From November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008, all 12,000 film and television screenwriters of the American labor union Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and West (WGAW) went on strike.

[4] The most influential of these were eleven corporations: CBS (Les Moonves), MGM (Harry E. Sloan), NBCUniversal (Jeff Zucker), The Weinstein Company (Harvey and Bob Weinstein), Lionsgate (Jon Feltheimer), News Corporation (Peter Chernin), Paramount Pictures (Brad Grey), Liberty Media/Starz (Chris McGurk), Sony Pictures (Michael Lynton), The Walt Disney Company (Bob Iger), and Warner Bros. (Barry Meyer).

[10][11] According to a National Public Radio (NPR) report filed on February 12, 2008, the strike cost the economy of Los Angeles an estimated $1.5 billion.

[15] We are ready to meet at any time and remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that keeps the industry working, but the DVD issue is a roadblock to these negotiations.

At that time, the entertainment companies argued home video was an "unproven" market, with an expensive delivery channel (manufacturing VHS and Betamax tapes, and to a smaller extent, LaserDisc).

However, after the strike began, WGAW President Patric Verrone wrote that the membership exhibited "significant disappointment and even anger" when they learned of the proposed removal of the request; and Verrone also wrote that, since the removal of the increased DVD residual request was contingent on concessions by the AMPTP which did not happen, the writers would and should continue to "fight to get our fair share of the residuals of the future.

[24] Driven by the then-recent contract between Viacom and the creators of South Park,[25] one of the critical issues for the negotiations was residuals for "new media", or compensation for delivery channels such as Internet downloads, IPTV, streaming, smartphone programming, straight-to-Internet content, and other "on-demand" online distribution methods, along with video on demand on cable and satellite television.

[33] This sentiment was further articulated by a self-described "skeptic", writer Howard Gould, at a meeting of the full WGA membership the night before the strike date was announced.

[35] Exactly if and how the WGA's Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) should apply to other TV and film categories such as reality television and animation had been inconsistent over the years and were an area of much dispute.

The WGA counters that the process of creating interesting scenarios, culling raw material, and shaping it into a narrative with conflict, character arc, and storyline constitutes writing and should fall under its contract.

[49][50] In a last-ditch conciliation to try to avoid the strike, the WGA temporarily withdrew its DVD proposal on November 4, but the companies still insisted on a lack of residual for new media,[51] and the talks subsequently broke down, with both sides accusing the other of walking out.

[56] This move had been predicted by reporter Nikki Finke and others, many of whom suspected the AMPTP was intentionally delaying negotiations so that it could terminate unwanted production contracts via force majeure.

[57] According to Wall Street, the impact of accepting all of WGA's proposals was "largely negligible" and "financially small", suggesting that the studios were afraid that reaching a favorable settlement with the writers might "embolden directors and actors in their coming renegotiations.

[62][63][64] Pro-WGA blog UnitedHollywood.com confirmed that "creative solutions to the biggest differences between the AMPTP and the WGA have gotten the tentative and cautious approval of both sides", but cautions that the specific legal language has not yet been drafted.

[73] At the beginning of April 2008, about one and a half months after the end of the strike, the Writers Guild of America, East filed lawsuit against the ABC television network and Corday Productions over alleged violations of a strike-termination agreement.

[82] The AMPTP announced on December 6 that it had hired the public relations services of Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, self-dubbed the "Masters of Disaster", who had previously worked for Democratic politicians (including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Gray Davis) and who, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "earn up to $100,000 a month for pulling their clients out of public relations quicksand.

[90] During the pre-strike negotiations, the WGA created "contract captains" in order to keep the general membership informed on a person-to-person basis of the latest developments.

On January 14, 2008, two additional side deals were announced by the WGA – one with Media Rights Capital, a production company working on both features and television, and the other with Spyglass Entertainment.

"[111] Of the "Big Four" networks—CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox—NBC had the most severe ad shortfall as its prime time ratings declined sharply; none of its new shows achieved breakout success.

[113] Fox executive Peter Chernin suggested the strike is "probably a positive" for the network, as he expected its non-WGA reality hit American Idol to do especially well given reduced competition.

The guild stated it had no plans to target Leno and O'Brien with protests[117] such as were aimed at non-WGA member Carson Daly, who was accused of setting up a joke hotline as a strike-breaking effort[118] when he returned to air.

[123] The WGA accused Comedy Central and NBC of forcing hosts back on air by threatening the jobs of the staff and crew of their shows, and said it would picket them.

[131][132] Labor experts stated that this move was "an attempt by the guild to bring the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers back to the bargaining table.

[126][145] Many actors participated in a series of short PSAs as part of the Speechless Without Writers[146] campaign presented by United Hollywood,[147] which was founded by a group of WGA members.

In a show of solidarity with the writers, approximately 120 show-runners marched in Burbank on November 7, 2007, and many decided to honor the picket lines entirely, refusing to perform even their production duties during the strike.

[256] While 75% of respondents were found to have little to no concern over the strike, nearly two-thirds of the sample sided with the writers, one third was unsure, and only four percent sympathized with the AMPTP (1,000 American adults participated).

Timed closely to the WGA strike, this action has resulted in statements from politicians unwilling to cross picket lines for interview shows and candidate debates.

[264] Any increase for the benefits of health insurance, pension, or residual gains made by the WGA are also likely to be demanded by other entertainment industry labor unions when their contracts expire.

Thus, if the new media issue was not resolved to their satisfaction by the DGA or WGA by July 2008, SAG was likely to strike when their contract expired, a move which could potentially bring the Hollywood film industry to a near-complete standstill.

[273] On November 19, 2008, the Writers Guild of America announced they were filing arbitration against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers for not honoring the agreement that ended the strike.