Hollywood writers go on strike

The Writers Guild of America went on strike early Monday morning after last-ditch negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to yield a new contract. Talks first broke down Wednesday, but while the two sides made minimal headway over the weekend, they remain some distance apart on the point of biggest contention: Hollywood scribes' demands for a share of income derived from webisodes, mobisodes and other scripted new-media formats. Writers and producers are also squaring off on a series of related issues, including broadening the scope of cable programming under WGA jurisdiction, adding reality series and animation to the contract and increasing residuals on DVDs.

By most accounts, the strike should prove long and debilitating--Hollywood is bracing for repercussions even more far-ranging than 1988's infamous 22-week walkout, which cost the industry an estimated $500 million. Late-night talk shows are expected to immediately go into mothballs. NBC has already said series like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live will be forced to go into repeats in the absence of new material, and a similar fate will likely befall CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman and Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. It's again worth noting that repurposed late-night programming constitutes a sizable chunk of current mobile TV content.

For more on the Hollywood strike:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

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