Hollywood writers poised to strike

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Hollywood writers are poised to strike after their negotiating team recommended a walkout in a dispute over royalties at a Thursday night meeting of the union membership.

Writers Guild of America board will meet on Friday to make a formal decision and set a strike date against producers - the first in nearly 20 years.

The "feeling in the room" here is that a strike is all but inevitable, said Steve Skrovan, a screen writer for the Fox show "Til Death."

Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers President Nick Counter said the news is not unexpected.

"By the WGA leadership's actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight's recommendation," Counter said in a statement on the AMPTP Web site. "We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend."

The impasse is over royalties from DVD sales - last negotiated in 1988. Writers also want royalties from the so-called new media - all the various places their works are now distributed, including Internet downloads.

Producers say the issues are a non-starters, but writers accuse producers of being non-responsive.

"After three and a half months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals," a statement from the WGA said. "Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs, and jurisdiction, has been ignored. This is completely unacceptable."

If writers do go on strike, late-night television and programs like The Daily Show will bear the brunt first. Because of their topical nature, networks do not typically bank these shows.

Daytime soaps normally stockpile about 30 days in advance and most prime time shows would likely make it through the end of the year without any impact on programming.

But networks would have to resort to reruns, news programs and reality shows to fill the schedule in 2008 if a strike were to drag on.

The 1988 strike lasted five and a half months.

-- CNN's Douglas Hyde contributed to this report.