Writers Guild Election Enters Its Final Act

The union representing 9,000 Hollywood TV and film writers concludes an election tonight that could result in its fourth president since January, one that officials hope will finally bring stability to a guild that has seen more plot twists than a Hitchcock thriller.

Watching closely are federal officials, who are monitoring the Writers Guild of America, West, contest after the guild last year elected a leader whose membership had lapsed.

The vote for officers and directors, results of which will be tallied Tuesday, pits two factions who disagree on whether the union representing writers needs a tuneup or an overhaul. Interim President Daniel Petrie Jr., who believes the union runs reasonably well, is running against Eric Hughes, who wants to shake things up.

The vote also includes a dose of goofiness that can be expected when people who make a living being creative hold an election. Included in candidate statements is a challenge by one to face off with the union’s president in a spelling bee “so we can have some fun.” Still another lists as his credentials having “produced a tome longer than a Dostoevsky novel but not as funny.” One statement gives a blow-by-blow account of a feud between two guild executives, noting that “it is not in dispute that a shouting match erupted.”

Hughes is running again after being defeated one year ago by Victoria Riskin, who was forced to resign less than four months later. An internal investigation showed that her membership had lapsed because she had too few paid writing credits.

Her successor, Charles Holland, was forced to resign after a Los Angeles Times story contradicted claims he had made about his military experience and college athletic achievements.

In the interim, Petrie, a former guild president, was asked by the union’s directors to take over and try to bring calm. Confronted with potential Labor Department actions, guild officials in March agreed to hold the new, federally supervised election.

Candidate Hughes, 51, the writer of such feature films as “Against All Odds” and “White Knights,” sees the guild as an overly secretive institution run by a staff with too much clout.

He wants to shake up what he calls “a culture of confidentiality” and hopes to shed light on board decision making, union finances and the secret arbitration procedures that determine writing credits .

“Writers have been disenfranchised from this guild,” Hughes said in an interview. “They must figure writers don’t have the intellectual capacity to comprehend where our money is going, what our rules are and whether our guild constitution is being followed.”

Petrie, 52, is the son of the late Emmy-winning director Daniel Petrie Sr., who died in August. His credits include “Beverly Hills Cop” and “The Big Easy.”

Petrie defended the guild’s directors and lauded the guild’s staff, led by Executive Director John McLean, whom Hughes believes should be booted as part of a wholesale housecleaning. Although some procedures are secret, Petrie said in an interview, writers by nature are an outspoken group that rarely discusses anything quietly.

“Sometimes we lay things out to a fault,” Petrie said.

The election comes amid a period in which writer anxiety already is high. Writers have been working without a contract since May 2.

Negotiations between writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing studios and networks, have been on ice since their last meetings in June, with both sides at odds over such issues as healthcare contributions, pay scales and how much writers should share of the lucrative DVD pie.

Negotiators for the writers have shown no urgency to get back to the table. Petrie defended that decision, arguing that writers will gain leverage by timing their talks with those of unions representing directors and actors.

Sources in unions outside the writers guild believe that the scribes do not want to strike. The last writers’ walkout, in 1988, lasted five months and cost the industry an estimated $500 million.

The sources said writers would be satisfied if directors, who are currently negotiating with studios, can forge an acceptable deal because studios historically offer the same terms to other guilds.

Hughes is critical of the labor talks and argues that its guild negotiators have no strategy. He said the guild should hire a team of high-powered negotiators and lawyers to get the attention of studios, rather than rely on staff members.

In addition to the labor talks, the election also comes at a time when writers are nervous about employment prospects in a profession in which job security is inherently shaky. The proliferation of so-called reality TV shows has especially unnerved writers, as have belt tightening and cutbacks by film studios.

“It’s never an easy time for writers,” said Carl Gottlieb, a board member since 1983 who is running for vice president against writer Dennis Feldman. “This is perceived as hard times. For many writers, they are.”