CAA, WME and UTA Join Blum and Howard in Push for Indie Production Man
Summary
A newly formed coalition of Hollywood talent agencies and prominent producers is lobbying Congress to require major streamers to spend half their original content budgets on independently made American productions. The American Entertainment Alliance brings together CAA, WME, and UTA.
A new industry coalition called the American Entertainment Alliance is pushing for federal legislation that would require major entertainment companies to direct at least half of their original content spending toward independent productions made in the United States. The group is targeting streamers and studios including Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Skydance.\n\nThe alliance represents an unusual convergence of competing Hollywood power players. Talent agencies CAA, WME and UTA have joined forces alongside prominent producers such as Jason Blum, Peter Chernin, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer to advance the campaign.\n\nBoosters of the effort argue that compelling the biggest streamers to purchase a meaningful share of programming from outside their own corporate families would stimulate the broader television marketplace, increase the overall volume of production and open up more work across the industry.\n\nThe proposal draws on historical precedent. From the 1970s through the 1980s, government rules known as the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules helped ensure that many of television's biggest hits were independently produced. When those rules were repealed in the 1990s, studios increasingly produced content in-house, squeezing out independent operators.\n\nThe coalition is seeking bipartisan support in Congress, though the path forward is expected to be difficult. Major entertainment and streaming companies maintain significant lobbying presences in Washington and are widely anticipated to oppose any such mandate.