Finally, some progress on foreign levies

This is our seventh blog-post in the last thirteen months (see the bottom of this post) about foreign levies monies for animation writers, a matter of some ongoing friction between TAG and the Writers Guild of America west, as well as subject of a long-standing lawsuit brought by non-WGAw writers, Richert v. WGAW, that was settled earlier this year.

The Guild has written several letters to the WGAw since the settlement of the lawsuit, asking for documentation of which TAG members were still owed money by the WGAw for fees collected under taxes on blank videocassettes and DVDs that are paid to creative authors of films distributed in nineteen foreign countries (see below) -- the so-called "foreign levies monies".

To date, the WGAw has not responded to any of our letters. However, recently one of our members -- among the small number of animation writers who have reported to us that they've actually gotten a foreign levies check -- sent us a copy of a letter he received from the WGAw with his most recent payout:

September, 2010

Dear Foreign Levies Recipient:

The Guild is pleased to send you the enclosed check, which represents your share of foreign levies collected in one or more of the 19 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America in which our program now operates. Foreign levies are royalties collected under foreign law to compensate "authors" -- both WGA members and non-members — for the private copying, rental and cable retransmission of U.S. copyrighted works.

[...]

As you may already know, the Guild has launched its new Foreign Levies website. The redesigned website, which is accessible to the public at large, contains a number of new features:

• A title look-up, allowing users to search the list of projects (most of them non-WGA) for which the Guild is holding foreign levies but has not identified the writer or lawful heir.
• A writer look-up, allowing users to search the list of writers (most of them non-members; many of them deceased) for whom we are holding foreign levies but lack current contact information.
• A registration page, allowing writers or their heirs to register non-WGA titles which they believe may in the future earn foreign levies.
• Comprehensive information about the history and operation of the program, including the recent court settlement.
• Links and other contact information for the Foreign Levies Department.

You may access the Foreign Levies website at www.wga.org/foreignlevies or by clicking the Foreign Levies Program in the Quicklinks section of the www.wga.org main page. If you have further questions, please contact the WGAW Foreign Levies Department at foreignleviesinfo@wga.org or call (323) 782-4672.

Sincerely,

Foreign Levies Department

My first reaction, based on a preliminary view of the new www.wga.org/foreignlevies webpage and database, is that this is a giant step in the right direction towards the goal of getting this money into the hands of the people who have earned it. The people at WGAw responsible for this hard work deserve our thanks and support.

At TAG, we are going to be working hard to check the information on this database against our records, and notifying members who appear to have uncollected monies. Unfortunately, since the WGAw continues to stonewall us on sharing information, this will be a long, slow process.

Here’s where you can help -- yourself and us:

• If you have ever written any animated show (union or non-union) that was distributred in any of the countries listed at the bottom of this post, and for which you have not received foreign levies monies, check the www.wga.org/foreignlevies website immediately.

• It's unclear whether or to what extent story artists are included -- most likely their inclusion depends on whether they got a screen credit that said they were involved in "story work" (e.g. a credit for "Story By" as opposed to "Storyboard By".) Nevertheless story artists should check this list as well.

• Bear in mind that the information in this database is based on information supplied by authorities in the EU and the other countries that collect these levies. The data is riddled with misspellings and other errors, and TAG will continue to make efforts to supply WGAw with corrections as we find them. Also, bear in mind that this information is based upon screen credits; if you worked on a show for which you did not receive screen credit, you will probably not be linked to that show in this database, and TAG and WGAw will probably be limited to the extent we can collect that money for you.

• Data can be most easily found in the two online databases, or there are PDF files with the following lists:

• Names

• Titles A-D

• Titles E-K

• Titles L-P

• Titles Q-S

• Titles T-Z

• You may need to do a little detective work on the website to find your listings. Start your search by entering your name in the Search By Name database. If the database comes up with any projects to which your name is linked, check them and fill out the information to file a claim.

• If your name does not come up in a name search, or if there are no projects linked to your name, look for the projects you worked on under Search by Title. (Note that there are PDF versions of these lists available on the site). If you find titles you have worked on, click them and start the claim process.

• If you cannot find a listing for a show that you worked on, use the Register Your Work page to notify WGAw that you received screen credit on that show. When WGAw receives any levies monies for that show they will notify you.

• Last but certainly not least, a significant portion of the people on these lists are deceased. If you know of the next-of-kin of anyone on the database, please inform them and encourage them to make a claim.

Again, if you have questions, contact foreignleviesinfo@wga.org or call (323) 782-4672. And let us know if you have any problems collecting this money. It’s yours – and it’s long since time you got it.

---

Countries collecting foreign levies: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

---

Past TAG Blog-posts about the foreign levies issue:

• August 22, 2009: WGA Animation Levies
• November 11, 2009: Writers' Foreign Levies Settlement!
• February 12, 2010: The Fustercluck of Foreign Levies
• May 3, 2010: Closing In On a Foreign Levies Settlement
• May 17, 2010: Helping writers get what they’re owed
• June 7, 2010: WGA Foreign Levies Settlement

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The Fustercluck of Foreign Levies

... as regards the Animation Guild and its members.

Years and years ago, when I was moist behind the ears and Brian Walton was the executive director of the Writer Guild of America (west), I got into a kerfluffle with him regarding foreign levies. "Foreign levies" are royalty-type monies that foreign collection agencies vacuum up from various sources on behalf of film and TV writers and directors, and then turn over to the writers and directors' guilds in the U.S. for pay out to credited writers and directors. For example, the European Union collects a tax on blank videocassettes that goes towards payments to writers and directors.

I objected to Walton that his organization was collecting money for persons the WGA did not represent, under a system in which TAG had no input. (This was in the early nineties, when the WGA repped zero animation writers.)

I was told to buzz off.

And here we are, years later. And whether TAG likes it or not, the Directors Guild and Writers Guild are the collectors of foreign levies for animation people. And the amount of foreign levies flowing into their coffers is considerable.

