FILM AND TV WRITERS GO ON STRIKE, BRINGING PRODUCTION ON MANY SHOWS TO A HALT

By Lisa Respers France,

More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are set to go on strike Tuesday morning for the first time since 2007, a move that could bring an immediate halt to the production of many television shows and possibly delay the start of new seasons of others later this year.

"Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal ... the studios' responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing," said a statement from the union leadership.

"They have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership."

While union members would be on strike as of 3 am EDT Tuesday, the WGA tweeted that it would not set up picket lines until Tuesday afternoon. The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is negotiating on behalf of studio management, responded by saying it was willing to improve on its offer but was not willing to meet some of the union's demands.

"The primary sticking points are 'mandatory staffing,' and 'duration of employment' — Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not," said the statement from management's negotiating committee.

"Member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods."

The distance between the two sides suggested this could be the start of a long strike. The last strike that started in November 2007 stretched 100 days into February of 2008. There were no talks scheduled Tuesday after the talks broke off more than three hours before the strike deadline Monday night, according AMPTP.

Many shows on cable and broadcast networks have already filmed their final episodes for the current season, but viewers could see an impact with late night shows, daytime soap operas and shows such as "Saturday Night Live," which could have early ends to their seasons.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will begin airing repeat episodes on Tuesday due to the film and TV writers' strike, sources close to the programs told CNN.

Show host Seth Meyers, who was on the picket line as a writer at SNL during the last strike, also prepared his viewers that Late Night with Seth Meyers won't be on the air if there is a strike.

Financial pressure

The strike comes at a time when both sides say they are feeling financial pain.

The multi-employer contract is between the WGA and AMPTP, which represents Amazon, Apple, CBS, Disney, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony and CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. Many of those companies have seen drops in their stock price, prompting deep cost cutting, including layoffs.

But the writers, many of whom can't support themselves with writing alone, are suffering from reduced job opportunities and the loss of some sources of income due to an industry shift from traditional broadcast and cable programming to streaming services.

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