell a project. Packaging itself is legal and totes okay... in fact, it’s the agency’s *job* to set their clients up for success and sometimes this is the best way to do it.
Packaging fees are what agencies charge the studios for this service — which sometimes involves multiple (!!) calls and emails to make happen.
They’ve even been known to ask for packaging fees to be given to them (and it is a gift, since they’re neither expected to nor do anything in return) when they only represent a single entity on a series or film. One actor. Or one writer. Or one director.
In return for their calls and emails, (often not even participating in negotiations, which is left to the lawyers) they expect 3% of your budget and 10% of the project’s gross profits. Gross, not net. For the life of the series. Even if they have no clients still on it after S1.
That money is coming from the pockets of the people they are supposed to represent, and hamstringing their budgets at the same time.
The Writer’s Guild is proposing to eliminate the FEES being charged (and the conflicts of interest that arise because of them), not the practicing of packaging itself.