Unfortunately, the way those two organizations go about handing out the money is, as far as we can see, considerably different ...

Over the course of the time levies have been paid out, the DGA has contacted us on a regular basis to help track down animation directors for which it has no contact information. TAG has been happy to assist the Directors Guild on locating the recipients of the money. As a result, quite a few of our director members have gotten checks in the mail they probably wouldn't otherwise have received.

But while the DGA has been diligent in working to locate animation directors to whom money is owed, the WGA has been the opposite. In the two decades that payments have gone out, the Writers Guild has contacted us exactly once for a list of addresses of animation writers. The WGA now represents some animation writers and hosts the Animation Writers Caucus, but its database for writers of cartoons is far from complete. Why the Writers Guild doesn't check in with the other organization that has lots of names and addresses that would be useful to it is a mystery. Perhaps WGAw has its reasons, but its performance seems lackadaisical to us.

Unsurprisingly, in 2005 various writers sued the WGA over its slothfulness in paying out foreign levies. Now, some little while later, a settlement is in the offing, but a few writers object to the terms:

... [T]he proposed Settlement Agreements ... is a settlement in name only. It makes no provision for the actual payment of Foreign Levies to class members and fails to address the central thrust of the Complaint: that WGA converted, misappropriated or otherwise refused to disgorge Foreign Levy money belonging to writers who identities and locations are already known. ... The Settlement does not materially benefit the plaintiff class, and indeed confers no greater benefit on participating class members than on class members who opt out. The Settlement was negotiated by class representatives who shared on interest with writers of non-union work, yet who also shared no commonality with the typical covered writer who is a member in good standing of WGA ...

Here [are] some of the key problems with the Settlement, (resolutions in italics):

1) WGA is under a fiduciary duty to pay union and non-union writers their Foreign Levies but is not doing so. (No change under the Settlement.)

2) The WGA is not doing anything to actually locate and/or distribute funds to individuals, and in particular, non-covered writers who may not be known to it. (WGA pledges to do a better job, but does not pledge to work with the myriad stakeholders who are entitled to Foreign Levies, including ... IATSE Local 839 ...)

3) There has never been a comprehensive accounting of which writers have not been paid their Foreign Levy royalties. (There will not be a comprehensive accounting ...)

4) WGA does not have a viable system to collect and distribute Foreign Levy royalties. (Consultants will prepare a secret report for WGA -- and plaintiffs' attorneys' eyes only -- recommending improvements ...)

5) WGA has authorized signatory production companies to take 50% of earnings of writers of non-union works even though those companies have nothing to do with non-union productions. (Settlement permits this apparent conversion to continue, and requires writers of non-union works to release WGA ... from all claims.)

6) WGA retains undistributed Foreign Levies indefinitely, circumventing California escheat law, and retaining all interest. (Nothing changes.)

7) Writers have the right to assert claims for Foreign Levy royalties against foreign collecting societies. (Writers are obligated to release foreign collecting societies from all claims ...)

8) WGA takes a 5% administrative fee from Foreign Levy disbursements. (The administrative fee charged to writers will increase to 10% of disbursements ...)

9) WGA fails to pay writers any interest on money owed ... (No change ...)

10) WGA lacks any authorization from non-members to even collect foreign levy moneys on their behalf. (The Court made no ruling on this subject, but the FAQs on WGA's website assert that the Court has "affirmed WGA's right to do this.")

11) Writers are entitled to Foreign Levy royalties from Latin American countries. (The release requires writers to relinquish claims for these royalties.)

12) Writers retain the right to allege claims against production companies for misappropriating their foreign levy royalties. (Ambiguity in in the release may be construed by production companies as requiring writers to relinquish claims ...)

TAG's position in this tangled mess is straight-forward. We have a problem with being cut out of the process and have said so repeatedly, we have a problem with the (seemingly) lackadaisical payouts of levy money by the WGA to our members, and we want to see a) more transparency and b) more responsiveness than the WGA has so far been willing to offer.

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Foreign Levies! Again!!

As I've written before, TAG has issues with the way that foreign levies (essentially royalties royalties for television shows and theatrical motion pictures distributed in foreign countries) from international collections agencies are handled by the WGA.

To cut to the essence, TAG recently filed a Notice of Joinder to a lawuit between the WGA and several writers who are unhappy with the settlement now ongoing in Federal court.

A hearing on the suit took place last week. Yesterday, I got this message from one of the attorneys involved in the suit:

... Your Notice of Joinder was great, because I'm hearing that animation writers are finally getting foreign levies checks that they never had and ... in the last week the WGA paid out ten million dollars. In the last ten years they [the WGA] paid out eighty million dollars, so they've paid out one eighth of all the levies in the last week, and I don't know if they would have paid that if you hadn't filed that notice of joinder ...

I've no idea if our filing had any effect either. But I know enough about the Ways of the Industry to realize that the WGA will never, but never admit to getting more checks out to animation writers because of our kicking and screaming.

The WGA has been designated as the repository of monies from foreign collection agencies operating under foreign laws. That is, I suppose, the way it is and will be. But I found out today that we're not the only labor organization that is miffed about the way levies have been handled by the Writers Guild over the past two decades.

According to one of the plaintiff's attorneys to whom I talked, the Australian Writers Guild is also unhappy with the handling of foreign levies by the Writers Guild of America. Apparently the Australian Writers Guild collects 100 cents on the dollar on behalf of Australian scribes, while the WGA splits foreign levies 50/50 with our fine conglomerates.

Now. If this is true, then I'm wondering which labor group is the corporate tool, and which not?

Add On: Variety reports on the settlement case here.

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Foreign Levies Extended

Fees and taxes collected in foreign lands for writers and directors has been going on for decades. Some of this money gets remitted to American creators, and animation people are included in the mix. And it seems the current formula will get stretched out another thirty-six months.

