Cruise-United Artists Dealing With WGA

Taking a page out of David Letterman’s strategy play-book, Tom Cruise and his United Artists (UA) studio are trying to work out a separate deal with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), side-stepping the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s United Artists is talking with union leaders to bring striking Hollywood writers back to work at the film studio, according to a recent announcement from the Bloomberg press agency.

UA wants to have a deal similar to the one David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company got at the end of December that would allow writers to come back to work on film projects for Cruise and his studio, bringing back lots of laid-off workers, allowing them to safely and legally cross picket-lines.

A former attorney for the WGA indicated that if a successful agreement can be ironed out between Cruise’s studio and the WGA, then it won’t be long before other independent and smaller studios begin lining up to foster their own arranagements with the Guild, virtually closing out all the larger AMPTP studios and networks. If the UA talks are successful, MGM, the majority owner and strong member of the AMPTP, would not be included in the negotiations. Cruise’s stake in UA is as an independent producer and owner, which gives him the ability, like Letterman, to forge his own deals.

“An agreement with a significantly sized company like UA shows very powerfully that what the Guild is asking for in new media is achievable,” Jonathan Handel, the former counsel, said.