Striking Hollywood writers mull new contract offer from producers

LOS ANGELES -- Film and TV writers who've been on strike for nearly a month are mulling a new contract offer from Hollywood studios.

Producers said the offer they presented Thursday, dubbed the "New Economic Partnership," would pay writers millions of dollars extra for work shown on the Internet, a central issue in negotiations.

The writers asked for a recess in the talks until Tuesday to consider their options, but called on members to continue picketing Friday and Monday.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it was willing to offer $130 million in extra pay over the life of the proposed three-year deal. The offer is "above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the alliance said in a statement.

The Writers Guild of America countered with a lengthy response, saying the producers' proposal only dealt with advertising-supported programs streamed for free and jurisdiction over shows created for the Web "and it amounts to a massive rollback."

The writers said their plan, also presented Thursday, would cost producers $151 million over three years.

"That's a little over a 3 percent increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent," the statement said. "We are falling behind."

No further details of the terms were released in the first statements since both sides imposed a media blackout Monday.

The conflicting details and tone of the statements is confusing, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer.

"None of this computes," he said. "It's very difficult to analyze this in any rigorous way."

He said both sides should end the confusion by publishing the full details of the proposals.

Nonwriting staff members of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" became the latest casualties of the four-week Hollywood writers strike when they were laid off Friday.

NBC confirmed the layoffs at the show without providing further details. The show went into reruns when the strike began on Nov. 5 and Leno honored the picket lines.

NBC had been covering the salaries of the nonwriting staffers.

Conan O'Brien has promised to cover the salaries of about 75 nonstriking "Late Night" staffers next week.