The multimillion-dollar Foreign Levies Agreement between the MPAA and the WGA and DGA, which had been set to expire on December 31, has been extended for another three years. The pact covers monies payable under foreign laws to writers and directors of copyrighted works in the U.S.

Since 1990, the DGA has collected more than $160 million under the agreement on behalf of directors, and the WGA has collected more than $152 million for writers. Production companies have received well north of $350 million. During the fiscal year ended March 31, the DGA disbursed $14.3 million and the WGA $13.3 million, while the companies received more than $60 million. The extension of the agreement keeps in place the 50-50 split between the unions and the studios, with each guild receiving a 25% share of the foreign levies. ...

Years ago, the Writers Guild negotiated a lesser deal where our fine entertainment conglomerates got the lion's share of the money. (Don't know how the Directors Guild made out, but we assume it was the same.)

In more recent times, the division of levies money has become a 50/50 proposition. The reason this deal is important to cartoon workers is that the DGA and WGA administer cartoon money and send out checks to Animation Guild members; the Animation Guild works with both organizations to insure that FL checks get into the hands that they're supposed to.

If you're an animation writer or director and believe that you have foreign levy cash coming, check the DGA list or the WGA FAQ page and see what you need to do to receive foreign levies.

(As you can see, we've had a few issues regarding foreign levies with one of our sister guilds over the years.)

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The Artful Writer and Foreign Levies

A little while ago, I posted here about how the WGA and DGA are the conduits through which "foreign levies" flow to writers and directors. And not just writers and directors for live-action work, but also animated product.

How the two guilds became the distributors of the millions collected by various tax organizations in European countries is a long story. The L.A. Weekly had an article on the subject, but the Weekly didn't have all the details and facts right.

For that, I think you would do well hopping over to The Artful Writer's discussion about foreign levies, and whether the Writers Guild of America is performing yeoman's service...or committing a crime...with its distribution methods:

Some people are obsessed with the grassy knoll. Others are sure that 9/11 was the first time fire ever melted steel (except for every single day in every steel mill in Pennsylvania, but hey, Rosie O’Donnell knows best).

In the WGA, there’s only one conspiracy theory worth talking up, and lo and behold, it’s the strange case of Foreign Levies.

Last week, no less than three articles were published about this topic. The Los Angeles Times, Fade In Magazine and the L.A. Weekly all weighed in, and with varying degrees of accuracy and sensationalism. Prior to this, I guess the only person really interested in this topic (who isn’t a conspiracy theorist) was me. I wrote an article about foreign levies, and if you want the rest of this piece to make sense, you should probably go read that first....

Screenwriters Craig Mazin and Ted Elliot are AW's proprietors, and the thread that follows Craig's take on the subject makes pretty compelling reading. Drink it in and draw your own conclusions.

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WGA Foreign Levies Settlement

The lawsuit over foreign levies has been settled, to wit:

A state court judge has finalized the settlement in the tangled 5-year-old WGA West foreign levies case -- including a promise that he'll closely monitor how those funds are distributed.

... The WGA has agreed to use its "best efforts" to pay all foreign funds within three years.

... The WGA will have to allow the foreign money to "escheat" to the state for works not covered under WGA contracts if it can't locate the writers or their heirs after three years.

... The WGA West will hire consultants for a one-time review to make recommendations on how to improve the processing and distribution of the funds.

... The final settlement, which followed extensive objections to last fall's preliminary settlement, is much narrower than the WGA had sought. It covers only the 50% of funds that foreign collecting societies have allocated to the WGA for distribution to writers -- but not the 50% of funds allocated to producers under agreements approved by the WGA but never submitted to members for ratification. ...

The thing I found most interesting when reading up on the case and attending one of the hearings?

In foreign lands -- places like France or Australia or Britain -- writers get 100% of foreign levies. But here in the Land of the Free, our fine conglomerates pick up half of the booty.

Just one more benefit to living in our charming, corporatist state.

{Meanwhile, TAG is working to track down addresses for non-WGA animation writers and hand them over to the WGA for distribution of funds. More on that as it unfolds.)

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Closing In On a Foreign Levies Settlement

This A.M. I attended a court hearing where Judge Carl West listened to arguments about a proposed lawsuit settlement over the distribution of foreign levies money by the WGAw. It went on for a couple of hours, and I added to my sum of knowledge about the case (which wasn't wide and deep to begin with, but that's another blog post) ...

Over the last few weeks and months, I've talked to a number of lawyers and litigants in the case (TAG is a late-comer), and read a portion of the filings. Amazingly enough, there seem to be writers who are hot under the collar. Among the issues presented at the hearing:

* The Australian Writers Guild objects to Australian writers being "swept into" the settlement, and worries that foreign writers might be foreclosed from separate claims against the WGAw in the future. (There is also the conundrum of foreign writers on foreign productions getting 100 cents of each foreign levy dollar, while U.S. scribes get 50 cents.)

* That "undeliverable funds" (foreign levy money for which a recipient can't be found) will stay with the WGAw in perpetuity.

* That a settlement might block future litigation that wasn't part of the original lawsuit.

Judge West said, after hearing the objections, that he was leaning toward approval of a settlement. His words, slightly paraphrased:

"I'm not inclined to throw a settlement out because there is a real benefit coming to writers covered in the class."

The judge said the scope of the settlement and release from claims should be consistent with the pleadings in the case, and that the settlement should go to the issues regarding collected funds, not funds that the Writers Guild didn't collect. And he had critical words regarding a letter that went out mischaracterizing what he'd ruled on in the case. (Attorneys to whom I talked afterward said Judge West was criticizing a letter sent out by David Young, the executive director of the WGA west.)

It looks as though a court-approved settlement for this long-bubbling lawsuit could be close at hand (the judge set up a conference between the parties for later in the month, so he seems to want this horse to keep galloping along.) The writers in the courtroom, all participants in the suit, seemed pleased with the direction the settlement is going, and if they're happy, we're happy.

