2 Top Comedy Writers Near Huge Contract With Disney : Entertainment: The duo behind ‘The Wonder Years’ will probably get $15 million for three years. And that’s in a softening market.

Neal Marlens and Carol Black, the TV comedy writers behind “The Wonder Years” who last year nearly signed a record $18-million production contract with Universal Television, are about to strike a lucrative agreement with Walt Disney Co.

The husband-and-wife team has been among the most sought-after writer-producers in Hollywood for more than a year. But Marlens and Black’s insistence that they not be required to work on the studio lot, as well as their demands for creative freedom, have made negotiations difficult.

Industry sources valued the Disney deal at about $15 million for a minimum of three years, a price that some executives think signals a softening in the fees paid for top writing talent.

Disney declined to comment. Carey Cosay, agent for Marlens and Black, was unavailable for comment.

Over the past year, studios have engaged in a feverish bidding war for TV comedy writers that has pushed the price of “talent” into the stratosphere. Deals worth $10 million to $20 million have become commonplace.

Marlens and Black nearly closed a deal with Universal TV last November, when the negotiations collapsed at the 11th hour over alleged disputes about creative control. The issue, however, is largely moot since the networks, not the studios, have the final say on program content. Sources said the new arrangement with Disney may include motion picture development, which could push the value of the deal above $25 million. That would qualify it as one of the biggest ever for TV writer-producers.

Still, industry executives contend that the revised Marlens-Black deal reflects a cooling of the bidding for comedy writers in Hollywood.

Prices for top talent appear to have peaked earlier this year with the signing of writer-producer James Brooks and the comedy writing team of Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye at Columbia Pictures Television. Those deals are valued at $100 million and $34 million respectively, the Brooks deal being significantly higher because it also involves commitments for several motion pictures.

Columbia and Disney are generally acknowledged to be leaders in the bidding war for Hollywood writers. Disney, for example, last year signed Matt Williams, one of the top writers on “Roseanne,” to a $10-million deal. He is now producing “Carol & Co.” for NBC.

The studios rationalize their bidding strategies by pointing to the potentially huge rerun profits from hit shows. A brand-name writer also make it easier to sell a show to a network.

But it will be several years before the success or failure of the bidding war can be judged. It typically takes at least four years before reruns can be sold in syndication, and profits depend upon such unpredictable factors as the demand for programs by local TV stations and the overall health of the advertising market.