Hollywood agencies and producers form alliance to push for independent production

Hollywood's biggest talent agencies are backing a new coalition that wants half of studios' and streamers' spending on new shows and films to go to independent producers.

The group is called the American Entertainment Alliance. It describes itself as a coalition dedicated to promoting independent production in the United States, meaning films and series made by outside companies rather than in-house at the major studios and platforms, according to Deadline. Its formation was first reported by The New York Times.

The founding line-up brings together agencies, production companies and other industry players. Agencies CAA, WME and UTA are founding members. UTA's vice chair is Jay Sures.

They are joined by Anonymous Content, Blumhouse, Imagine Entertainment, Legendary Entertainment, MRC, North Road, Propagate Content and Producers United. Law firm Ziffren Brittenham and veteran executive Jeff Sagansky are also listed as founding members.

The headline proposal is a spending rule. The alliance plans to push for legislation requiring major studios and streamers to allocate half of their original content budgets to independent production. That is the money spent on commissioning and making new titles.

It has two other broad aims. It will advocate for modern creative ownership rules reflecting the streaming marketplace. In plain terms, that means who keeps rights and earns money from a show after it airs. It will also support policies to make the United States more competitive as a production destination, an argument about where jobs and shoots land.

What makes this stand out is the mix of names. Agencies rarely sign up to the same lobbying banner as the producers they bargain with. Here they are on one list, with one budget figure attached.