The coming Disney layoffs plus the big studios saying “no” to rich big star deals on movies are seen as evidnce of “an industrywide contraction,” and some in Hollywood are getting more and more scared of this, reports L.A. Times staffer Claudia Eller. “It’s as if the managerial elite has made a secret pact to adhere to certain business principles that they want to enforce on agents and artists,” says producer Brian Grazer. Eller says that Grazer “sees studios as more rigid today about how far they’ll stretch to compensate even the biggest stars, directors, producers and writers on movie projects,” and, he says, “that’s never happened in the 25 years I’ve been producing.”
