Writer's Guild of America Press Release

A "Who's Who" of Hollywood Writers & Producers Work for TV Quality and Access

Diane English, Norman Lear, Grant Tinker, Larry Gelbart, David W. Rintels, John Gay, Allan Burns, and Greg Strangis Urge Congress To Oppose Media Consolidation

Los Angeles (5/12/03) -- As the Federal Communications Commission moves toward a decision on media ownership and consolidation rules, leading American television writers and producers are pressing U.S. Senators to recognize the critical need to preserve the future of high-quality independent programming in American television.

In letters to Senators John McCain and Ernest Hollings, more than 7 award-winning writers and producers recounted personal experiences, warned of the effects of continued media consolidation, and urged steps by Congress and the FCC to protect diversity in television and the access independent productions need to networks and cable channels.

The letters were authored by Norman Lear, Grant Tinker, David W. Rintels, John Gay, Greg Strangis, Allan Burns, Larry Gelbart, and Diane English -- giants in the American creative community, each responsible for some of the most influential and successful television shows in American history.

Since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the FCC has overseen a dramatic consolidation in the media; today, five powerful media companies (AOL Time-Warner, Disney, Viacom, General Electric, and News Corporation) control nearly 90% of the media outlets that Americans watch. The media conglomerates, as they grow, shut their doors to the independent creative community - the leaders and innovators of American television.

The FCC's pending decision will likely lift cable ownership caps and the Dual Network Rule that restricts one company from owning two national networks. The Writers Guild of America, west and the nation's creative community oppose further deregulation that erode the opportunities for independent writers and producers.

"The independent creative entrepreneurs who for years supplied the networks with the best of American programming are in jeopardy," wrote Grant Tinker, former Chair and CEO of NBC as well as President and Founder of MTM Enterprises that created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, The White Shadow, Hill Street Blues, and St. Elsewhere among others.

Many in television's creative community have seen a shift in media leadership over the past years that focuses on profits, not quality of product and overall entertainment value.

Three-time Emmy Award winner David W. Rintels wrote, "I and other writers and producers now live and work in a business where a few enormously powerful companies control virtually every aspect of the work - not just who gets to write and produce the programs, but the subjects and the treatment, and who can direct and who can act, who can photograph and who can write the music. It is true both in network and on cable television."

The changes in modern television ownership are particularly disturbing to writers and producers who created programming classics in the 1970s and 1980s.

Norman Lear, creator of All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude, among others, wrote: "We built these companies in the seventies and eighties under the watchful eye of an FCC that was committed to keeping the playing field even, protecting against the vertical integration of the major broadcasting networks that would, if they had been allowed, have forced independent companies such as ours to take a minority interest in the very shows we had created, giving majority ownership to the network in order to get on the air."

Allan Burns, producer and writer of Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, and Lou Grant among others concurred, "As one who was fortunate to work in an era unfettered by network and corporate ownership of the shows seen by American audiences, I am saddened to see what has becomeof the medium I was privileged to work in has become, depriving American television audiences of the quality and rich diversity of programming they expect and deserve."

Dianne English, creator of Murphy Brown expressed concern that if a writer/producer sells a concept to a network, they insist the program be developed "in house" with the network's production company. Along with this increased network control, comes requests and suggestions in the program's creative concepts, script and cast.

For Murphy Brown, English noted the network made several creative suggestions that would have undermined the program, "We no longer win our creative battles and television suffers for it. Here are but a few of the suggestions CBS made to me in 1988 when we were creating Murphy Brown: Murphy should be 30; she should be played by Heather Locklear; she should not be a recovering alcoholic but rather 'stressed out' and just returning from a spa; and most of the political humor that was the hallmark of the show should be eliminated because the viewer would be 'expected to read the newspaper to get the jokes.'"

The Writers Guild of America, west (WGA) represents 9,000 writers -- many of whom wrote those outstanding programs but are now being literally driven out of business. The Guild opposes pending rule changes at the Federal Communications Commission to unleash another round of mergers that would negatively impact American entertainment. The Guild opposes the lifting of cable ownership caps and the Dual Network Rule that restricts one company form owning two national networks. The Guild supports the adoption of a rule to protect the interests of the American people by requiring diversity and open access to the television marketplace.