Striking writers reject new offer

Writers have been on strike since 5 November

Striking Hollywood writers have rejected a new contract offer from producers, three weeks into a dispute over royalty payments.

Executives offered writers an extra $130m (£63m) over three years, but the Writers Guild of America described it as a "massive rollback".

It argued that studios should adopt its counter-offer instead.

Meanwhile, talk show host Conan O'Brien is to pay the salaries of 75 staff out of his own pocket to save jobs.

The comedian, whose own salary has been suspended, will foot the bill for his team from next week, reported trade paper Daily Variety.

Television network NBC had agreed to pay staff on its nightly chat shows - Tonight with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly - for the first four weeks of the strike.

Writers have been on strike since 5 November, disrupting films and television programmes in the US.

'Falling behind'

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said its offer included payments for work shown online, the key sticking points in the talks.

It said the deal would deliver "more than $130m (£63m) in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3bn (£629m) writers already receive each year".

But the WGA said the proposal did not deal fully with its concerns.

Its counter-offer would cost a projected $151m (£73m) over three years.

"That's a little over a 3% increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10%. We are falling behind," it said in a statement.

Neither side has published full details of their proposals.

The WGA asked for a break in the talks until next Tuesday to consider its options, but called on its members to continue picketing until then.