Writers Guild Files Complaint Against Studios

Striking Hollywood writers, charging that studios acted illegally when they broke off negotiations Dec. 7, yesterday filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The goal is to force producers back to the table, reports the AP, but  experts say it could backfire, shutting down any back-channel talks that could help restart negotiations in the six-week-old strike.

Producers called the complaint baseless and desperate, an “indication that the WGA's negotiating strategy has achieved nothing for working writers." The NLRB can order sides to resume bargaining or face fines. At the heart of the talks is how writers will be compensated for content distributed over the internet. (More Hollywood writers' strike stories.)