Striking Hollywood writers rally as pressure mounts

By Steve Gorman and Dana Ford

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of Hollywood screenwriters on strike against film and TV studios rallied outside 20th Century Fox on Friday in their biggest collective show of force yet as pressure mounted on both sides to resume contract talks.

With the walkout in its fifth day, the greatest impact continued to be on scores of prime-time television shows where production work has been thrown into disarray, especially after writer-producers in charge of those programs refused to cross picket lines.

The writer-producers, also called show runners, are themselves on strike as members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA). But management insists they are obligated as producers to continue performing non-writing duties.

After many show runners publicly rebuffed studio calls for them to return to work this week, the studios issued breach-of-contract notices informing them their producer salaries would be cut off and warning of possible legal action, industry sources said.

In a separate move widely seen as a hard-ball tactic by management, some studios also began suspending scores of long-term development deals with writer-producers.

While leaders of both sides in the dispute say they are willing to return to the bargaining table, no new talks have been scheduled.

Studio representatives have indicated the union would have to put its strike on hold in order to resume negotiations, a move the union has so far rejected.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who still has close ties with many in show business from his days as an actor, said on Thursday he was talking to both sides in an effort to help them move toward settlement.