The Writers Guild of America announced on Monday that it is withdrawing its California lawsuit against the top agencies in Hollywood while adding antitrust and racketeering charges to a federal lawsuit against William Morris Endeavor, Creative Artists Agency, and United Talent Agency.
The new suit filed in U.S. District Court argue that packaging fees — payments made by a studio to agencies in exchange for packaging talent for a project — violate federal antitrust laws and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The lawsuit also responds to antitrust lawsuits filed by the three agencies against the WGA, saying that arguments that the WGA has instigated an “unlawful group boycott” by having its members leave agencies en masse to pressure them into eliminating packaging fees are “baseless.”