“From our standpoint, we made every good faith effort to negotiate a deal and they went on strike

Leno, who like most talk show hosts is a writer and former standup comic, dropped by NBC’s studios in Burbank nonetheless Monday, riding up on a motorcycle with doughnuts for strikers on the picket line.

The first strike by Hollywood writers in nearly 20 years got under way with pickets on both coasts after last-minute negotiations on Sunday failed to produce a deal on payments to writers from shows offered on the Internet.

Right now, the writers get nothing and they want 2.5 percent of the profits, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. The studios and producers are offering far less, claiming the technology is too new and their profits too slim.

Nick Counter, chief negotiator for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said he expects a long standoff.

“We’re hunkered down for a long one,” he said. “From our standpoint, we made every good faith effort to negotiate a deal and they went on strike. At some point, conversations will take place. But not now.”

The strike will not immediately impact production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.

Disruptions by strikers ended filming at a Studio City cafe being used as a location for the CBS show “Cane.”

Tom Hogan, a location manager for the show, said he had hired two off-duty Los Angeles police officers in addition to five private security guards to maintain order during the shoot.

He said the filming began hours before the 20 picketers arrived and involved a script that was finished several weeks ago.

No other major 의성출장업소 problems were reported at studios or filming locations.

At the CBS lot in Studio City, about 40 people hoisted signs and applauded when picketing began.

“People seem pretty upbeat and determined for now,” reported CBS Radio correspondent Claudia Peschiutta from the picket line outside the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank.

“The question is, how will people feel if this strike drags on as long as the last one strike went on for in 1988? That one lasted for more than five months, and it would be difficult for some of these writers to be without a paycheck for that amount of time.”