Hollywood writers talks collapse

With no sign of a breakthrough in this dispute over pay, each side is suggesting the other is to blame for a lack of progress in the negotiations.

The dispute centres on how writers should be compensated for their work when it appears on DVD or the Internet.

The employers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, blamed the breakdown on what it called an ongoing union strategy to delay or derail talks.

But in a letter sent to its members, the Writers Guild of America accused the producers group of dragging its heels in putting new proposals on the table.

The Alliance said that wasn't the case and suggested the union had failed to respond to specific proposals regarding pay for work in new media, such as the Internet.

The increasingly bitter dispute has resulted in many popular TV shows closing down production.