(Go here for more on foreign levies ...)

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Residual Money Withheld?!

The new L.A. Weekly has a long article about how the WGAw hasn't forked over "foreign levies" money that's owed to writers -- both members and non-members of the WGA -- who have earned it. In a nutshell:

“Residuals,” “foreign levies,” “net profits” — all are synonyms for cash that is supposed to find its way back into the pockets of the men and women who create movies and TV programs. That little or none of it gets there much of the time has evolved into something of a standing joke in Hollywood, where money vanishes as quickly as the mythical rolling break-even point that feature films, TV dramas and sitcoms seldom seem to reach.

The L.A. Weekly alleges that the WGAw is sitting on a mountain of cash which flows into guild headquarters from various foreign collection societies, but seldom gets to the bank accounts of the writers for whom it's intended. Per the Weekly:

...angry writers say they have evidence of a.. disturbing guild practice: its diverting of 92.5 percent of writers' pay from foreign airings of their works to Holywood studios, producers and, perhaps most galling, to the Writers Guild of America West itself. Since 1990, these critics contend, the guild has quietly been paying a king's ransom in which writers' foreign earnings -- far beyond the $20 million in whithheld checks...without the writers' agreement or knowledge.

And how did this problem of non-payments to scribes start? The Weekly tells it like this:

Guild vice president Carl Gottlieb, in a posting to a popular WGA members’ blog called Writer Action, says the foreign-levies diversion scheme was originally hatched in 1990 by two studio lawyers and then–WGA executive director Brian Walton. According to Gottlieb — and later confirmed by WGA general counsel Tony Segall — attorney Jay Roth (who later became DGA executive director and was paid over $1 million last year) and MCA/Universal general counsel Robert Hadl (now on annual WGA retainer at $150,000, plus $300 an hour and expenses) came to Walton with a proposition: If they could persuade foreign collecting societies to turn over their revenue to the WGA, this promising new income stream for writers could be shared with the guilds and studios, including Hadl’s.

“The alternative to the deal was to leave the money offshore while fighting a protracted global legal battle with an uncertain outcome, which included strong arguments on all sides over which contract and national law was applicable,” Gottlieb argued.

According to Gottlieb and Segall, Walton informed the WGA board what he had done — but there was never a board vote on the matter. Nor were the pacts that the WGA negotiated with each foreign collecting society and the Hollywood studios ever submitted to guild members. Further, no one among the WGA hierarchy explained to member writers — or nonmembers — what they had done.

Just so you know, I griped about this back in the early nineties. When I found out about the deal, I wrote a letter to Walton complaining about the weak terms he'd negotiated for writers he didn't represent. (At the time, the WGAw repped zero animation writers.)

Walton said I should have been "grateful" for his efforts.

Funny thing is, I wasn't grateful then and I'm not now. If terms are going to be negotiated on your behalf, it would be nice to get told about it. Walton didn't bother.

Update: There are various Writers Guild members who say that Dennis McDougal is wrong on several points in the linked article: 1) He misrepresents the amount that writers are supposed to get under the Berne Treaty, 2) he ignores the Federal work-for-hire law passed in the 1920s, 3) he downplays the difficulties of locating non-WGA writers.

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WGA Wages

From Deadline:

Earnings by members of the WGA West topped $1 billion last year for a fifth year in a row, although total employment was down 1.6% from the previous year, according to the guild’s latest earnings report.

Film writers, who have seen a steady erosion of income over the last 20 years, saw a 1.9% increase in earnings last year and employment was up 3.6% to 1,799 jobs. Even so, except for 2013 and 2014, last year’s $362.1 million in film earnings was lower than every year since 1997.

Television continues to be the booming marketplace for writers, who earned more than twice as much last year as film writers. And although TV writers saw a 2% decline in earnings from record levels in 2014, they topped $800 million for a second year in a row – double their earnings in 2000. ...

The guild’s foreign levies program distributed another $12.4 million to writers and heirs during the last fiscal year. To date, the program has collected more than $218 million on behalf of guild members and their heirs.

The Writers Guild collects foreign levies on behalf of animation writers. Several years ago, the Animation Guild joined a lawsuit initiated by foreign and American writers over the way the WGAw has administered foreign levy money. That case was ultimately settled.

Our fine entertainment conglomerates receive a chunk of the foreign levy cash paid out to creators in the United States, but not in most foreign countries. Many nations overseas have "moral rights" for writers and directors embedded in law, so many individual creators get 100% of the levy money. Thanks to congressional action in 1912, that doesn't happen in the U.S. of A.

The Animation Guild has been jousting with the WGAw over foreign levies for two decades. Nevertheless, we're pleased to see that television writers are making more money, even if movie scribes are not.

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WGA Animation Levies

An old conundrum bubbles back to the surface:

Writers Guild's foreign levies pool is bigger, annual report shows

The guild's West Coast union as of March 31 had amassed about $30 million in funds that have yet to be paid to writers whose movies or TV shows were viewed overseas.

The guild's West Coast union had amassed about $30 million in funds that have yet to be paid to writers as of March 31, according to its recently released annual report. That's up from $20 million in 2007.

Most of the funds belong to hundreds of writers, or their estates, whose movies or TV shows were viewed in foreign countries that levy special taxes to compensate authors for the reuse and copying of their work.

The guild receives money, held in trust, from foreign collection societies and is responsible for disbursing the proceeds to writers ...

If you're thinking: "Heey. Is the WGA holding money that belongs to animation creators?" you're firing on all eight cylinders . The WGA does indeed hold money for animation writers ... and others ... that it doesn't represent.

Back when I was young and frisky, Brian Walton was the head of the WGAw, and the Writers Guild repped zero animation writers (even while collecting European levies for them), I took issue with this cozy little racket. My gripe was that the WGA not only held money for animation writers, but that it told the union that did rep them absolutely nothing about the amount of funds held.

