The End of Writers' Strike 1988

On August 8, 1988, by a vote of 2,111 to 412, members of the Writers Guild of America ratified a new four-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ending the longest Writers Guild strike in Hollywood history, which surpassed by one day the Writers Guild strike of 1960.

As a result of the 22-week strike, the writers had gained extremely modest financial gain when one-hour television shows were sold to stations abroad.

The old formula for foreign residuals paid a writer a maximum of about $4,400 for a one-hour show.

Under the new plan, the writers would have the option of the existing formula, or a new plan that would pay them 1.2 percent of the producer's foreign sales.

The latter option would apply as long as the payment was not less than 85 percent of the current residual.

But the writers were forced to accept a sliding formula for when episodes of one-hour shows were syndicated to American television stations after their network runs.

That meant that instead of earning a maximum of $16,920 in residual payments for six broadcasts of each episode of a series like "Knots Landing," a writer could receive as little as $8,460 per episode for six showings or, if the market changed, as much as $25,380.

A number of Guild members however remained unsatisfied with the outcome. There was however no clear-cut winner.

The new 1988/1989 season had to be delayed as many shows struggled to premiere in November.

Episode orders for a number of shows were cut from the standard 22-24 to 20 or fewer. Ratings plunged 9% on average as opposed to the previous year.

Of course, the writers themselves as well as production workers, caterers, shipping services and a host of other industries that depended on film and television for their business were out of work for almost half a year causing losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Many however hoped the industry learned its lesson and would not let a lengthy strike cripple the television business again.

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Writers Strike 1988: Carson & Letterman Return

In 1988 it took David Letterman one month longer to strike a special deal with the WGA and return to air than it did in 2008. Johnny Carson whose "Tonight" show had also reached an agreement with the Guild however crossed the picket lines weeks before as the legendary host began to write his own monologues.

In late May 1988, it was reported that the Writers Guild of America had approved a special contract with over 70 independent producers (non-members of the AMPTP that the WGA was battling at the bargaining table).

The breakthrough allowed companies that produced NBC's "Tonight Show" as well as hit sitcoms "The Cosby Show" and "ALF" to go back into production as their writers were allowed to work for those companies.

Unlike Johnny Carson, David Letterman vowed not to go back on air without his writers and waited for the approval of the contract. His "Late Show," then broadcast on NBC after Carson's "Tonight Show," went back on air in early June.

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Writers' Strike 1988: Writerproof Schedule

"Come hell or high water, we'll have original programming this fall," vowed late President of NBC Entertainment Brandon Tartikoff in June 1988, just before the writers' strike was about to enter its fifth month.

What NBC management had in mind was an emergency fall schedule of "writerproof" programs, including foreign shows, variety programs and old series remakes.

Having won the 1987/1988 season, the Peacock network was possibly best prepared for the fall 1988 as it was about to launch a new season with the live telecast of the Summer Olympics in Seoul (NBC acquired the broadcast rights for the event for $300 million).

Also, some of the companies supplying prime-time programming had already made independent agreements with the Writers' Guild (e.g. "The Cosby Show").

NBC was also planning to introduce reality programming, as well as produce existing scripts that hadn't been filmed in the past. Also, there was talk of filming foreign shows with American actors.

But many observers dismissed this NBC plan saying filming old or foreign scripts would still require rewrites.

Furthermore, the network was planning to use the Olympics (as well as the World Series which also aired on NBC at the time) to promote its fall schedule, an opportunity which would have been wasted had the fall season been canceled and shows like "L.A.Law" remained in repeats.

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Flashback TV Ratings: 1987/1988 Season

Speaking of 1988, what were the hottest shows on primetime TV and how many viewers did they use to pull in? Can you guess which network won the season by an even wider margin then the year before? The top-20 shows of the 1987/1988 season, after the jump.

1. The Cosby Show, NBC 24.6 million homes.
2. A Different World, NBC 22.2 million
3. Cheers, NBC 21.0 million
4. Golden Girls, NBC 19.3 million
5. Growing Pains, ABC 19.0 million
6. Who's the Boss?, ABC 18.8 million
7. Night Court, NBC 18.6 million
8. 60 Minutes, CBS 18.2 million
9. Murder, She Wrote, CBS 17.9 million
10.The Wonder Years, ABC 16.8 million

11. ALF, NBC 16.6 million
12. L.A. Law, NBC 16.2 million
12. Moonlighting, ABC 16.2 million
14. N.F.L. Monday Night Football, ABC 16.1 million
15. Matlock, NBC 15.8 million
16. Amen, NBC 15.5 million
17. Family Ties, NBC 15.4 million
18. CBS Sunday Night Movie, CBS 15.0 million
19. Valerie's Family, NBC 15.1 million
19. In the Heat of the Night, NBC 15.1 million

As you can see NBC had as many as 12 shows in the top-20, its Thursday night Must-See TV line-up being of course the crown jewel.

The chart above includes only the regularly scheduled programming. Also, the results are stated in 'millions of homes' not 'millions of viewers'.

In 1988 there were 88.6 million homes with television in the US. That means 28% of the nation's TV homes watched the #1 program "The Cosby Show." An average US TV home has 2.5 people.

Such ratings are almost impossible in today's climate when the average number of channels a household receives jumped (from 25 in 1988) to 104 and new sources of entertainment such as the Internet lure the eyeballs away.

Today there are over 111 million homes with TV in the US and 82% of them have more than one television. "CSI," the #1 scripted program on network TV, has however averaged "only" 19.43 million viewers, so far this season.

