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He was 69. He'd been ill for a long time, and was hospitalized several days ago, I'm told. A very controversial figure in Hollywood, Nick Counter served as President of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) for 27 years, from its formation in 1982 until his retirement in March of this year. Prior to being named AMPTP President, he served as outside legal counsel for the antecedent Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers for 10 years. As AMPTP President, Counter's primary responsibility was to lead the 80 industry-wide labor negotiations with entertainment industry guilds and unions on behalf of the studios, the broadcast networks, and certain cable networks. In his 27 years as AMPTP President, Counter negotiated more than 300 major guild and union agreements. Warner Bros chief Barry Meyer, considered the lead mogul behind the AMPTP, tonight called Counter "a brilliant negotiator who guided this industry through historic change and never lost his desire to be fair to all involved. We will miss him very much."
His recently named successor and longtime No. 2, AMPTP President Carol Lombardini, had this to say tonight: "Nick's passing is a profound loss for the entire entertainment community. We will all remember Nick for his passionate leadership, which was always guided by a resolute sense of fair play and an earnest desire that everyone come out a winner. Nick had a particular proficiency for developing consensus among diverse points of view and he used this skill to great advantage in negotiating hundreds of collective bargaining agreements that led to a sustained era of labor peace. Those of us who worked directly with him have lost a valued colleague and a dear personal friend. Our hearts go out to his family."
The MPAA pointed out: "He always treated people with dignity and respect in the tough circumstances of these negotiations. He knew that you could be thoughtful and kind even when the issues were difficult, and for that he was respected."
However, I would be remiss if I did not point out that Counter was not a popular figure among the majority of the Hollywood guild members who saw him as extremely polarizing. Their negotiators regularly complained about Counter's bargaining methods to force the guilds to negotiate with themselves. Counter wouldn't budge on the issues, and instead sat, and sat, and waited for the other side to get frustrated and start taking issues off the table. It was a successful albeit torturous and disrespectful tactic, one that did not endear him to the unions who often made accusations that he bargained in bad faith with them. Several unions even filed formal complaints about him with the National Labor Relations Board. Counter handled almost all the negotiations that led to and then settled the 2007/2008 Writers Guild strike. (WGA On Nick Counter's Death, Briefly) On the picket lines, WGA strikers often made signs caricaturing Counter in unflattering ways. But I was told Counter appeared ill for most of the SAG negotiations and took a backseat to Lombardini. (SAG Statements On Nick Counter's Death)
In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer donations be made to the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) or the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF.)
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kar·ma [krmə]
(plural kar·mas)
noun
1. actions determining future state: in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the quality of somebody’s current and future lives as determined by that person’s behavior in this and in previous lives.
Rest In Peace, Nick.
Scum bag. Thanks for ruining so many families. There is more to life than winning and big money – too late for you to understand that you POS.
TOO LATE what rock did live under, Nick was a class act something you will never be
Anyone who speaks ill of Nick did not sit across the table from him. Those who did, even those who vehemently disagreed with him, respected him enormously.
Anyone who speaks well of Nick never had to live with the results of the bad faith deals he made.
Hate to say it, as one should refrain from speaking ill of the dead but good riddance. This guy was human shit. He destroyed the balance in the system, ruined families and acted in bad faith with the unions. He was the Henry Clay Frick of our business.
I don’t think such opprobrium in the posts or story is appropriate tonight.
let him rot in hell.
In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations be sent to the WGA and SAG welfare funds… which has great need of it because of this greedy, fuck-wad asshole. Rot in hell, Nick…
RIP Mr. Counter.
However, this does remind me of the joke about the very unpopular politician, all of whose enemies showed up at his funeral. When asked why he was there, one of his political opponents said, “To make sure the son of a bitch is actually dead”.
That is a very poorly-constructed joke.
So long asshole.
“We will all remember Nick for his passionate leadership, which was always guided by a resolute sense of fair play and an earnest desire that everyone come out a winner.”
That was said with a straight face, right?
Burn in hell you piece of shit.