At the time, I was informed by the WGA that I could shove it. Walton's response to my objections was: "We (the WGA) should get gratitude we're doing all this work, instead of these brickbats being thrown at us."

Uh, no.

The WGA holds $30,000,000 that hasn't been distributed to the people who earned the thirty mill, and the problem, if the Writers Guild's report is accurate, is now worse rather than better. Year before last the amount was $20,000,000.

Think about those figures for a minute. Assuming interest is being earned on the dough, the Guild is picking up a nice chunk of change, on top of which, it's collecting almost $540,000 annually to administer the money (Does this include interest? Or is it an add on? Inquiring minds want to know.)

Either way, it sounds like lucrative work if you can get it. Especially when you're the Lucky Ducky sitting on the millions. (Maybe it's not a giant surprise that the WGA is being sued over the issue. And maybe I'm a little bit correct believing the set-up stinks.)

My issue is the same as it was in the 1990s. A labor organization that represents more animation writers and board artists than the Writers Guild of American (west) ever has, is shut out completely on administering foreign levies for animation writers. We are given no reports or updates, allowed no input. The only communication that flows between our two organizations is when the WGAw asks us for contact information for one of the people they don't represent but TAG does.

So they can, you know, mail out a check and have an address to send it to. Neato jet.

No doubt by next year, the WGA will be sitting on $40,000,000 that doesn't belong to it, and earning $700,000 for the privilege.

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Helping writers get what they’re owed

We've been talking on the TAG Blog about the issue of foreign levies for almost as long as there's been a TAG Blog. Recently, we've been participating in settlement hearings regarding a lawsuit filed against the Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) over the collection of foreign levies residuals.

Specifically, we’ve begun attempts to work with the WGAw to collect and distribute money from the European Union owed to animation writers, from a tax on blank videocassettes and DVDs on behalf of the “creative authors” of animated films and shows.

For years we have had an arrangement with the Directors Guild, which collects and distributes these monies on behalf of animation directors, and as a result many members and non-members have profited. Unfortunately, at least until recently the Writers Guild has been less cooperative in helping get these funds into the hands of animation writers and other non-WGAw members.

Now the WGAw has sent us a list of animation writers that may be owed some of this money. In checking the list against our records, we’ve found thirty-three names (see below) that we’re unable to contact, either because they’ve never belonged to the Animation Guild or because they’re inactive and we do not have a current address.

What we need is contact information – addresses, phone numbers and/or e-mails – for the persons listed, so that we and the WGAw can contact them and arrange for them to receive the funds they are owed. Some of these people may not, in fact, have written for animation, but we will work to get them in contact with the WGAw in any event. Please understand that TAG does not have records of how much money (if any) is owed to these or any other animation writers.

Please contact Jeff Massie at jeffm@animationguild.org or (818) 845-7500 ext. 110 if you can be of assistance or if you have any questions. All information will be held in strictest confidence between TAG and the WGAw.

MISSING CONTACT INFORMATION Writers who may be owed foreign levies monies as of 5/14/2010

1. Casey Alexander
2. Berkeley Anderson
3. Joel Barkow
4. Keith Blocker
5. Jeff Borkin
6. Fred Brunish
7. Peter Burns
8. Sabatino Ciuffini
9. Walter Coleman
10. Jack Cosgriff
11. Raven Farquhar
12. Janet Greene
13. Jeff Holder
14. Peggy Holmes
15. Scott Landis
16. Phil Lorin
17. Lisa Maliari
18. Robert May
19. Joseph Molinari
20. Kiel Murray
21. Larry Parr
22. Anne-Marie Perrotta
23. Jan Pinkava
24. Michael Reynolds
25. Carlo Romano
26. Don Rosa
27. Tony Schillaci
28. Tean Schultz
29. Michael Steinbeck
30. Zach Stones
31. Enrique Torres Tudela
32. Kent Wadsworth
33. William Winkler

NOTE: I've turned off comments on this post to emphasize that the contact information we are collecting will be kept strictly and totally confidential. Please contact us as specified above if you have information on anyone on this list. Thanks!

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Writers' Foreign Levies Settlement!

Over the last few years of the TAG Blog, I've dwelt occasionally on the subject of foreign levies, and the fact that the WGA and DGA distribute these European "royalties" (which are derived from taxes collected on behalf of writers and directors working in film and television) to scribes and directors in the U.S. of A.

Ever since the WGA and DGA started distributing these monies, the DGA has worked closely with us to identify and contact current and past animation directors about monies they might be owed. Meanwhile, some little while ago, disgruntled American screenwriters sued the WGA over the slowness of its royalty distributions.

But now, there is a settlement percolating out in Litigation Land, because a few days ago I received a "Notice of Proposed Settlement" in the mail and put two and two together. The notice starts like this:

"There is now pending in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles a class action lawsuit entitled Richert, et al. v. Writers Guild of America west, Inc. Case No BC339972 (the "Litigation"). This Notice explains the nature of the Litigation, general terms of a proposed settlement, and informs you of your legal rights and obligations ...

This settlement encompasses "All writers, including members of the WGAw and non-members of the WGAw, whose works, whether or not written under any WGAw collective bargaining agreement, earned Foreign Levy Funds that were paid to the WGAw by foreign collection societies ..."

If you're a current or past animation writer who falls under the description directly above and you have not received a Notice of Class Action and Proposed Settlement, read this link. If after reading it you need further details, you might want to get in touch with one of the plaintiff co-counsels on the case, Neville Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, or Paul Kiesel of Kiesel, Boucher and Larson, LLP. Here's is a webpage from the WGAw website on the subject.

I've certainly done my share of griping about how the WGA has handled distribution of levies, going all the way back to the reign of Brian Walton at the WGAw back in the 1990s. Happily, it now appears that my long nightmare is over, and I will once more be able to keep solid food down.

