Top Agencies and Producers Launch the American Entertainment Alliance
Summary
CAA, WME and UTA, joined by producers including Jason Blum, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, want Congress to require Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Skydance to spend 50% of original content budgets on independent U.S. productions.
"A new group called the American Entertainment Alliance plans to lobby Congress for bipartisan legislation that would require the largest entertainment companies to devote half of their original content budgets to independent productions, TheWrap reported on October 15, citing a New York Times report published the day before. TheWrap named Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Skydance as the companies that would be covered, and said the work in question would be made in the U.S. by entities outside the studios.
The effort is backed by the three largest talent agencies, CAA, WME and UTA, along with producers including Jason Blum, Peter Chernin, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, according to TheWrap. The A.V. Club, also citing the Times, listed Mark Burnett among the producers and reported that the group wants streamers to bid on projects in an open marketplace, arguing this would increase competition, production and consumer choice. CAA chief Bryan Lourd told the Times, ""There are fewer people deciding what gets made and what we all see, what the consumer sees,"" adding, ""Distribution is not the issue of the future. Who finances content is the issue.""
No bill text, bill number or congressional sponsor has been made public. TheWrap noted the Times' reporting that the targeted companies run large Washington lobbying operations and are likely to oppose the measure, arguing they already buy plenty of content from outside producers. Both outlets framed the push as a modern echo of the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, which kept broadcast networks from owning most of the shows they aired until the rules were repealed in the 1990s."