HOME VIDEO KEY TO WRITERS GUILD TALKS

When the Writers Guild of America went on strike for 21 days in the spring of 1981, there were rallying songs (“Battle Cry of Freedom”) and picket lines (4,500 strong), angry placards and show-business camaraderie. Film and television production was set back for months.

Three years later, the Writers Guild is again embarking on negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new three-year contract. Bargaining talks concerning 273 separate proposals began in earnest this week at alliance headquarters in Sherman Oaks and will probably continue right up to the expiration of the current contract on Feb. 28.

Negotiators for both the writers and the leading film and TV producers, including the major movie studios and the three networks, have agreed not to discuss publicly the issues at stake. The attitude is typified by CBS-TV’s formal statement: “As we draw nearer to negotiations, we cannot comment at all at this time.”

But it’s common knowledge in Hollywood that the writers, now a leaner union with 6,600 voting members instead of the 8,500 of three years ago, are determined to win new concessions in the crucial home-video area. They want a bigger share of the overall revenues that come from the sale of videocassettes of films and TV shows.

The Directors Guild of America almost walked out last July over the same issue, before settling at the last minute for a major cash infusion into its ailing pension and welfare fund.

“Writers are the conscience of the industry,” said one of the union’s negotiators, who asked not to be identified. “We’ve traditionally gone on strike for principle as well as money.”

That determination will pit the writers against an array of companies trying to adapt to the rapid changes in the film and television industry. Rising production and distribution costs, a shrinking audience for network television programs and a home-video market that is still predominantly rentals rather than sales all have studio and network executives concerned.

Robert Harris, president of Universal Television, observed, “Costs have gotten so out of hand that management will be very tough in these negotiations about making any major concessions.”

(The first indication of management solidarity is expected to emerge Monday when the chief executive officers of the major film and TV companies will attend a summit meeting convened by Alliance President J. Nicholas Counter III. “We’ll have an idea of how serious things are after that,” said one studio chairman.)

Harris noted that network television in particular never fully recovered from the devastating 67-day strike by the Screen Actors Guild in late 1980 and the subsequent three-week walkout by the writers in 1981.

“If there isn’t a fall TV season, the audience finds new viewing habits,” Harris said. “The decline in network share levels started three years ago, and ever since then we’ve been on a downward trend. I think the guild’s members ought to be very aware of that. Network TV is their bread and butter--that’s where the substantial money is.”

If the writers go on strike March 1--when a membership meeting has been scheduled to vote on the contract package--the fall TV season would definitely be affected, spokesmen for ABC, CBS and NBC confirmed. Film production, which has a longer preparation period, probably would not suffer as much, although movies intended for release in 1986 would be delayed.

For now, both sides remain optimistic that a settlement can be reached. But the writers and the alliance have entrenched themselves in their positions on key issues, including the computation of royalties from the sale of videocassettes.

Although the writers have presented demands for higher compensation in film and television, increased health insurance, more work for free-lance TV writers and better screen credits for writers, most of the bargaining and attention will be focused on the videocassette issue.

It has become dominant in part because of the explosive growth of the home-video market. Total sales in the prerecorded videocassette business are estimated to reach $1.5 billion this year, according to projections by the Electronic Industries Assn. About 33 million videocassettes are expected to be sold in 1985, generating $925 million in wholesale revenues to videocassette program suppliers.

The writers want 1.2% of 100% of that money, called the distributors’ gross, rather than the 20% figure (the producers’ gross) from which the writers are currently paid. The producers say that all they get back from the videocassette distributors is 20% of the wholesale revenues, while the writers claim that the distributors are sister companies of the producers and that all the money is really in one big pot. MCA Home Video and Universal Pictures are both owned by MCA Inc., the writers point out.

Complicating an already complex issue is the writers’ allegation (echoing a similar complaint by the directors) that the 1973 agreement that first gave writers royalties from home video clearly states that the percentage is based on “the worldwide total gross receipts derived by the distributor of such pictures. . . .”

The producers respond that it took the union more than 10 years to make that discovery and that if the contract is to be interpreted literally, then so is the provision that says pay-TV residuals only have to be paid on movies exhibited over CATV (community antenna television, or one central cable distribution point).

The studios already have notified the guild that they have overpaid writers by millions of dollars for films, and they either want the money back or want it used to offset any money that may be due writers from videocassette royalties.

The issue is crystallized in an arbitration dispute that will end up in federal court here Jan. 21. The guild and Paramount Pictures have been unable to agree on an arbitrator to resolve the payment formula on videocassettes, and have asked U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp to appoint one.

Meanwhile, the talk of a potential strike increases. While executives routinely deny that “stockpiling” of scripts is taking place, most studios have set Feb. 26 as the delivery date for new screenplays, with part of the payments to be deferred until production actually begins.

All in all, it’s a situation in which writers and management would rather not find themselves. “I simply hope a strike doesn’t happen,” said Lawrence Gordon, president of 20th Century Fox’s Entertainment Group. “Everyone needs to work.”

Some writers have been able to maintain their sense of humor, however.

“Being on the picket line is just like writing,” said screenwriter Katherine Reback. “You walk around in circles a lot, trying to figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing. There’s no difference. It’s the same process.”