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History of Loathing Fuels Labor Unrest

In Hollywood, art vs. business has long divided writers, studios

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 30, 2007 7:12 PM CDT

(Newser) – The current Hollywood labor difficulties are the culmination of generations of animosity, dating to the earliest days of talking pictures and studios' resentment of the sophisticated New Yorkers they employed. With the Writers Guild of America set to strike at midnight tomorrow, the LA Times takes a look at a long, troubled marriage that's currently on the rocks.

“Moguls never saw any real difference between their writers and the carpenters,” says a historian. Writers, meanwhile, have long loathed studios for altering their work. After decades of union-busting and blacklisting, today’s studio heads seem to equate writers with stenographers. For the scribes, negotiations are a way to battle such treatment. On both sides, ill will is inevitable.

President of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers J. Nicholas Counter appears on stage during the Actors' Fund of America gala on Oct. 30, 2004. Counter is a key figure in negotiations between Hollywood writers and studios ahead of a pending strike. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)
President of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers J. Nicholas Counter appears on stage during the Actors' Fund of America gala on Oct. 30, 2004. Counter is a key figure in negotiations...   (Getty Images)
Model Ebony Taylor, who appeared on America's Next Top Model, gestures after joining pickets during a strike by writers for that show in Los Angeles, in this Aug. 4, 2006 file photo. Hollywood studios are speeding production on movies and TV shows, preparing for a possible strike by writers and...
Model Ebony Taylor, who appeared on "America's Next Top Model," gestures after joining pickets during a strike by writers for that show in Los Angeles, in this Aug. 4, 2006 file photo. Hollywood studios...   (Associated Press)
Former MGM head Louis B. Mayer once talked contracted writers into taking a 50% pay cut, a lesson in negotiation as another writer's strike looms.
Former MGM head Louis B. Mayer once talked contracted writers into taking a 50% pay cut, a lesson in negotiation as another writer's strike looms.   (Archive Photos)
This photo released by ABC shows actors Shawn Pyfrom, Joy Lauren and Kyle Maclachlan in a scene from Desperate Housewives.  With Hollywood writers poised to log off their laptops as soon as Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007, TV networks were bracing for the need to fill the airwaves with reality shows,...
This photo released by ABC shows actors Shawn Pyfrom, Joy Lauren and Kyle Maclachlan in a scene from "Desperate Housewives." With Hollywood writers poised to log off their laptops as soon as Thursday,...   (Associated Press)
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