Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― A producer said filming has stopped on the popular NBC sitcom "The Office" because star Steve Carell has refused to cross the picket lines of striking writers.

Greg Daniels, executive producer of the show, said the last new episode of the show will air next week. It is among at least eight prime-time shows to stop shooting as of Wednesday because of the strike.

A publicist for Carell has not returned calls from The Associated Press.

Daniels was among 60 people who protested outside Disney studios in Burbank as the strike entered its third day.

Production of other big-name shows already has ground to a halt, and producers have started striking back with plans to suspend scores of long-term production deals.

The daily stream of topical material for late-night talk shows died up first, with the likes of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "Late Show With David Letterman" going into reruns immediately beginning Monday.

Though many producers stockpiled episodes, and scripts, in anticipation of a strike, ABC's hit "Desperate Housewives" suspended production Tuesday, along with CBS' "Rules of Engagement" and Fox's "Back to You" and "'Til Death."

The trickle-down effect could be devastating in a city where entertainment appears to be king -- even if it isn't. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told the Web magazine "Moviemaker: MAGAZINE" that the strike could mean up $1 billion in losses.

The most recent Writers Guild of America strike, in 1988, lasted 22 weeks and drained an estimated $500 million from the industry.

The writers are at odds with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over their share of supplemental payments, known as residuals, for programming run on such new media as the Internet.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was once a labor organizer, has been using what influence he has to urge the two sides to keep talking. On Wednesday, City Council President Eric Garcetti was introducing a resolution to that effect.

Red-shirted strikers continued Wednesday to picket outside studios in prominent locations, such as Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue and, in the San Fernando Valley, outside the gates of Universal and Warner Bros.

The WGA, including its east and west chapters, represents about 12,000 writers, some who make millions of dollar a year and others who barely made enough to pay union dues.

Sally Field brought her family from her show "Brothers and Sisters" to picket lines Wednesday morning.

Some other big names have joined the mostly unknown scribes on picket lines this week. Among them were Jay Leno, who brought doughnuts to striking writers. Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Seinfield" fame -- also the first of the cast to reemerge with a viable series -- the "New Adventures of Old Christine" -- picketed in Toluca Lake.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that major studios were planning on suspending long-term joint production deals with writer-producers, which could result in hundreds of layoffs.

A first wave of letters was going out from some big studios on Wednesday, hitting writer-producers -- "hyphenates" in the industry lingo -- whose companies do not have shows currently in production.

"Anyone who's not working on pilots or shows is going to get suspension letters," one top studio executive told The Times.

The strike poses a dilemma for "hyphenates" and show runners, who as WGA members, are obligated to stop writing while as producers, they must ensure the survival of their shows.

Under multi-year deals with writer-producers, studios pay for the entire production costs -- down to office rents and lattes.

Not all production companies financed by the studios will be cut off, The Times reported. The most prolific ones, run by such high-profile figures as David E. Kelley, creator of "Boston Legal" and "The Practice" and John Wells of "ER," are unlikely to be touched, according to studio executives.

Dana Gould, a former writer on "The Simpsons," described the studios' tactic as a "controlled burn" strategy that would save these giant companies millions of dollars. He told The Times the timing couldn't be better, amid television's recent poor ratings.

"It's a reboot. They want to hit Control-Alt-Delete on the fall season," he said.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)