I would say I’m sorry for his family, but then of course, for years they have lived off the money Mr. Counter made while spearheading a heartless campaign which ruined the lives of so many other families of workers in the motion picture business. His relatives will all profit from his pension and trust funds, their children will go to the best schools and they’ll never feel the pain so many people in Los Angeles have felt for the last decade as this industry we all love so much has disintegrated the ground beneath our feet.
So right now, I’m not sure whether I should wail or cackle with glee……
To “A Writer” and “TOOLATE” … hatred leads to the demise of the soul. I feel sorry for you both.
Good luck on your first day of work, Nick… negotiating for Satan.
Welcome to hell, Nick.
In lieu of flowers?
Based on what so many thought of him, the only flower he would’ve gotten would be that flower that emits a putrid odor, the Stinking Corpse Lily.
Oh, and for all those who intend to dance on his grave, it might behoove someone to apply for one of those rave permits since it appears there may be a hefty turnout.
Nikki?
Nikki!
How can you be so bland in your posts on Counter? The guy ruined the union movement in this town. He stopped not only and progress, but he rolled BACK the clock on so many of the gains made by guilds and unions.
See ya, not RIP.
Sorry, but the Unions, pragmatism and modern economics destroyed the unions in this town.
Nick Counter was just an asshole.
I wonder if he’s going to be able to negotiate how hot it is where he’s going?
Nick Counter walked away early and stopped negotiating in good faith with the WGA in hopes that it would cause the WGA to self destruct. They would make the WGA look unreasonable. He was empowered by the network and studio heads to do this. This allowed the studios and networks to end deals with numerous writers and save money in production. This was the plan from the beginning. The longer the strike the more housecleaning they could do and hope the Guild would implode in desperation and look greedy and unreasonable. It was an ugly plan that hurt thousands of people. Nick was well payed for his efforts. The studio heads and network execs never took a pay cut. The WGA did not fold as they had hoped but they were wounded. And many families and businesses were too.
Barry Meyer, Jeff Zucker, Peter Roth amongst others supported this strategy whole heartedly.
“a brilliant negotiator” = a piece of shit. Best wishes in your new job, Nick: running Hell.
Who are we to judge… because… no matter what… we are all eternal souls… traveling together… for eternity… but… unfortunately… some of those we travel with… just like in life… are fucking assholes.
In lieu of flowers, the family of Nick Counter is asking that you not feed an actor or writer this weekend. Thank you.
Too Late, can’t wait for your obit. Here lies a POS Scumbag who’s life consisted of demeaning anybody who didn’t agree with him. Counter was a better human being than you’ll ever be.
F**k Nick Counter. Glad he’s dead. Wish it had been sooner.
Sorry to say this, but as long as he asked for mercy and forgiveness to Jesus Christ for him to become Nick’s personal Lord and savior, Nick should be just fine in heaven. Seriously, he was just there to do a job and that is to make sure that the moguls get their money’s worth against the guilds. In the end, it doesn’t matter what happens because some guilds came out ahead in some negotiations such as the WGA’s must recent contract which didn’t see some gains that writers wanted, but there wasn’t one rollback either.
He died of a broken heart after seeing Jay Leno take his title, Most Hated Man In Hollywood.
But, Counter was doing his job, putrid that it was. He was charged by the most militant branch of the studio and network heads to play hardball.
He may indeed have been “a brilliant negotiator” in the sense that he didn’t give a royal fuck about anyone on the other side of the table, which was an asset in his particular line of work. And he was probably kind to children and dogs, or at least his own children and dogs. But then we all are. In the end he was a pure hired gun who had no ethical qualms about being paid a ton of money by rich people to ensure everyone else stayed as poor as possible. I don’t know that we’re ever off better when someone is dead, but everyone under the title of CEO, Chairman, or Member of the Board was better off when he retired.
In other words, Josh, he was like every member of the bar I have ever met—including my own attorney.
what a great way to start the day
de mortuis nil nisi bonum, you assholes
Okay, I’ll only say good of him.
It’s good that he’s dead. In fact, it was great of him.
