Fans support WGA strike with pencil stunt

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Fans and writers, looking for an end to the Writers Guild of America strike, sent more than 500,000 pencils to Hollywood's TV networks and movie studios.

The thousands of pencils included the message "Go back to the table."

The Alliance of Motion Piction and Television Producers broke off talks with the striking WGA last week and no new negotiating sessions have been scheduled.

More than 200 fans and writers met Tuesday in Burbank, Calif., and packed the pencils into baskets, which were delivered to NBC Chief Executive Officer Jeff Zucker, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger and to Universal Studios for GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt, the WGA said in a statement on its Web site.

"Pencils 2 Media Moguls" was organized by UnitedHollywood.com, a Web site manned by WGA supporters.

Peter Sears, a writer for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," said: "These are the fans of the shows WGA members write and they're saying they want the corporations to go back to the negotiating table. They're behind the writers and they want the companies to know it."

Media Week reported this week that NBC has begun reimbursing advertisers for fourth-quarter prime-time ratings shortfalls, which the WGA attributed to fallout from the strike.