11/5/2007

in

Writers Guild of America officially begins strike Monday in spite of late night negotiations Sunday night.

Jacqueline Sigler

Despite last minute negotiations on Sunday, the Writers Guild of America strike began as of 12:01 A.M. on Monday.  
  
Negotiations with a federal mediator were held at a Hollywood hotel on Sunday, but they finished at 9:30PM PT, a half-hour after NY-based guild members officially went on strike, reports USA Today. The strike marks the first major Hollywood labor disruption since 1988.  
  
Writers and studios are conflicting over royalties for movies and TV shows offered on the Internet and sold on DVD. Picket lines are scheduled for today.  
  
Aside from late-night talk shows such as Jay Leno, David Letterman and The Daily Show, who will feel the first effects by going into repeats immediately, soap operas, sitcoms and dramas would shut down by February, once they're exhausted the supply of episodes and already written scripts. "This is ultimately about money, but it's also about respecting writers as the primary creative artists who create content that earns billions of dollars for these companies," says Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse, a member of the guild's negotiating committee.