Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Hollywood writers' union leaders are expected to ratify strike plans Friday, with a work stoppage by movie and television writers starting as soon as Monday.

Members of the Writers Guild of America voted by a 9 to 1 margin last month to authorize a strike. Guild leaders told about 3,000 members gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center Thursday night that there would be a strike.

The president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the movie studios and television networks, said the guild's action Thursday had been expected.

"By the WGA leadership's actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight's recommendation," J. Nicholas Counter III said. "We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend."

As of Friday, no new talks were scheduled. Negotiations between the guild and the alliance broke off Wednesday without an agreement being reached. The previous agreement expired at midnight Wednesday.

Teamsters Union boss Jim Hoffa has said his members support the writers "as the fuel that keeps the multibillion dollar motion picture and television industry driving," and will honor picket lines, which will complicate and likely shut down some productions, even if the script is already written.

The writers want a sharp increase in residual payments for movies and television series sold on DVDs, and pay schedules for programming shown on the Internet, cellular telephones and other new media outlets.

Counter has called the guild's proposals untenable.

"We need relief from soaring costs, rising deficits and restrictive contract provisions and instead the WGA gives us untenable proposals that further raise costs and encumber our ability to adapt to these revolutionary times," Counter has said.

The WGA Negotiating Committee issued a statement accusing the alliance of not responding "to a single one of our important proposals" since negotiations began July 16.

"Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs and jurisdiction, has been ignored," the statement said. "This is completely unacceptable."

The gulf between the two sides, the writers' anger over past contracts and their animosity toward management all have led to predictions of a long strike if one takes place.

The first casualty of a strike would be late-night talk shows, which likely would be forced into reruns in the event of a writers strike.

Primetime programming is unlikely to be affected until January because of episodes that have already been produced, but not aired. Additional episodes can be made using scripts that have been completed, but not filmed or taped yet.

A lengthy work stoppage causing television production to be interrupted likely would mean more unscripted, competition, and game show programming and news magazines in primetime come January, when little original scripted programming would be available.

A WGA strike in 1988 was the last to cause a major disruption in the entertainment industry. It lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry an estimated $500 million.

"If it (cost the industry) $500 million in 1988, a slowdown of that length would have over a $1 billion impact today," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm very concerned."

A strike would have a trickle-down effect, affecting everyone from entertainment industry technicians to restaurant waiters, gardeners, florists and dog groomers.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)