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Ex-Union Officers Suing Union

This sounds familiar:

Actors Ed Asner, Clancy Brown, Dennis Hayden, and George Coe are among the 15 plaintiffs who filed suit today in federal court against SAG-AFTRA for not properly disbursing $110 million in foreign residuals they say have not been paid out.

Asner is the former SAG president (1981-1985) who very publicly opposed the SAG-AFTRA merger along with other ex-union board members. The 52-page filing also claims that the merged union has deliberately withheld information and kept the money in trust and spent portions on first class travel and lavish parties and big salaries for current union officials. ...

Funny thing. TAG was involved in a similar lawsuit against the WGAw thirty-six months ago. Individual writers were suing over money held in trust, and we joined in. Soon after, there was a settlement:

A state court judge has finalized the settlement in the tangled 5-year-old WGA West foreign levies case -- including a promise that he'll closely monitor how those funds are distributed.

... The WGA has agreed to use its "best efforts" to pay all foreign funds within three years.

... The WGA will have to allow the foreign money to "escheat" to the state for works not covered under WGA contracts if it can't locate the writers or their heirs after three years.

... The WGA West will hire consultants for a one-time review to make recommendations on how to improve the processing and distribution of the funds.

... The final settlement, which followed extensive objections to last fall's preliminary settlement, is much narrower than the WGA had sought.

The settlement brought about changes to the way the Writers Guild disspersed the money. (I started getting more foreign levy checks.) But many plaintiffs continued to be dissatisfied with the payouts.

Sounds like Ed and associates share the same gripes many writers do.

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Tonight's Craft Meeting

The Animation Guild's second craft meeting took place tonight, this edition covering animation writers. TAG Vice-President Jack Thomas chaired the meeting; among the topics discussed:

* Storyboard artists-writers who work on premise shows. Should writer/artists be earning script fees? (Yes.)

* Residuals and foreign levies. The Business Representative gave a short history of contract residuals, how above-the-line guilds get them in their mailboxes, and the IATSE (Editors, Cinematographers, and TAG members among others) get residuals flowing in the health and pension plan. Regarding foreign levies, it was suggested that writers go to the WGA website and check shows and credits to see where they're listed. Also, to keep the WGA updated on shows written during the year.

* Story editors having supervisor status in the contract.

* Sharing pension/health benefits between guilds.

* Ulcer-inducing contract negotiations.

* TAG becoming a national union. TAG organizing studios in northern California and on the east coast.

* The benefits offered by the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan. How those benefits accrue to participants. ...

A lot of topics were covered in the two-hour session, and Vice-President Thomas kept the discussion moving.
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European Residuals

I should have gotten to this a few days ago... It's VARIETY'S front-page piece from Wednesday about the WGA's collection of foreign levies on behalf of writers they rep and writers they don't. And how the Feds may or may not be interested in the collections or distributions. I offer it up because some good citizens around here will be affected. (Like, animation writers and directors have asked about how much money they'll be receiving, and I refer them to the Writers Guild, since they're the folks with the moolah and the records.) FYI: The Writers Guild top-kick Brian Walton negotiated the foreign levies deal in the late eighties. Once, long ago, I questioned the percentages, and why The Animation Guild wasn't at least apprised or consulted about the negotiations. I was informed I should be grateful for what we got... Click here to read entire post

