Thread by @krudell

In a recent article on the #WGA/ATA negotiations, the LA Times quoted UTA chief executive Jeremy Zimmer:

UTA was my first agency. Jeremy sent a congratulatory telegram to me in New York the night of my first show taping. (My last name was misspelled.)

I’d be happy to tell Jeremy where UTA lost my trust, and why #IStandWithTheWGA. It has to do with packaging...

I had finished my fourth season on staff and was looking for a job. My agent asked me to meet with a prominent writer-producer, also a UTA client, whose shows I disliked. “Just take the meeting,” said my agent. “If you get an offer we can leverage it for something better.”

That line may sound familiar to a lot of tv writers.

So I took the meeting, got an offer on a UTA-packaged show...and was told all the other jobs in town were suddenly gone. Basically, two lists had been checked off: the more prominent client was serviced, and I was employed.

But that’s *not* where I lost my trust.

There were others on staff who’d been roped in, too – writers whose names you know and whose work you love. But the show...sucked. (Behind every bad show are, generally, talented people who hate it more than you do.) At the end of the season I told my agent I wanted to move on.

“No hard feelings but it’s not a good fit creatively, and it’s not helping my career. Besides, there are a lot of shows I’d be excited to work on.”

Shortly after, I received a call at home from the prominent writer’s agent, a senior UTA partner.

“I hear you want to leave the show,” he said. “Well I’m letting you know that we have an option on you for season two and we’re planning to exercise it. If you leave, we’ll make sure you don’t work for a year.”

This was my agency threatening my career to protect their package.

*That’s* where I lost trust in UTA.

I’ve had great relationships with agents, and I know they’ve helped put me in positions to make things, express myself, and pay my kid’s tuition. I appreciate them. But I’ll never know all the things they *prevented* me from doing just because it didn’t suit their business model.

So maybe it’s time to rewrite the business model.

And that, Jeremy, is why #IStandWithTheWGA.

No hard feelings,

Kirk Rodell

P.S., like all writers I know, I want this agency thing resolved as quickly and amicably as possible because we all need to work together next year on the big fight: negotiating a new MBA with the studios and streaming services. Let’s be on the same team.