Writers, producers reach tentative deal

May 4, 2001
Web posted at: 7:43 p.m. EDT (2343 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The script is in: Hollywood writers and studio executives reached agreement Friday on "groundbreaking improvements" for 11,000 writers, avoiding a strike that could have cost Los Angeles billions of dollars.

Negotiations, which began four months ago, intensified over the past two days after the writers' contract expired Wednesday.

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Michael Mahern, a negotiator for the Writers Guild of America, said he was extremely pleased with the outcome.

"I see the headlines tomorrow right now: Writers reach agreement, studios avert bankruptcy," he told reporters.

Nicholas Counter, the president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, described the talks as extremely tough.

"This is one of the most difficult negotiations that we've had in many yeas because of the complexity of the issues facing the industry today, both for writers and producers," Counter said.

With tens of thousands of people employed in film and television production in the city, a writers' strike could have hit the Los Angeles economy hard.

Wednesday afternoon, Dreamworks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg arrived at the negotiations site. When asked by reporters why he was there, he replied "I'm here to work." In earlier statements, Katzenberg had said he would leave the negotiating up to the negotiators.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan had called on both sides to reach an agreement.

"Time is running out," he said earlier in the week. "Once again, I call on the producers and writers to work together in a spirit of compromise and save tens of thousands of Los Angeles jobs from the cutting room floor."

The most immediate impact of a strike would have been to talk shows like the "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," because these shows are produced on a daily basis.

Soap opera shows have completed new segments for a couple of weeks, but a prolonged strike would have eventually affected them, according to Soap Opera Digest editor Lynn Leahey. During the writers strike of 1988, actors and managers stepped in to write scripts to keep the soaps on the air.

Prime-time programming has wrapped up for the season and most summer motion picture production has been completed.

The residual effect of a Hollywood strike would have also imperiled the vending industry from caterers to costume rentals, and even transportation suppliers. A recent study released by the city of Los Angeles estimated the possible long-term impact of a strike at $6.9 billion.

Earlier in the week, in spite of a media blackout imposed by the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, sources claimed writers still hadn't bridged a $100 million gap in salary demands over three years. The studios claim those numbers would actually cost more than $200 million, according to sources.

Writers asked for greater compensation throughout the life of a show, including international syndication, and potential future airings on the Internet.

CNN Correspondent Casey Wian and CNN Showbiz Today Reports Correspondent Sherri Sylvester contributed to this story.

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