Only in this morally relativistic, spineless world we live in, would anyone praise or excuse a man because, while representing the interests of corporate predators, he treated those he sought to destroy with dignity and respect.
Just think about what you are saying!
It’s like thinking that the patriotism, bravery, and manly comportment of a general makes up for the fact that he gives orders to firebomb civilians.
It’s madness.
Nick Counter was just doing his job, yes, but it was a despicable one. He made a moral choice when he took it. We don’t disparage him because we “disagree” with him.
It’s because we find his actions corrupt and shameful.
Nick is hopefully rotting in hell for his years of brutally running the hard working back bone of our industry, the “early to rise – late to bed, sweat or freeze, union laborer”, into an everyday financial struggle. He definitely did NOT care about the little guy. He sat high and mighty on his hill, and he took great pleasure, in fact threw parties, for his conquests of the union defeats. His passion was the almighty dollar, not the care of the entire entertainment community that built our industry.
Nick was a class act alright, THIRD CLASS!
I didn’t agree with the tactics of this man, necessarily, but Jesus Christ, there’s a lot of people showing a total lack of class on this site tonight. Come on, folks. Besides, sometimes it takes a great enemy…
Rest in Peace, Mr. Counter and my condolences to his family.
It’s funny and tragic that you can say “condolences to his family” when I’ll bet you, like most of us, cackled with glee as the government stripped Bernie Madoff’s wife of all her ill-gained wealth and kicked her out of the condo she and Bernie ruled New York from. I and the rest of the posters here haven’t suggested rooting the relatives out or cutting of any inheritances but there is a huge amount of grief and pain soaked into the money this man accumulated and attention must be paid to that.
Nick Counter did the bidding of Peter Chernin, Bob Iger, Barry Meyer, Peter Roth, Jeff Zucker, Les Moonves and the rest of those 8 figure corporate execs. Ken Lay’s obit discussed the damage he caused in the lives of people all over the country and the vast amounts of money he made while he did it. Some of these comments her today are cruel but Nick Counter did this job willingly. He was not trying to make working conditions better for the little guy. He was trying to keep more money for the rich guy. That is a really weird job to choose in a moral sense.
It is possible not to candy coat his legacy AND show some respect for his family and those who loved him because I’m sure he was more to them than a characterized villain in their life stories, like he is for many WGA members who feel he never negotiated in good faith. All the burn in hell posts are ugly and over the top at this point. Those wanting to rewrite history and act like he was a saint are way off too.
To all the misguided ignoranti villifying Nick Counter:
Obviously, you have absolutely no clue that a negotiator is merely the mouthpiece of the studios. While tactically he may have partially set the agenda, he did not unilaterally make policy or set rates, etc. and had much less power to destroy life on this planet as you delusionally believe. He was the studio flak-catcher doing a job nothing more.
Oh yeah, and he was a very decent guy. So to the extent there is a studio afterlife, he’s not going to need extra sunscreen for the fires of hell.
This posting by ratbag is 100% right on. I would add one other thing, Nick Counter was not a union buster, and I would encourage people to read Ken Orsatti’s comments in the other posts. He nailed it.
Don’t worry, we’re also brewing up vast new buckets of bile to pour over the graves of the studio heads as well. We are equal-opportunity vilifiers here.
Ratbag is correct. He carried out what the studios told him to.
But who wants to do a job like that? Destroy the little guy for the bidding of a handful who have all the power and money?
He must have wanted some approval somewhere. He was a smart and talented guy who got sucked in to an ugly job for a very long period of his one and only life. Didn’t that article say he was only going to do it for a few years?
What made this job appealing to him? What did he get out of it?
Has it occurred to any of you spewing venom that for 15 years with Nick Counter on the other side of the table … from 1983 to 1998 … there was never a work stoppage with SAG?
Golly gee, guys — Maybe – just maybe – since that time the demands of the studios and management of the guilds changed to one of adversarial rather than the understanding that each side is reliant upon the other.
Look at the bigger picture. No one seems to do that anymore.
Anita… What do you call the SAG commercial strike?
So if God and the Devil are negociating Nick’s future “employment” status he now knows what it feels like.
