Agents kickstart contract talks

CAA partner Bryan Lourd and United Talent agency's Jim Berkus apparently convinced both the media companies and the writers to return to the bargaining table the Monday after Thanksgiving. Nikki Finke is reporting that a secret meeting took place yesterday at Lourd's home, with an attendance list that included WGA negotiator Dave Young, Disney CEO Robert Iger and News Corp. COO Peter Chernin. Prior to Friday's meeting, Berkus had been instrumental in arranging that Nov. 8 meeting of agency big-wigs at the WGA headquarters. As has been reported, they had offered to serve as intermediaries in trying to resume the contract talks. "The first call went from Jim Berkus to [William Morris'] Jim Wiatt to [Endeavor's] Rick Rosen to [CAA's] Bryan Lourd to [ICM's] Chris Silbermann," Finke reports, citing a source. It'll be interesting to see whether they're able to mediate the actual bargaining (certainly not the worst idea in the world). As Finke puts it, "For crissakes, these people negotiate for a living on behalf of clients like the writers. And they're licensed by the state. And they make multi-million dollar deals based on their word. They could, under the auspices of their Association of Talent Agents, mediate this dispute."