film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

terminology, ''movie packaging'' or ''film packaging'' is a type of product bundling in which a top level talent agency starts up a film or television project using writers, directors and/or actors it represents, before giving other agencies a chance to submit their clients for the project. For this service the talent agency negotiates a packaging fee. Instead of collecting the usual 10% fee from individual clients, the agency receives the equivalent of 5% of what the studio or network pays the production company; 5% of half (''i.e.'' 2.5%) of any profit the production company earns; and 15% of adjusted gross (syndication revenue minus costs the network does not pay).

Packaging incentive

Packaging can be much more lucrative for agencies than the usual 10% fee; in 1989 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that a major talent agency could earn $21,000 to $100,000 for each episode of a network show. Packaging is frequently done by the “big four” talent agencies Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Endeavor, ICM Partners, and United Talent Agency. Although packaging has existed since the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...

, it has been claimed that

Michael Ovitz Michael Steven Ovitz (born December 14, 1946) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as preside ...

of CAA was the first to package movies, in the late 1970s. Freddie Fields and

David Begelman David Begelman (August 26, 1921 – August 7, 1995) was an American film producer, film executive and talent agent who was involved in a studio embezzlement scandal in the 1970s. Life and career Begelman was born to a Jewish family in New Yor ...

have also been credited with pioneering the movie "package", at their agency Creative Management Associates in the early '70s. The Writers Guild of America West (WGA West) estimated that 87% of TV shows were packaged during the 2016-2017 season.

Criticism

Packaging as a practice has been criticized by several writers, directors and actors as inherently causing a major

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

between an agency and its clients. In 2019, David Simon published a letter detailing how packaging incentivized his agents to work against his best interests on the deal for the television show '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. Simon's letter eventually led to a breakdown between the Writers Guild of America (WGA, the labor union representing

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

s in the US) and the

Association of Talent Agents The Association of Talent Agents (ATA) is a non-profit trade association representing talent agencies in the United States entertainment industry. ATA agencies represent the vast majority of artists working in the field, including actors, direc ...

(ATA, the group representing the major agencies), when the sides were unable to negotiate a "Code Of Conduct" agreement that addressed the concerns of packaging, resulting in the mass firing of talent agents by all WGA members on April 15, 2019.

Lawsuit

On April 17, 2019, the two WGA groups,

Writers Guild of America East The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is a labor union representing writers in film, television, radio, news, and online media. The Writers Guild of America, East is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America West. Together the guilds admin ...

and WGA West, sued the "big four" agencies, claiming that packaging fees are an “egregious conflict of interest” that “constitute unlawful kickbacks” from studios to the agencies. The lawsuit was filed in

Los Angeles Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...

against the four dominant

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

talent agencies: Endeavor, CAA, United Talent Agency and ICM Partners. Approximately 95 percent of WGA members voted "in favor of a code of conduct that would cease packaging fees."

References

Film and video terminology Film production Product management {{film-term-stub