Wow! I am blown away by some of you people. Are you proud of yourselves? Yeah, you must be pretty cool to spit and piss all over some guy who JUST died. Bravo! Very brave. And all of that “Hope you burn in hell” stuff? – OMG, SO clever, funny and appropriate. It’s easy to see that you’re a much, MUCH better person than he was.
You know what? It shouldn’t matter if he was an asshole, or if he ruined this industry for you (what with it’s rich history of fairness, job security and generous profit sharing for all), have some respect for his family at least! Show some kindness and human decency. Proudly displaying such gleeful, bitter contempt only makes you look worse than the person you’re demonizing. If you can’t bring yourself to forgive your enemy or turn the other cheek, no problem. Just keep it to yourself and show some class.
“Rot in Hell You Piece of Shit”?…I am embarrassed to be part of a profession where another human being would write such despicable sentences upon the death of a man none of you ever knew. He was a negotiator. Just like a defense lawyer, he did his job. And because he did his job in a manner you disagree with, you write sentences like, “So long asshole” and “What a great way to start the day.”
All of you should be ashamed.
By the way, I am a WGA member so don’t lecture me on how many “lives were ruined”. Nobody’s lives were ruined because of a labor negotiation.
“Nobody’s lives were ruined because of a labor negotiation.”
Are you serious?!?!?!
How is it living with your head in the sand?
Liar. You’re not WGA. And just because he was doing his job doesn’t justify despicable human behavior. Fuck him and fuck you.
Very articulate. That’s just good writing! Doin’ the WGA proud!
May God have mercy on Nicholas Counter’s soul. And grant peace to his family. And never again inflict on writers an adversary so determined to destroy their livelihoods, and a WGA management so determined to enable him.
Amen StickingWithMyUnion. The focus now needs to shift to Carol Lombardini and what kind of mischief and cheating the moguls will commit between now and 2011.
it’s appaling to see all the negative comments on Nick Counter’s death, a reminder of the maxim that you “don’t kill the messenger”. Nick Counter was sent out to do what his bosses were assigning him — which, for anybody who was observent of the action — was to hasten the demise of the unions. If you were, in fact, a fan of SAG and WGA and what they were hoping to acheive, you would instead focus your energies on seeing the early demise of Bob Iger, Peter Chernin, Barry Meyer, et al, who were determined to use the 2008-2009 negotiations to break the unions = and garnered tens of millions or dollars in profits from their corporate overseers in doing so. Credit where credit is due, and pain therein.
i’am 59 years old, i’ve known nick since i was 18. i grew up in south central l.a.,
when i was 22 ,nick defended me and five others on fake gun charges free.
i don’t care about what those who have bad things to say about him. his family,
treated me and my family like gold. that said, let see how many of you would have,
done that, ,you loud mouth punk/cowards, rip nick.
Wow. All this hate. Why not direct that in equal (if not more) measure at all your brilliant union leaders? Nick was a fabulous consensus builder from the 1980s through the 1990s, but then everybody out here started to feel entitled and leftier than tho (but god forbid you should live anywhere but in or near 90049), and the amateurs and buffoons at the unions who understand nothing about the business of the business acted childishly and way overplayed their digital hand. Anybody get any checks lately for all that interet stuff that was so important to strike over? Nick was a wonderful man; it’s a shame you haters never really knew him.
“Why not direct that in equal (if not more) measure at all your brilliant union leaders?”
We do.
Would you all say the same about the union negotiators who agreed to these deals? And those of you who chose to approve them?
Yes.
To those defending Mr. Counter here, yes, he is deceased, but it is rare any passing meets this level of vitriol.
When the negative comments outweigh the positives this blatantly, it did not happen by accident.
There are many people who can be charming or display a wry wit, while they are working to disenfranchise the many (Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, Michael Milken — I would include various dictators, serial killers, etc…but let’s keep it in the financial realm, since Hollywood is only about profit). It does not make them worthy of defense upon their demise.
