FACTBOX: Key episodes in Hollywood writers' strike

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Hollywood directors' union said on Thursday it had reached a tentative contract deal with major film and TV studios.

The agreement is seen as likely to hasten efforts to settle a 10-week old strike by screenwriters that has thrown the U.S. television industry into disarray and derailed some movie production.

Following are some key developments in the Hollywood disputes;

* 10,500 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike on November 5 in a dispute focusing on how studios should pay writers for work distributed over the Internet and other new media. No talks have been held since December 7.

* The strike has brought production on most scripted prime-time dramas and comedies to a halt, including such shows as "Desperate Housewives", "Ugly Betty" and "The Office".

* Some 65 prime-time TV dramas and comedies employing more than 10,000 people are shot in the Los Angeles area, according to FilmL.A. Inc. It estimates that the TV industry is losing $21 million a day from the shutdown.

* The Golden Globes and People's Choice Awards in January took place without stars or traditional galas because many actors threatened to boycott the events rather than cross picket lines of striking writers.

* The Grammy music awards and the Oscar ceremony in February are threatened because of the strike.

* Television studios this week canceled dozens of program development and production deals for the upcoming 2008 season.

* Several independent film and TV companies, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co and late-night TV host David Letterman's Worldwide Pants, have reached their own agreements with the WGA that have allowed writers back to work for those companies.

* On January 17, the 13,000-member Directors Guild of America, which is regarded as less militant than the WGA, reached a tentative contract after five days of formal talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and about two weeks of informal discussions.

* The deal reached by the DGA includes wage increases, increases in reuse fees, or "residuals," paid to directors for reruns and DVD sales, as well as a new formula that doubles the rate for Internet downloads.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Stuart Grudgings)