Date: 20th November 2000

How To head Off A Strike ?


Despite efforts on all sides to play down the possibility of a strike by writers and actors next spring, the president of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers has acknowledged that members of the organization are already planning against such an eventuality.

"There's no question that people are planning their production schedules around the possibility," AMPTP chief Nick Counter told CBS MarketWatch Friday. The online publication, which is controlled by Viacom, reported that at least two top industry execs, Jonathan Dolgen, head of Viacom's entertainment group, and Warner Bros. Studios Chairman Barry Meyer, are working to head off a strike early.

But Counter suggested that their work is being made difficult by the fact that the Writers Guild of America has failed to come forward with formal demands. For its part, the WGA has indicted that it won't enter into early talks with the producers until it knows what their position on the issues will be.

Source: Studio Briefing