In the months since the end of the writers strike, writers have been playing musical chairs with Hollywood talent agencies.
Creative Artists Agency has gained Jeff Nathanson, who wrote Catch Me If You Can, and Men in Black writer Ed Solomon. But it has lost Michael Goldenberg, who wrote Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
United Talent Agency recently signed The Ring writer Ehren Kruger, but lost Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, the writing team behind the National Treasure movies.
The William Morris Agency signed the Wibberleys, but lost its contract with Steve Pink, of High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank fame.
Variety explains the shift,
“Writers and their agents say that the post-writers strike and pre-actors strike funk has ramped up agency raiding of rival clients.
Agents suggest that of all segments, writers are most susceptible to sales pitches by rivals, and every prominent writer agent is in a courting mood. In the best of times, writers work alone in rooms, don’t get the adulation, paychecks or gross deals given actors and directors, and are often rewritten.
Add in stress-inducing factors — expected post-strike writing assignments that never materialized; studios squeezing quotes on the few jobs that do exist; studios having filled out slates through 2009; and the lack of greenlights until a SAG deal is in place — and the combination is a perfect storm of anxiety that has made talent, writers included, particularly susceptible to sweet talk from other agents.”
While some writers are switiching agencies to get more star power behind their films, some, like the Wibberleys and Ehren Kruger, are also trying to expand into production and directorial roles.
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