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Writers Strike 1988: Scabs to the Rescue

"It's a little as if you leave your children with a trusted sitter for the weekend and return to find them all juvenile delinquents and in jail" - Claire Labine, co-creator of ABC's "Ryan's Hope" on the damage caused by substitute scriptwriters during the 13-week writers' strike in 1981.

Unlike primetime programs, many of which had all of their scripts completed by the time the strike began, daytime soaps are in a completely different game. They are expected to continue churning out fresh episodes throughout the year. So, how did the "Big Three" deal with the sudden departure of soap writers in March 1988?

ABC announced the programming would continue as usual; CBS said the actors would continue to get the scripts; and only NBC admitted that they would be hiring non-guild freelancers. One of the WGA executives sarcastically said at the time the scripts would probably be written by "secretaries, producers and somebody's mother."

Many of the soaps suffered in quality as the strike dragged on, but they had mostly managed to sustain viewer interest. "Santa Barbara" was named that year "Outstanding Daytime Drama Series" (winning 2 out of 8 nominations) winning praise for Eden's rape storyline.



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How Writers' Strike 1988 Cut TV Shows Short

Although many of the hit series in the 1987/1988 season had already had all of their scripts written by the time the writers' strike began, some shows like "Moonlighting," "The Cosby Show," L.A.Law," "Cheers" and "Thritysomething" were brought to an abrupt end.

In 1988 that meant a total of 24 (instead of 26) episodes of "The Cosby Show"; 20 (instead of 22) episodes of "L.A. Law"; 25 (instead of 26) episodes of "Cheers"; and 21 (instead of 24) episodes of "Thirtysomething."

"Moonlighting" was always plagued with production delays. In the 1986/1987 season the Cybill Shephard and Bruce Willis-fronted romantic dramedy produced only 15 episodes, so a total of mere 14 episodes in the strike-affected 1987/1988 season was not a significant setback.

Obviously, the TV industry was in a much better position than it is today when the strike occurred in the middle of the 2007/2008 season, possibly cutting the season orders for most of the prime-time dramas and comedies in half.

But the writers' strike in 1988 did cause some additional trouble for producers of the hour-long dramas as, unlike comedies that have self-contained episodes, they weave their story threads from week to week and many were forced to come to an abrupt end.

Harry Hamlin, the star of "L.A. Law" for example barely appears in the final episodes shot, because he was supposed to be featured heavily in the final 2 episodes that didn't get to be written and produced.

As many shows came to an end in late April or early May (some concluded their seasons as early as March) the TV networks began pumping their line-ups with made-for-TV movies and repeats of mini-series, some of which never would have been scheduled had there not been for the strike.

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Writers' Strike 1988: How and Why It Began

In late February 1988, media reported that contract talks with 9000 movie and television writers, members of the WGA union which, by that time, had already had a history of storming out on strike, were coming down to the wire. Hollywood however didn't seem to care.

The timing of the strike was not very fortunate for the WGA. The contract expired on Monday, February 29, 1988 and the writers hit the picket lines by Wednesday, March 8. By this time, however, many prime-time TV series had already had all their scripts for the 1987/1988 season, few were forced to cut their episode orders.

Although there were several issues of concern, the major sticking point appeared to be residual payments to writers when one-hour television series like "Murder She Wrote" or "Miami Vice" are syndicated after their network runs.

The producers insisted that writers be paid residuals on a sliding scale. The writers however preferred the rule from the 1985 contract that the entire amount owed to the writer as a royalty must be paid when the series is sold in even one city.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers argued that the market had changed and TV studios could no longer make profit simply by selling a TV show to a TV network. The license fees the networks were willing to pay no longer covered the cost of production and studios ran huge deficits for each episode produced.

A typical one-hour drama would lose about $350,000, although some action-based series like "Hunter" could end up losing as much as $500,000 per episode. The only way a production studio could make a profit was for a show to become a hit and last for at least 4 years, thus putting 100 episodes in the can.

Studios would then be able to sell these 100-episode packages to independent stations (syndication) and finally make profit. In 1988, ratings for one-hour dramas in syndication were very low (compared to half-hour sitcoms like "Three's Company").

Also, for every 100 episode hit the studios were able to make money on, there were many duds canceled before they even ran their original 13-episode orders, thus soaking up profits from other more successful skeins.

The writers, on the other hand, made most of their money on residuals, not the original fee, and such a step back in compensation seemed unacceptable to the Guild. Also, the union claimed only 12 of the 45 hour-long dramas posted significant deficits, whereas the producers said only 3 out of 45 didn't.

Later the focus of the strike shifted to the booming foreign markets. For instance, in many European countries at the time, instead of the official 2 state-run broadcasters, there was suddenly a number of private channels (e.g. Sky in Britain) which heavily relied upon American production. The writers however earned no residuals.

Prior to the 1988 strike, the writers had already gone out on strike for 13 weeks in 1981 over a formula for residuals on original programming made for pay-television (cable). Although the issues appeared important at the time of the strike, the market for original cable programming in the 1980s didn't really take off.

In 1985, the WGA tried to initiate yet another strike over the formula for residuals on movies sold for video cassettes. That strike however collapsed amid dissension within the guild.

The 1988 strike last for 5 months and was the longest strike in the Hollywood history. Will the 2007/2008 strike exceed the record?

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Next Week on "Flashback Saturdays"

Next weekend on "Flashback Saturdays," I'll be looking at the evolution of Rupert Murdoch's FOX as the fourth broadcast network in the US, beginning with its launch in 1987; the success of signature series "Married with Children," "The Simpsons," "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "The X-Files" in the 1990s; as well as the phenomenon called "American Idol," which ensured FOX's undisputed win in the 18-49 race.

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