Former chief negotiator Nick Counter, 69, dies
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Nick Counter, the longstanding former negotiator for the major studios who squared off against Hollywood’s writers during a 100-day strike in 2008, has died. He was 69.
The former president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers,
was taken to West Hills Hospital earlier this week after collapsing in his
Los Angeles home.
Counter was a fixture in Hollywood labor circles, having overseen some 400 labor
contracts with writers, actors, film crews, musicians and score of other
professions.
The former amateur boxer and University of Colorado halfback 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, marking the end of an era.
For most of his tenure, Counter presided over a period of relative labor quiet, except for two major strikes that rocked Hollywood, in 1988 and 2007-2008, both by Writers Guild of America.
--Richard Verrier
