Writers, Producers Talk; Hint of Accord Noted

Leaders of the Writers Guild of America and studio representatives met Tuesday, just two days after producers vowed to stop bargaining with the striking union.

The meeting followed an intensive behind-the-scenes peace-making effort by entertainment attorney Kenneth Ziffren, and triggered widespread reports that the sides had agreed on a plan to end the 21-week-old writers’ strike.

Neither side officially acknowledged the session, which began late Tuesday afternoon, and continued into the night. Ziffren could not be reached.

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The talks at the Sherman Oaks headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers included chief guild negotiator Brian Walton and chief alliance negotiator J. Nicholas Counter III, among others. But the meeting apparently did not include the full bargaining committees on either side.

Before the session began, several top studio executives--while declining to discuss details--said they expected the talks to yield an agreement.

“I think it will get done,” one studio chief said.

Several individuals familiar with talks said they were supposed to conform to narrow “parameters” worked out by Ziffren and others in two days of shuttle diplomacy between the guild and the studios.

Ziffren, 47, is a partner in Ziffren, Brittenham, & Branca, a major entertainment law firm that represents writers, producers, studio executives and stars. The firm is particularly powerful in the television area, and counts prominent producers Stephen J. Cannell and Gary David Goldberg among its clients.

Preliminary Accord

A key preliminary agreement on an approach to the hotly disputed foreign residuals issue--the terms of which were not clear late Tuesday--led to the meetings, one of the individuals said.

The producers, despite their earlier no-talks stance, agreed to discuss several other unresolved issues--including the terms of a strike settlement letter affecting the status of outstanding lawsuits and other matters between the sides--based on the writers’ adherence to the foreign residuals approach.

Apparently, the Ziffren initiative began with a Sunday evening meeting at the home of MCA Inc. President Sidney Sheinberg. At the meeting, several sources said, Sheinberg, Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller and Walt Disney Pictures chief Jeffrey Katzenberg laid out terms under which any contact between writers and producers would take place.

On Monday and Tuesday, Ziffren broadened his studio contacts, speaking with Warner Bros. Chairman Bob Daly and others. Meanwhile, Walton on Monday called members of the Writers Coalition, a dissident guild group, advising them to postpone for 36 hours a threatened move to resign active status in the union and return to work in spite of the strike.

The dissidents complied, and issued a statement saying they planned to withhold comment on their plans during the period, which expires later today.

Change of Status

Sources familiar with the group’s plans said, however, if there is no settlement they intend on Thursday to set up a counseling center for guild members who want to join them in assuming “financial core” status in the union.

“Financial core” status, which has been sanctioned by the courts, strips a union member of voting rights and exempts him from disciplinary action, but continues to extend the protection of the collective bargaining contract.

The studios, which are mounting as many shows and movies as possible in spite of the strike, have said they would welcome writers who chose to return on an individual basis.