The AMPTP was founded in 1924 as the
Association of Motion Picture Producers (
AMPP). It merged with the Alliance of Television Film Producers (ATFP) in 1964 and was renamed the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In September 1975,
Universal quit the Association during craft negotiations and
United Artists and
Walt Disney Productions also notified the Association of their intention to withdraw the following month. Since its formation, the AMPTP has only had two presidents, beginning with
Nick Counter from 1982 until 2009. With Counter's retirement in March 2009, Carol Lombardini took over on an interim basis until becoming permanent president seven months later in October. Jarryd Gonzales served as AMPTP's spokesperson from 2015 to 2023. The AMPTP was an affiliate of the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
Jack Valenti, former top
White House aide to
Lyndon Johnson, started his long tenure as MPAA president in 1966. Other key 20th-century film industry executives who helped shape producer associations were
Joseph Schenck,
Lew Wasserman,
Sid Sheinberg, and
Richard Jencks. In October 2023, it was announced that over 2300 film and TV producers signed a petition to drop the word "Producers" from the AMPTP acronym (so that it would be AMPT), saying it was "left over from a long-gone era." They claimed that the alliance no longer reflected the interests of working producers, but rather the interests of studio CEOs.
Post Production Guild In 2022,
post-production workers in
New York City, represented by
Communications Workers of America (CWA) under the name The Post Production Guild, signed union cards and asked AMPTP for voluntary union recognition. AMPTP declined to voluntarily recognize the union, saying they support "a secret ballot election process by which a union can become certified as the collective bargaining representative of employees". The CWA referred to AMPTP as "anti-union", alleging the workers are "supervisors" and ineligible for representation by the
National Labor Relations Board. The group filed for a union election on March 8, 2022. ==See also==