The Aftermath : Screenwriters Mull Over Gains and Losses After Settlement of Long Strike

After five months at war with the studios, screenwriters must decide Sunday morning whether to endorse a peace pact negotiated by their leaders.

To judge from the responses of writers contacted Thursday, most are likely to vote in favor of the latest offer--and are ecstatic that the strike is ending, even if many don’t believe the new contract gives them a big victory on any major point.

“To say that I’m happy the strike is coming to an end would be a gross understatement,” said Ernie Wallengren, who has been a writer-producer on “Falcon Crest” and who helped administer the Writers Guild of America strike fund during the walkout.

But were the gains worth the pain, particularly in the difficult weeks since the guild rejected a producers’ sweetened offer on June 16?

“Yes and no,” Wallengren said. “You have to look at the entire package, and not just say, well, we won this point and lost that. You can get real depressed real fast if you start looking at all the areas we may have lost.”

Regardless of contract specifics, some writers feel the strike made up for what they believe was guild weakness in 1985--when a brief writers’ strike disintegrated amid internal bickering--and constitutes a future warning to the producers.

“This was really three strikes in one: The strike of ’85 that didn’t happen, the strike of ’88 that did happen, and the strike of ’92 that won’t happen. They would be crazy to come to us with all kinds of serious rollbacks after this,” said writer Chuck Rapoport.

In concrete terms, the guild’s gains since June 16 are genuine, though narrow.

Union negotiators were forced to accept a company formula that indexes domestic one-hour TV residuals to sales--giving the producers softer residuals on shows that don’t sell well. But they won the right to have an arbitrator decide whether the market is really soft enough to justify the rollback at any time during the contract, rather than holding the arbitration three years from now, as the producers wanted.

On the foreign residuals front, the guild compelled producers to accept the principle that writers should get a bigger share of rising foreign sales of TV shows. But actual dollar gains on the foreign residual front will be modest and will take time to appear.

To begin with, any increased foreign residual will apply only to one-hour shows, not to half-hour series or television movies.

Second, any increased payment to writers will be triggered only when foreign sales of a show reach about $366,000 per episode. Currently, only a handful of big sellers--generally night-time soap operas such as “Dallas” and “Dynasty”--make that kind of money abroad. But writers expect other shows to move into that range over the next several years, according to Charles Slocum, an industry analyst for the guild.

Third, the new residual is capped at about $1,320 (a figure that will rise slightly as minimum contract payments rise over the years). By settling on June 16, the writers could have had a similar new residual capped at $2,200--but they would have been forced, as a trade-off, to accept much lower foreign residuals on shows that don’t sell well.

Most writers, in any case, seem little inclined to split hairs at this point.

In the words of David Milch, a prominent writer-producer who aligned himself with guild dissidents during recent weeks: “I’m simply not able to assess what was available in June and what we got now. . . . I’m completely satisfied with the contract and grateful to have the opportunity to practice my craft.”

Writer Richard Murphy, who was picking up a loan check at guild headquarters Thursday morning, expressed similar sentiments. “I’m very excited that I’ll be able to go back to work soon. It’s going to be great,” he said. “It will be a nice change to walk through the studio doors instead of walking in front of them (with pickets).”

Domestic TV Residuals

Domestic one-hour TV residuals, per episode:

Old system: Fixed payment of $ 16,920 for six showings nationwide.

New system: Payment indexed to producer’s revenue from re-runs, with a minimum of $ 8,460 and a maximum of $ 25,380 for six showings nationwide.

For example:

If producer gets $ 325,000 or less, writer gets $ 8,460.

If producer gets $ 650,000, writer gets $ 16,920.

If producer gets $ 975,000 or more, writer gets $ 25,380.

(Old residual system still applies to other shows and movies, and comes back into force for one-hour shows if an arbitrator decides syndication market has sufficiently recovered.)

Creative Rights Expand

New committee: Guild and companies form a committee to review the “professional status” of writers at least twice a year. Directors already have such a committee.

Consultation: Producers agree to arrange pre-production meetings with writer and director.

Reacquisition: Writers get easier procedures for reacquiring scripts that studios have bought but haven’t actually produced.

Hot-line: Producers set up a “hot-line” for rapid response to writer complaints about violations of creative rights.

Foreign TV Residuals

Payment per one-hour televison episode shown abroad:

Old system: Three step payments that reach a maximum total of $4,400 for every show that brings a producer $18,000 or more in revenue from abroad.

New system: Contract starts with a new fixed residual, but guild may switch to an alternative, percentage-based formula if it yields more for writers.

Fixed--One-time payment of $4,400 for every show sold abroad.

Percentage--1.2% of producers’ revenue from foreign sales, with a floor equal to 85% of the fixed residual, and a cap equal to 130% of the fixed payment.

Longer Contract

Old Contact: 3 years, ran from March 1, 1985 until February 29, 1988.

New: 4 years, from ratification date until May 1, 1992.

(Provides a long cooling-off period before the sides meet again, but increases the impact of future strikes because the contract expires just as the annual TV production season begins.)

Times interns Tammy Sims and Paul Vargas contributed to this article.