LEAVE NICK ALONE!! The poor man is dead! He is not a murderer he negotiated agreements.. No matter what your opinion is please respect the dead. I am sure you would not appreciate comments like this after you passed.. Also please don’t try to justify your disrespectful comments by mentioning things that supposedly the man has done while he was alive he is not here to defend himself so just let it GO!!
Yes, you’re right, I would not appreciate comments like this after I passed. But, I did not hurt people the way this man did. He did more bad and than good. If he was such a wonderful human being the comments would be much different. But, they’re not.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you punch a writer in the face.
Bon riddance.
During the writer’s strike, folks used to come on here and say just vicious, inhuman, immature things about whoever was in the way of what they personally wanted in their own lives.
Back then I thought “These people are very impassioned and concerned about their own families. They say these things in the middle of a very difficult time. It’s still regrettable, but understandable.”
Now a guy is dead after a painful sickness, leaving behind a family and others who loved him and are grieving him, and you all write this stuff. Petty, mean, small stuff. Now I know, all along, you all just a bunch of fucking selfish assholes. You should be very ashamed, and you never will be, and that’s how your life will go, and that’s how the world will always be. Too bad.
To all those of you who are making with the phony crap about what a good guy Nick Counter was, mainly because it’s the P.C. thing to do. My feeling is this: It cheapens the kind words and genuine condolences that are offered when a truly good person dies. We should all be willing to let the chips fall where they may and be remembered based on the actions of our lives. Nick Counter was clearly remembered here by the actions of his life. To diminish the pain and suffering he caused working people is as disgusting as it would be to diminish the good and decent acts of nice people who pass away. Nick Counter wrote his own legacy and his own eulogy. Don’t blame us for just reading it out loud.
to those people defending nick, it’s your actions in life that define you. even if he was a nice guy, his actions ruined a lot of lives and KO’d an industry already on the ropes.
Exactly. Death doesn’t make you good all of a sudden. He was a POS for what he did over many years. Fight for bigger margins by destroying jobs and families. Class act – yeah right.
I dare each and every one of you scumbags who spew any of this hatred and bile to say it directly to the man’s family. God bless the anonymity of the internet.
Jesus was the first union organizer. May he have pity on you Nick.
He may have been “…just doing the bidding of the studios…” but he agreed to the job and the only thing that mattered was winning, NOT getting a fair deal for both sides. While I feel for his family
at their loss, his tactics can NOT be applauded.
And shame on anyone who thinks is actions were laudable.
Nick never had un unkind word to say about any unions or union negotiators. This I know because I sat both across the table, and on the same side as did he. Nick Counter was a good guy, always professional, who did his job very well.
So well that every semi-talented or just untalented writer who can’t seem to take the responsibility of their own career failures, is getting some small prverse pleasure by spitting on his grave.
Grow up, you malcontents, and think about the notion of your own unions and representatives having an equal role in the state of your current contracts. If you don’t like what’s going on in this Industry, go do something else- there are thousands of would-be writers that would do anything to get a shot at being in the WGA.
buh-bye.
good riddance. i agree with the majority of these posters. nick counter left the business the worse for the majority and more profitable for the few all for the sake of his own bank account. if half of goldman sachs dropped dead tomorrow i’d say the same thing. greedy assholes are not missed and we should not pretend they were good guys just because they have the decency to shuffle off this mortal coil.
and don’t say ‘he was just doing his job’. that is never an excuse.
How cowardly – how small-minded – how ignorant of your own condition to blame Nick Counter for changed in the entertainment industry which the unions never anticipated or came to terms with.
You may wish to blame Nick for your attachment to the horse and carriage, but his bosses charged him to keep this industry alive by supporting new technology.
You may wail and deride Nick all you wish, but a dead man is an easy target to blame for your own failings.
If there is truly such passionate feeling about these matters, perhaps those flooding this site with vehemence should instead take some responsibility and work with their union to create a viable plan.
It would be a good idea to wake up and see that the world (and technology) is changing this industry. No one gave you a birthright to enjoy employment in one of the most prestigious and least demanding industries on the planet. If you want more regular work, perhaps you should apply to Walmart or 7-11 or McDonalds where there is no conflict over employee rights or rewards. That is where cry-baby-blamers like you might ultimately appreciate what Nick Counter has done for the entertainment industry.
