Local News in Brief : No Gain in Writers Strike

Though four more independent production companies signed contracts with the striking Writers Guild of America Tuesday, no progress was reported in meetings between the union’s negotiators and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers as the strike entered its 13th week.

Alliance and guild representatives met throughout the day with federal mediator Leonard Farrell at the alliance’s headquarters in Sherman Oaks. The officials indicated that they would continue negotiations later this week on two key issues: foreign residuals and a formula for calculating residual payments on one-hour television dramas.

Alliance spokesman Herb Steinberg said creative rights for writers--a third issue that sparked the March 7 strike--was not “a deal breaker” and could be resolved.

Among the four new signatories, who joined 73 other independent companies that signed a three-year pact with the guild last week, is Carson Productions, producer of the NBC sitcom “Amen!”

Carson Productions, which is partly owned by Johnny Carson, is the first alliance member to break ranks with the major studios, large independent producers and television networks that make up the alliance. Representatives of Carson Tonight Inc., producer of “The Tonight Show,” signed a contract last week, but unlike Carson Productions, it is not an alliance company.