At the rate things are going, the major Hollywood studios might soon discover that they’re the only ones who don’t have agreements with the Writers Guild of America.
Two more companies — Spyglass Entertainment and Media Rights Capital — signed interim deals with the WGA on Monday. The deals, effective immediately, are said to be similar to those signed by Worldwide Pants, United Artists, and The Weinstein Company. From The Hollywood Reporter:
The MRC deal is similar to the three previously announced interim contracts in giving writers a minimum for original content made for the Internet, one of MRC’s main aims in several deals. MRC and Google made a deal in August to distribute exclusive original digital content from “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane online. MacFarlane was instrumental in helping forge the deal, MRC co-CEOs Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk said.
Interestingly enough, one of MRC’s partners is Warner Bros.; the two studios have a three-picture deal, which includes Richard Kelly‘s Cameron Diaz-led follow-up to Southland Tales, titled The Box, as well as Robert Rodriguez‘s Shorts and a Ricky Gervais/Jennifer Garner project titled This Side of the Truth.
As the Reporter notes, MRC is “unique among the companies making deals,” in that it’s developing projects for multiple mediums; according to WGA West president Patric Verrone, MRC’s docket includes a number of deals in place for film, television, and the Web.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
