J. Nicholas Counter, III
J. Nicholas Counter III has been President of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) since its formation in 1982. For the 10 years prior, he served as outside legal counsel for the antecedent Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers.
Counter’s primary responsibility is to lead the 80 industry-wide labor negotiations with entertainment industry guilds and unions on behalf of over 350 motion picture and television producers (member companies include the studios, the broadcast networks, certain cable networks and independent producers).
Counter serves as a Trustee on fourteen of the guild and union health and pension funds and also is a Trustee for the Motion Picture & Television Fund. His responsibilities also include a wide range of industry-related issues and concerns from global production to safety to the environment as well as community and governmental relations.
The AMPTP is the primary trade association with respect to labor issues in the motion picture and television industry. As the entertainment industry’s official collective bargaining representative, the AMPTP is responsible for negotiating with virtually all the industry’s guilds and unions, including the American Federation of Musicians (AFM); American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); Directors Guild of America (DGA); International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); Laborers Local 724; Screen Actors Guild (SAG); Teamsters Local 399; and Writers Guild of America (WGA).
He serves on the Board of Directors of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, having served as a past president. He is on the Operating Board of Directors of Entertainment Industry Foundation, having served as a past chair.
A graduate of the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, Counter earned a law degree from Stanford University in 1966. He first practiced law at Rutan and Tucker, before going to Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp where the Association was one of his principal clients.