Producers Guild Presidents to Writers: Why We’re With You in This Fight

Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line, as told to Katie Kilkenny
·4 min read

On May 19 at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Sean Penn railed against the Producers Guild of America and called us the “Bankers’ Guild,” which is hilarious, because we’re anything but the Bankers’ Guild. Sean admittedly confused us with the AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a group that negotiates on behalf of studios, streamers and networks with all the guilds that are labor unions. That moment presents an important opportunity to clarify the difference between the PGA and the AMPTP.

The PGA is not a union. It is a nonprofit trade organization. We do not have a collective bargaining agreement with the AMPTP. We advocate for and educate our members, and expose them to new ideas so they can work to improve their deals. We’re a collection of individual producers, as opposed to a collection of for-profit companies. We also administer the p.g.a. mark, which is a service to the industry because it certifies which producers have met the guild’s producing standards (i.e., who really did the work) and is relied upon by the Academy, BAFTA and others to determine eligibility for their producing awards.

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A major focus for the past several years is that we are the only artist on a union production that has no minimum salary and no health insurance. We don’t have health care, period. End of story. For those of us who are fortunate enough to work on certain productions that qualify, there is an opportunity to get insurance through the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plans, but you have to qualify for it, most people don’t know about it, and you have to elect it immediately or you can’t get it. We are putting together information about this insurance for our members to help them navigate the process. But this does not even begin to address the health care insurance crisis for producers. We need a broader, more secure solution for all.

Another issue of concern is that producers are not guaranteed a minimum salary. Thousands of our members are working below the line without fair compensation, even though their contributions are fundamental to a production’s success. These producers are the lifeblood of any production and deserve better pay and benefits.

Creative producers might work on a project for years, and yet get paid only if the film or show gets made. Development fees have largely become extinct. We identify material, find writers, develop the script, attach a director and cast the movie, then supervise it through its debut. It used to be that if you bet on yourself, you knew at the end of the day that if the movie hit, you had success in the upside of the movie. But with the advent of streamers, that backend has disappeared and, in fact, inspired others to get rid of backends. When television and streamers began paying a premium up front, it sounded great. Except that now they’re selling ad-based subscriptions at a lesser price, and they’re getting all this ad revenue, which we used to share in, but don’t share in anymore. And once it runs on their platform, they’re downselling to other platforms, and we don’t get any of that money, either.

We’re advocating for all producers to know their worth, know their value, and to communicate that value to their representatives so that studios, networks and streamers hear the same thing over and over again, which is, “This is not fair, and we’ve got to make some changes.”

We have a lot of the same concerns that members of the Writers Guild and other guilds have, except we have no seat at the bargaining table. Issues for writers like span protection [from decreased compensation during long periods of production], mini-rooms and the time it takes to get a series greenlit and going are similar to what producers experience. Producers work hard, okay? And by the way, many of those projects would die on the vine if it weren’t for a passionate producer who kept hammering at the studio, “We’ve gotta keep going, we’ve gotta keep going.”

The bottom line is that our members understand the struggle. Writers are the foundation of what we all do. And to see them not being fairly compensated — it hurts. We are empathetic, we’re sympathetic, and that’s why we’re aligned with them in their fight for fair pay. They are putting their livelihoods on the line not just for themselves, but for the business, for the future of creative storytelling and for the culture. And we share those values.

The PGA walked the line with the WGA last week. There was a sense of camaraderie — of us being on the same page. And it really felt good. So we’re encouraging our members to join the picket lines because it affects us, too. We want a resolution to this so we can all get back to work. The AMPTP should be focused on what is best for the longevity of our industry. Because when the business and the artists come together, everybody benefits. If sharing the wealth is the leading intention, then we can get to a satisfying resolution.

This story appears in the May 31 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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