Alch

SUMMARY

These appeals and writ petitions involve 23 separate class action lawsuits filed by hundreds of television writers against (a) 12 different groups of related television networks, studios and production companies (collectively, employers or networks and studios), and (b) 11 talent agencies. The writers, who are over the age of 40 and members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), assert that each of the networks and studios has for many years maintained a systemwide policy or practice of age discrimination. The talent agencies, which represent writers seeking television writing opportunities, are alleged to be well aware of the pattern or practice of age discrimination by the employers, and to engage in a pattern or practice of discrimination of their own by refusing to represent and refer older writers to the networks and studios for writing opportunities, instead referring their younger clients. Some of the writers allege they applied and were rejected for television writing employment by the employers, or for representation by the talent agencies. Many more writers allege they were deterred from seeking television writing employment, or representation by the…