Behind-the-Scenes Events Dictated Guild Settlement

The testy negotiations between writers and studios over a new labor contract underwent a series of dramatic shifts before producing an ending last week that few players in Hollywood anticipated.

Though many participants feared for months that a strike by the Writers Guild of America was all but inevitable, several pivotal events that took place behind the scenes paved the way for the breakthrough agreement that was unveiled Friday afternoon.

The developments largely served to undercut the clout and influence of increasingly militant factions in the writers union. The guild not only was pitted against the major studios but other groups within Hollywood as well, including actors, directors, talent agents and other labor unions.

Writers’ hopes that all their demands would be met were further dashed by an unforeseen slump in the economy, along with the startling popularity of staged, unscripted series such as CBS’ “Survivor.” The successful debut last month of the NBC game show “The Weakest Link” reinforced the threat of unscripted shows.

The new three-year contract gives writers financial improvements in several key areas but falls well short of the union’s early goal of a full-blown revamping in the formula for how writers are paid. Most important, the pact--which still must be ratified by the WGA’s 11,000 writers--spared Hollywood and Southern California an economic bonfire.

The announcement of a tentative deal underscored how the wind was taken out of an increasingly combative Writers Guild and replaced by more measured, level-headed negotiations that nonetheless delivered writers respectable gains.

The unfolding drama involved several key components, starting with doomed efforts to tie the Writers Guild’s negotiations to those of the Screen Actors Guild, whose own contract expires June 30. If successful, the alliance would have created a powerful force with enough clout to darken every film and TV sound stage in Hollywood.

Next was an unprecedented effort behind the scenes by other Hollywood unions to rein in a Writers Guild that appeared, in the words of one top entertainment union official, to have become “a satellite spinning out of control.”

In interviews, representatives of both producers and writers downplayed any outside influences on negotiations during this round.

“There are always constant pressures on both sides,” said Writers Guild negotiating co-chairman Michael Mahern. Added industry negotiator J. Nicholas Counter: “It’s just pure, simple bargaining.”

The talks were held under a strict news blackout and both sides have been tight-lipped in the days since the tentative accord was reached. In interviews over the last week, few industry or union officials agreed to be interviewed for fear of jeopardizing the fragile pact.

Still, numerous executives, writers, agents and union officials say there’s much more to the settlement story than the canned quotes from both sides. And it involves the apparent failure of the writers union to galvanize its membership with the kind of militancy that some writers believed was needed if they were to force studios to make drastic changes in pay formulas they believed have shortchanged them for years.

Writers Sought Alliance With Actors Guild

It was a coup at the Screen Actors Guild in late 1999 that gave rise to a more militant regime inside that union. And writers, already restless, saw an opportunity.

Dissidents led by actor William Daniels shocked Hollywood by unseating a moderate regime led by actor Richard Masur. By May 1, 2000, SAG had launched what would be a painful, divisive six-month strike against commercial advertisers.

At the same time, factions within the notoriously divided union were fighting among themselves, especially the newly elected regime and the union’s more moderate staff.

Working quietly, Los Angeles WGA officials, led by President John Wells and Executive Director John McLean, courted Daniels and his elected slate, hoping to win an important ally for the day when their contract would expire.

The actors are a crucial element in the labor mosaic because, unlike the writers, they have the power to shut down production. The movie business, and even some television shows, can go on without fresh scripts, but virtually nothing gets filmed without actors. The writers needed that level of power if any strike threat was to have teeth. And they knew that the Screen Actors contract ran out just two months after their own.

Writers supported the commercials strike, mentoring Daniels and other union novices at SAG to the point where the talk among other unions was that writers were virtually pulling the strings at SAG.

In tandem, the two unions decided to spurn an early negotiating practice that had helped keep labor peace throughout the industry ever since writers last struck, for 22 weeks in 1988. That involves beginning negotiations months in advance to defuse tensions and prevent a production slowdown.

The pairing of SAG and the WGA alarmed other Hollywood unions. They feared that a SAG/WGA strike would leave them out of work like those on the picket line, but without a vote or any say in the matter.

Long before writers and studios sat at the bargaining table, two men who would have no direct role in the contract negotiations--but who ultimately would have much to do with its outcome--began plotting.

Together they quietly, but deliberately, formed an unlikely alliance to make sure the writers would not strike or rewrite the rules of filmmaking.

The pair began lobbying everyone they could that a strike would be doomed to failure and a disaster for all of Hollywood. They hoped to bring pressure on writers and actors to moderate their position and bargain toward a quick settlement.

Thomas Short is the president of the blue-collar International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Short, who represents tens of thousands of workers who set up equipment, fix lighting, design costumes and perform numerous other jobs on movie and TV sets, feared that his blue-collar workers would be left jobless.

Jay Roth is the executive director of the elite Directors Guild of America. He was miffed that the Writers Guild was using the contract negotiations to launch an unwanted invasion on his members’ creative turf.