A Brief History of Union Residuals

Sooner or later, every Hollywood labor rep gets questions about residuals (this is, generally speaking, money for working on a project that is above and beyond an employee's normal paycheck.) The questions are usually: "Do we get them?" and "Why don't we get more?" The answers are both simple and complicated. The simple answer is: "Yes, almost all unionized workers in Hollywood get residuals." The complicated answer is "Unionized workers get different residuals in different ways," which of course means that more explanations are in order (responding to the "why don't we get more" part). I go over some of the whys and wherefores below... Residuals were first proposed by the Screen Cartoonists Guild -- our predecessor -- in 1943. The SCG didn't get them, but neither did any other motion picture labor organization at that time. It wasn't until 1960 that the unions and guilds achieved their first major residual deal. Ronald Reagan was SAG's president then, and he negotiated that first residuals agreement during a long strike. At the time, many actors were unhappy with it because lots of pictures and television shows produced earlier were excluded. But that's the way the cake often crumbles in Hollywood. Sometimes you get the deal you can achieve rather than the one you want. And this particular SAG contract got itself, after heated argument, ratified. From then until now residuals have been part of every entertainment union's collective bargaining agreement. And the fights over residuals have been extensive. I won't go into the details of each guild's and union's contract, because I don't know the intricacies of them anyway. But in broad outline, SAG, the DGA and WGA receive "reuse money" above and beyond normal wages for the product their members have created. This money goes straight into members pockets in the form of residual checks. The IATSE has a different formula. Its "reuse money" (keyed off the formulas of the other guilds) goes into the IA's pension and health plans. Last year, IA residuals totaled $347 million. The money was used to bolster the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan, which, at present, is the best union health plan in the movie industry. (In years where there have been surpluses, the money not used for the health plan has gone into active participants' Individual Account Plans -- part of the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan.) Over the years, the Animation Guild has received complaints about this formulation. A lot of people would prefer that residual moneys flow straight into their pockets, just as they do for directors, actors and writers under the WGA. But the problem facing the IA in 1960 is the same it faces today: there are 40,000-plus active participants working under IA contracts, and dividing the cash up among all of them would be a huge, complicated task, and individual checks would be small. So, for better or worse, the IA takes its share of the residual pie and sends it to its health and pension plans. But there is another type of residual that both live-action and animation writers get. This one's called "foreign copyright levies." Here's a brief explanation of them from the WGA's web site: Foreign Copyright Levies are funds received by the Guild on behalf of U.S. writers pursuant to a program established in 1990. Foreign collection societies send the WGA taxes and levies imposed by foreign governments in order to protect copyright holders of audiovisual product made available on public television, cable television, and through videocassette rentals. The primary source of these monies is “private copy” taxes on the sale of blank videocassettes and VCRs, although taxes are also imposed for cable retransmission of programs. Brian Walton, executive director of the WGA(w) flew to Europe and negotiated the writers guild's cut of these levies in 1990. He took some flak from WGA members for negotiating a split between companies and individual writers that favored companies (I remember the ratios as being 80%-companies/20%-writers.) This agreement covered U.S. animation writers, although the WGA(w) repped no animation writers in 1990. Negotiating Tactics Every three years, SAG, DGA, WGA and IATSE sit down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and hammer out a new three year contract. Residuals are always on their "to do" list, but every labor organization has a different negotiating style. The DGA and IATSE have often been the more conservative labor organizations of the Big Four (SAG, WGA, DGA and IATSE). The DGA, for instance, has only struck once over a collective bargaining agreement, and that was for three hours and five minutes. The rest of the time, they have thrashed out contracts with the media companies (under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) earlier instead of later. The International Alliance of Theatrical and StagEmployeeses (IATSE - the Animation Guild's umbrella) has done the same. SAG and the WGA, on the other hand, have varied their negotiating styles over time. Some years they've negotiated early (this happened throughout the nineties) and some years they've negotiated right to contract deadline... and occasionally through a strike. (The WGA had a lengthy work-stoppage in 1988; SAG had a six-month strike against commercial producers in 2000. Both centered on residuals.*) The most concise analogy I can make regarding the differences between the guilds and unions negotiation strategies is: SAG and the WGA often move downfield by throwing the long ball; the IATSE and DGA grind things out with shorter ground attacks. The overarching rule is: If the producers give something to one union, they end up -- usually -- giving it to all. Over the past half-dozen contract cycles, one of the BIGGEST items of contention has been residuals. SAG and the WGA have pushed to get a larger piece of the DVD action (Since DVDs came in, they have received their percentage against only 20% of DVD revenue.) In 2000-2001, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild were again pushing for improved residuals. Under WGA President John Wells, the Guild proposed a percentage against 100% of revenue, then scaled the proposal back to 25% of revenue, and ended up agreeing to a contract with no revenue enhancement. (It stayed at 20%. FORBES magazine has a different take on the residual wars here.) As we move toward the next round of contract talks (taking place 2007-2009), residuals will again be at the top of SAG's and the WGA's agendas. IA President Tom Short has worried publically about the effects of the actors or writers negotiating to deadline and causing a "de facto" strike. I have heard AMPTP honcho Nick Counter declare that the guilds will get a better deal if they negotiate early instead of strike in actuality. I've no idea if the guilds will hit the bricks when their current agreements are up, but I know that the long-term health of the industry will depend on how well labor and management judge their opposite number across the table. misjudgmentnt will probably result in a lengthy labor action. Count on residuals/reuse money being a major bone of contention. Again. * The Animation Guild had lengthy negotiations over residuals in 2000. They also came up in early negotiation planning in the mid-nineties. Although TAG attained improvements for writers in its last three contracts, live-action style residuals were not among them. Click here to read entire post

Foreign Levies

A quick, early-in-the-morning post regarding "foreign copyright royalties." ...

Yesterday I received a check for a few bucks from the Writers Guild. I've never been in the Writers Guild, but the organization collects copyright royalties from abroad for live-action and animation writers, and I got a small trickle of that for work performed in the 1980s, back before my biz rep days.

The money was for a Gummi Bear episode and an animated feature known as The Great Mouse Detective (and please don't get me started on the title.) I've received a slightly faster pace of incoming checks than before the settlement of a lawsuit between the Guild and various writers. So I'm supposing the settlement was a good thing for getting the money faster.

In these times, whenever an extra dollar comes my way, I strive to be grateful.

In case you're just hearing about this for the first time and wonder what the hell I'm talking about, a quick history:

In many industrialized countries, writers and directors are entitled to royalties for their creative work. So if you are an animation writer or an animation director, you could have cash coming your way, because the cash might be held by the WGAw or the Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Think you might be somebody who's eligible for these royalties? Contact us or the other listed labor unions, because the Directors or Writers Guild just might have your name on a printout with dollar signs beside it.

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Craft Meeting #5 -- Animation Writers

The Animation Guild's fifth craft meeting took place Tuesday night in the Guild meeting hall at 1105 N. Hollywood Way in Burbank California.

It was noted that TAG Vice President Earl Kress passed away five years ago yesterday at age 60. Earl was a prolific, talented writer who was instrumental in securing better conditions for freelance writers, negotiating health benefits for freelancers who wrote two half-hour outlines and scripts.

New Media: There were discussions regarding the Guild's New Media sideletter (pp 99-113 of the CBA), how its production budget tiers are tied to live-action that don't reflect the budgets for animation. New Media will likely be a central issue in 2018 negotiations, and there will be early indications where New Media language is going when the WGA and DGA negotiate their contracts next year.

Some writers at DreamWorks Animation TV are writing at below minimum rates, which is allowed under the sideletter. Animation work that's distributed over the internet (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) comes under New Media. If a negotiated contract fails to be ratified, then contract talks resume until a new agreement is reached or the talks reach impasse. ...

Script Fees: Only one studio has script fees (payments on top of salaries); that studio is Nickelodeon.

General Membership Meeting: Members were encouraged to attend the September 27th General Membership Meeting and run for the board or an officer position, since several officers and board members are departing.

Bank of Hours: Why hasn't the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan's Bank of Hours been raised? Because the bargaining parties (AMPTP and IATSE) haven't negotiated a hike. The 450 hours has been in place for a number of years, though the threshold for health coverage was raised eight years ago from 300 hours to 400 hours per 6-month period. This had the effect of knocking some participants off the Plan and there was some anger from members about it. Five years ago, premium payments of $25/month for participants with one dependent and $50/month for participants with 2 or more dependents were introduced.

Writer Categories: Animation Writer is a job classification in the contract. Story Editor in not in the contract, though the AMPTP told the Guild in negotiations four years ago it was part of the writer classification.

