`No Strikes,' Says Dowling; The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Cites Potentially Devastating Impact on Entertainment Industry; Billions of Dollars at Stake.

Entertainment Editors

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 9, 2001

"There should not be the slightest doubt of what to do. There should not be a strike," The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Robert J. Dowling said in a strongly worded editorial about the looming WGA contract deadline three weeks away.

Against a backdrop of growing pessimism and resignation to WGA and SAG strikes in many entertainment industry quarters, Dowling defied the conventional wisdom that the strike issues are too complex and the two sides too far apart for settlement.

"The current writers negotiations are not, as many think they are, about 40 or 50 different complex issues -- there are about only four or five issues, and reasonable people should be able to solve them," the 13-year publishing veteran of The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

Dowling believes that common ground should be easy to find. "Whatever it takes, work it out. There is a solution," he said in his commentary. He also emphasized that, once the writers negotiations are settled, "the actors should meet with management and do the very same thing with reason, common sense and speed."

"Cut Out The Spin, The Posturing and The Grandstanding"

Dowling repeated his call for an end to public posturing and rhetoric, a consistent theme of his editorials and other public comments over the past several months.

"Above all else, get back to the table," he admonished the two sides. "Cut out the spin, the posturing and the grandstanding and solve the problem!"

Dowling repeated his warning that the future of a healthy entertainment industry is at stake. "The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people are at stake, and billions of dollars hang in the balance," he wrote.

Dowling concluded by reiterating his call for leadership. Noting that the "two dozen or so people at the negotiating table have the entire entertainment industry in their hands," Dowling said, "it makes no sense to even consider a strike in this day and age. Leadership takes vision and courage. It is time to display to all of us that the leadership at the bargaining table has both."

Dowling has been a leading speaker at entertainment and business forums around the world, including a meeting with 100 senior White House cabinet officials where he gave a primer on the entertainment industry. He has recently participated in a series of public forums, identifying common sense solutions that would avert the potentially crippling WGA and SAG strikes that could follow contract expirations on May 1 and June 30, respectively.

Dowling took over as publisher of Hollywood's first daily entertainment trade paper in 1988, the year of the last major industry strike.

The Hollywood Reporter is published by BPI Communications, owned by Netherlands-based VNU, the world's largest organization of entertainment-related publications and services. The Hollywood Reporter's Web site is updated regularly throughout the day by its editorial staff around the globe -- www.hollywoodreporter.com.

Note: Contact Lynda Miller at 323/525-2153 for a copy of the editorial or to arrange an interview with Robert Dowling.