JML
God, you are all fools. The whole point of negotiation is that both sides hire the best and toughest people to negotiate for them. For the AMPTP Nick was that guy. Sometimes he got a good deal, I’m sure there were times when he didn’t get the best deal. We can only hope the WGA and SAG and the DGA hire the best and toughest they can find to negotiate for them.
Demonizing the actual negotiators on either side is beyond stupid, they may be nice people in their personal lives or they may be assholes, but at the table they are either competent or incompetent. Sad for us perhaps, Nick was extraordinarily dogged and competent most of the time so he won many battles. But those who actually were hands on in negotiations with him, whether they felt like they won or lost, respected him and enjoyed him.
The comments made by some on this post are vile, childish and heartless. A human being has passed away. If you cannot disagree with another human being without vilifying them, you miss the whole point of democracy. But more than that you miss the whole thrust of progress which is to move to a higher place. As actors you should be able to understand that conflicting view points do not have to give birth to hatred. After all the acting out of conflict is the soul of drama and the whole point of acting out of that conflict in drama is to move civilization forward – do it on stage so you don’t have to do it in life. My only conclusion therefore is that the out of work hacks who post their frustrated venom aren’t very good at their craft and clearly not very evolved in their lives.
This has nothing to do with democracy. Mr. Counter was paid to do the bidding of the Peter Chernin, Barry Meyer, Peter Roth, Jeff Zucker, Kevin O’Reilly, Les Moonves, Steve McPherson…and implement their financial desire. Most of these comments are trying to discuss his work legacy. Bernie Madoff was a many things to many people. He was considered a success until his downfall. Nick was considered a success by this side. A discussion about the full reach of his actions is not unwarranted but democratic. It is called freedom of speech.
He was paid by the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers to represent their interests to the best of his abilities. He did that. He wasn’t paid to be nice, to try to figure out how to help the little guy, to ensure all families of actors were provided for.
He did what lawyers are ethically required to do – represent his client in accordance with the client’s wishes.
I wonder if the irate posters here spent as much time strategizing their positions and supporting their unions as they have whining and
bitching.
No wonder they have so much to whine about.
The outrage at some of these comments rings false. Mr. Counter made his choice and this is a legacy of that decision. You cannot spend most of your life trying to undermine your fellow man and expect a ticker tape parade when you kick the bucket.
By the way, JML, who said this…
“How cowardly – how small-minded – how ignorant of your own condition to blame Nick Counter for changed in the entertainment industry which the unions never anticipated or came to terms with.”
… No one is blaming Mr. Counter for changes in the industry. They are blaming him for being an asshole.
Death does not absolve any of us from the sins we commit in our lives.
That includes both lying for personal gain and speaking ill of the dead.
However, being a formidable or accomplished liar should not engender respect from anyone. It should engender our contempt.
Which understandably, in many cases here… it has.
It is sad when anyone dies.
More so when the deceased so obviously did not understand or care how the actions he committed during his life hurt so many people… CEO’s and shareholders not withstanding.
Pray for Nick Counter. Wherever he’s going, he can use all the help he can get.
@observer:
To continue this discussion is essentially worthless but…do you even know how a negotiation works? Do you even understand how collective bargaining operates? To think that what you obviously consider a bad SAG deal has something PERSONALLY to do with Nick Counter is beyond belief. For further understanding of how this works see the post by “Louise” just a couple posts above yours.
If you want a better contract, stop whining and get better lawyers and negotiators to get you one. That’s how it works, fellow union member.
I knew Nick personally through his wife, who is a client of mine. He was a loving and loyal husband and father who provided well for his family. As an attorney, he did exactly as he was expected to do by his clients, and he served them well. That his adversaries disagree with those clients is no reason to show such horrible disrespect to the man. He knew how to play hardball, but that was his job. To do otherwise would be to risk disbarment for failing to serve his clients’ interest. The anger against him should be directed against the studios.