Hollywood writers call Monday strike

By Steve Gorman and Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The union representing U.S. screenwriters called for a strike against film and TV studios starting Monday in a move giving negotiators one last weekend to reach a contract deal or shatter 20 years of Hollywood labor peace.

The strike deadline was issued on Friday, a day after a three-year contract covering the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America expired, and it follows months of talks that deadlocked over the union's demands for a greater share of DVD and Internet revenues.

Both sides have accused the other of stonewalling and refusing to budge from unreasonable proposals.

The union's negotiating panel unanimously urged a walkout during a boisterous membership meeting Thursday night, and the Writers Guild's governing board voted to ratify that recommendation.

No further contract talks were immediately scheduled, but union leaders said at a news conference there was still time to avoid a confrontation that, if prolonged, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.

"We have 48 hours, and what we really want to do is negotiate," said John Bowman, chairman of the union's negotiating committee. He said that while reluctant to go on strike, the Writers Guild felt it had to act decisively.

"We have to inflict as much damage as quickly as possible in order to get this thing over," Bowman said.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the bargaining arm of the studios, offered only a brief, terse statement by group president Nick Counter.

"We are very disappointed with their press conference and the action they took," he said, accusing union leaders of "falsehoods, misstatements and inaccuracies."

He added, "We'll respond at an appropriate time."

Union officials said the strike would begin at 3:01 a.m. EST and picket lines would go up in Los Angeles and New York City.

$1 BILLION AT RISK

The last major Hollywood strike was a Writers Guild walkout in 1988 that lasted 22 weeks, delayed the start of the fall TV season and cost the industry an estimated $500 million. Los Angeles economist Jack Kyser said a strike of the same duration today could result in at least $1 billion in economic losses.

Movie and TV audiences would notice little impact at first. The screenplay pipeline of the film studios is well-stocked through 2008. And producers of prime-time sitcoms and dramas are said to have stockpiled enough advance episodes to keep their shows on the air until January or February.

But late-night talks shows will go off the air almost immediately since they rely on a daily supply of topical jokes. On his CBS show on Thursday, David Letterman described the producers as "cowards, cutthroats and weasels."