Writer Writes Back

In my original letter (Saturday Letters, July 9) I tried to suggest that, being primarily a producer, Steve Bochco might have had a legitimate reason to vote for the contract offer but that he did his position a disservice by aligning himself with the Writers Coalition.

Therefore, I was startled by his response--the entire thrust of which seemed to be that in the past five years he has had more writing credits than I. Well, once again he’s mistaken, but this time I see no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. If writing is defined by that soul-wrenching process in which a lone individual struggles to put words on paper, it’s not even close. Whereas I have written MOWs (movies of the week), pilots and episodes--not to mention articles and reviews--by myself, everything Bochco has had his name on during that period has been in collaboration with six or seven other gents or with the very talented Ms. Terry Louise Fisher.

BURT PRELUTSKY

Santa Monica