Writers were demanding more access to film sets, meetings and movie events for writers and also were trying to limit awarding directors “A film by” credits in movies.

Meeting frequently to craft strategy, Roth and Short formed an alliance to protect their interests. Short and his union officials aggressively began venting their frustrations about being on the sidelines while writers and actors controlled their fate.

Meanwhile, studios were taking a hard line on writers’ demands, and the economy was slipping. Disney announced 4,000 job cuts. The stock market was tumbling, and the technology-Internet bubble had burst.

Led by ABC parent Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.’s Fox, the studios insisted their costs already were too high and the writers’ demands were exorbitant.

Studios correctly sensed that the softening economy was their ally. They stressed at every opportunity that the timing for a strike couldn’t be worse.

Studio executives such as News Corp. President Peter Chernin, Disney President Robert Iger and CBS chief Leslie Moonves repeatedly disseminated the idea through the press and directly in their day-to-day talks with other players in Hollywood that they easily could fill next fall’s TV season with staged, unscripted series and game, sports and news shows. In doing so, they sent a clear, constant message to writers: Your shows aren’t sacred to our schedules.

If writers hadn’t agreed to a deal by mid-May, when studios present their schedules to advertisers, the studios would pull the trigger and put more staged, unscripted TV shows on the air. That put a chill in the writers.

Talent Agents Courted by Both Sides of Table

Some of the most powerful people in Hollywood are talent agents, who hold sway over the hearts and minds of their clients: writers, directors and actors. They wield enormous power behind the scenes. Their influence is felt in every corner of the business.

Both sides in the writers’ dispute wanted that power on their side and set about securing it in unprecedented lobbying campaigns.

Starting last fall, the WGA’s Wells and McLean paid a series of visits to Hollywood’s top talent agencies to explain their positions. The guild was under tremendous pressure to let the high-end writers know “they were not leaving them at the gate in favor of guys who work for scale,” said Jeff Berg, chairman of International Creative Management.

Likewise, the studios wanted the agencies to appreciate their position.

In a meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel earlier this year, a group of top studio and network executives, among them Disney President Iger, Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer, News Corp. President Chernin, Viacom Entertainment chief Jonathan Dolgen and CBS head Moonves, made their case to the heads of the top agencies--including Berg; Jim Wiatt of William Morris Agency; Richard Lovett, president of Creative Artists Agency; and Jim Berkus, head of United Talent Agency.

“For the first time in my 31 years, I saw both sides looking to communicate their respective positions to the agency community,” Berg said.

In the end, the most influential agents were working largely to calm the waters--putting a cap on strike talk, keeping writers and studios at the bargaining table--and to ensure their clients, along with the agents themselves, were making money.

SAG Chief Negotiator Was Shock to Writers

What may have been the turning point in the maneuvering occurred in February, when SAG selected a chief negotiator.

The choice would dash the writers’ hopes of having SAG as a partner in a strike threat, conjuring an image of actors walking the picket line with writers and shutting down production.

The Writers Guild pushed Robert Hadl for the post. A former lawyer with entertainment conglomerate MCA, Hadl was serving as a consultant to the Writers Guild. SAG President Daniels had recommended Hadl. But Daniels was spurned by SAG board members who felt Hadl’s work for the writers might pose a conflict. In his place came a choice that floored the Writers Guild: Brian Walton.

Two years earlier, Walton was shoved out the door of the Writers Guild amid accusations that, as its executive director and chief negotiator, he was too cozy with the studios. There was still bad blood between Walton and the Writers Guild.

Walton had been recommended to Daniels by two industry power players: manager Michael Ovitz and DreamWorks SKG’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, who ironically would sit on the other side of the negotiating table when bargaining began.

In the end, the writers came to the table knowing they would have to make a deal. And in the end, they compromised.

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Plot Points

Key developments in the contract talks:

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July 2000: Facing a potential strike, Hollywood studios and television networks step up production, begin to stockpile scripts and make other contingency plans.

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Jan. 22, 2001: The Writers Guild of America and the industry’s Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers begin early negotiations for a new contract.

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March 1: Talks break down, with each side accusing the other of making unrealistic demands.

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April 12: WGA leaders meet with Mayor Richard Riordan, who has lobbied aggressively against a strike that he says could devastate Los Angeles’ economy.

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April 17: Negotiations resume in an effort to reach a new contract before the May 2 expiration date.

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April 19: A city-funded report says a prolonged Hollywood walkout could result in the loss of 81,900 jobs and $6.9 billion in income for Southern California.

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April 20: Insiders report that studios and writers are making progress, with hopes that a deal might be in place within a week.

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May 2: Old contract expires at 12:01 a.m., but a new three-year contract appears within reach as talks continue late into the night.

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May 4: The two sides announce agreement.

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Source: Times files

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Researched by NONA YATES/ Los Angeles Times