Discussion of how story editors get paid: Some writer/story editors in attendance liked total fees divided over 26 episodes and being paid weekly, and didn't want the fees tied to a weekly salary because payments would be lower. It was noted that TAG negotiates wage floors, that individuals are free to negotiate better pay and conditions.

Discussion about animation writers forming their own union. Mechanics of this are difficult, there would have to be de-certification then a new union created. There was also talk about making the Animation Guild into a national union that covers the whole country, the better to organize studios in Atlanta and elsewhere.

Screen Credits: It was noted that the contract requires screen credits for story on features and half-hour broadcast "non-segmented" half-hour television shows. It was suggested that screen credits should be required for all lengths of programs, since screen credits trigger foreign levies.

Storyboard artists should be allies with writers; where storyboard artists/writers and outline writers work together on non-scripted shows, they should share script fees.

Production Schedules: Writers/producers and show runners need to insist on reasonable production schedules. Story editors need to do the math and build reasonable time lines for scripts (and storyboards).

Many studios are using freelance writers, but some studios have staff writers. There's beginning to be more integration. DWA tv has staff story editors and small staffs of writers. Writers are in demand so studios are starting to employ staff writers to have their services full time.

Writers who know what the board artists can do are more effective because they can write scripts that reflect what can be achieved on storyboards.


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Pirate Factoid

Not the bucaneering type, but feature film (and tv show) piracy:

... The most pirated film of 2014, Wolf of Wall Street, was downloaded just over 30 million times. The number one pirated film this year, Interstellar, was downloaded 46,762,310 times. It’s not until you get to number ten on the list that you hit download numbers as “low” as 30 million. ...

There are two animated features on the list: Minions and Inside Out. Big surprise. ...

I cannot tell you how many industry meetings I've sat through the last few years, watching power point presentations full of graphs and charts and grim statistics. Watching studio reps flapping their arms and saying how awful all the theft is (true, that), and how its costing the conglomerates millions, along with the entertainment guilds and unions which rely on residual and re-use fees to fund their their pension and health plans, and provide mailbox residuals to their members.

Even with all the angst and hand-wringing, piracy grows year by year. Kids stream high-end cable shows and theatrical movies on their computers and flat-screens, twenty-somethings watch entertainment via their favorite illegal sites, and cash streams out of studio distribution systems in a torrent.

The problem grows steadily larger. I would like to build up some righteous anger, but then I read this:

'Hateful Eight' Pirated Screener Traced Back to Top Hollywood Executive

... A copy of the new Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight that leaked online earlier this week has been linked to a top Hollywood film executive, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Andrew Kosove, co-CEO of production-finance company Alcon Entertainment, was sent the “screener” copy of Hateful Eight for year-end awards consideration. That copy was signed for by an office assistant and later shared online, where it is now circulating on multiple file-sharing sites. Sources say officials with the FBI, working in conjunction with distributor The Weinstein Co., have been able to pinpoint Kosove's copy of the film as the source of the leak from a watermark on the DVD sent to him. ...

When a Hollywood Top Dog, or the employee of a Hollywood Top Dog, uploads a new movie into the internet ether, just how upset and beside myself am I supposed to get? Because if Hollywood execs are uploading material, then we're really past the point of no return, are we not?

Maybe the best course is for Hollywood to lobby the government to levy fees on the interwebs, so that money is collected and goes into a pool of money that will pay cash to various stakeholders (and I'm talking individuals, not just the monster conglomerates) in the way Europe exacts foreign levies from distribution channels and pays money back to writers, directors and copyright holders. Because short of something like that, I don't see how the movie creators will ever fish a nickel out of the sea of theft.

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Statements from TAG Survey Forms

Next week, IATSE unions and guild commence negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Sometime in April, TAG will follow. Last week we sent out survey forms inviting active members to give input about those negotiations. Below, some of the issues they have raised. ...

"Penalties for late payment."

"Extending deadlines for TV storyboard artists."

"Improving Prescription Benefits"

"Separated rights for original ideas -- writing."

"I would like to see studios' human resources intervene and take disciplinary actions (including firing) against directors and producers who have crossed the line with abusive and humiliating tactics against an artist. ... These people should be held accountable."

"You've got to do something about unpaid overtime. It is universal in every studio I've worked in, and it is getting worse ..."

"We really need to work on getting the same Rights as the WGA for writing. I recently sold an original idea for a feature at a major studio and the disparity between the TAG contract and the WGA contract is amazing. The complete lack of ANY separated rights nearly made me sick. I gave away a dozen of rights I would have kept if the project was live action. ..."

"Send full disclosure of Foreign Levies payments and how to get them to all deserving Union members. As it is, I get my payments from a union I cannot even join, the DGA, and had it not been for them I would have known nothing of this little extra perk."

"Create a stronger union lawyer base so companies can no longer mistreat or take advantage of their employees. (Steve Hulett is NOT A LAWYER and should not act as such.)"

"The qualifying threshold was recently raised from 300 to 400 hours. I would love to see the limit on bankable hours raised a commensurate amount, to improve the odds of continuing coverage during lean times ..."

"... Here are the important issues I hear about: 1) Long work hours and unpaid overtime. 2) Complete lack of residuals and profit sharing. 3) The combining of two or more positions into one with less time/money. Long tests requiring up to a week's worth of unpaid work sucks too. But what is perhaps most egregious is that most of us feel our union is not one will to fight for its member and our rights. ..."

"Residuals should be expanded or re-organized so that SOME of that money went back to the writer/director/artist instead of straight into health and pension.

"Keep animation jobs in the U.S."

We encourage active members to contact us if they have an interest in serving on the Negotiation Committee. Negotiating sessions are tentatively set for mid-April, but those dates could change if the negotiations for the Basic Agreement go longer than planned.

We'll keep people updated through e-mails and posts here.

Feel free to contact me at shulett@animationguild.org, or call 818-845-7500.

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