Longtime negotiator for Hollywood studios faced 2 writers strikes

Nick Counter, 69, a long-standing negotiator for the major studios who squared off against Hollywood writers during a 100-day strike last year, died Nov. 6 in Los Angeles. The family of the former president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to specify the cause of death.

Mr. Counter was a fixture in Hollywood labor circles, having overseen approximately 400 labor contracts with writers, actors, film crews, musicians and scores of other professionals. He served as AMPTP's president for 27 years and was the chief negotiator for 311 major labor pacts, including six in 2008. He retired in February.

For most of his tenure, Mr. Counter presided over a period of relative labor calm, except for two major strikes that rocked Hollywood, in 1988 and last year, both by the Writers Guild of America.

Over the years, Mr. Counter was praised by his colleagues for giving the often-fractious alliance a unified voice, a task that became increasingly trying as studios became facets of media conglomerates with diverse businesses.

The group often has had difficulty reaching consensus because it represents more than 350 film and television producers, including major media giants that are fierce competitors.

At the same time, Mr. Counter's pugnacious style and tactics -- which included staring down opponents and publicly rebuking union officials who angered him -- made him the nemesis of many rank-and-file workers, especially during the most recent writers strike, when he was depicted as tone-deaf to their concerns.

Despite his bare-knuckles style, Mr. Counter rarely lost his cool and sometimes displayed a soft side that disarmed his opponents. In the heat of negotiations with the Writers Guild in 2004, for example, he gave an emotional speech paying tribute to Dan Petrie, the director and father of the former guild president.

A Phoenix-born, Stanford University-educated labor lawyer in Los Angeles, Mr. Counter was tapped by the studios in 1982 to unify the newly formed alliance, whose members had squabbled over how labor negotiations should be conducted.

He stipulated that companies act with one voice, viewing a "strike against one as a strike against all." Instead of responding to union demands, he made companies craft proposals.

His biggest challenge came six years later during the 1988 strike by writers that lasted 22 weeks. Mr. Counter and his labor counterparts became convinced that disruptions could be avoided if negotiations began well before contract expirations.

The approach worked well, at least until autumn 2007, when the writers -- fearful that studios were shortchanging their future in the Internet era -- again went on a strike. The walkout followed weeks of acrimonious talks between Mr. Counter and guild officials.

Some senior studio executives were unhappy with how Mr. Counter handled the negotiations, thinking he had underestimated the union's resolve. They made it clear that they wanted him to retire once contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild concluded, people close to the executives said.

Mr. Counter served as a trustee on 14 of the guild and union health and pension funds and also as a trustee for the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

-- Los Angeles Times