The pens are out to prove just how mighty they are.

The Writers Guild of America announced Friday that, barring a huge change of heart by studio and network honchos over the weekend, Hollywood scribes will start picketing on Monday.

At the request of federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who sat in on the last round of talks, a final round of negotiations has been scheduled for Sunday morning.

"This afternoon, the WGAE Council and WGAW Board unanimously voted to call a strike," the board wrote in an email to its 12,000-some members, referring to both the West and New York-based East guilds. "The Writers Guilds will go on strike Monday, Nov. 5th at 12:01 AM.  At that time, all Guild-covered work under the MBA must cease. We will be sending more detailed information over the weekend."

The email goes on to say that further information about where and when members will start picketing will be forthcoming. In addition to L.A. and New York, there has been talk of picket lines forming in Boston, Las Vegas and Canada, all popular filming hotspots.

"Come out and show your solidarity. Your Contract Captain will be in touch with you. Be prepared to serve," the board wrote.

The WGA East has about 4,000 members, although it represents fewer writers than its West Coast counterpart.

"In recent years, these conglomerates have enjoyed tremendous financial success off the backs of literally tens of thousands of people—including members of the creative community," WGA West president Patric Verrone said in a statement Friday. "One part of that community is the writers, whose work serves as the blueprint for programs and movies. And although the industry's pie is continually growing, our share continues to shrink."

The announcement followed a Thursday night meeting in which a handful of union leaders informed a packed meetinghouse that their organization has no choice but to go on strike for the first time in two decades to protest film and TV producers' unwillingness to meet their new contract demands.

Negotiators for the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have been meeting on and off since July, with higher royalties from DVD sales and Internet content proving to be the writers' main goal—as well as the last thing that the alliance wants to approve.

"This is a watershed negotiation for the Writers Guild," David Young, the WGA's chief negotiator, told the several thousand members in attendance at the Los Angeles Convention Center. "This is not the average negotiation. This has the potential to determine writers' income from the Internet and new media for the next generation and beyond."

The current contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

AMPTP president Nick Counter, who said after talks shut down on Wednesday that his group was still "committed to a fair, reasonable and sensible agreement that is beneficial for everyone," said Thursday that he is unsurprised by this latest turn of events but that the alliance is still ready to meet to "close this contract this weekend."

He added on Friday, however, that the guild's call to strike is "precipitous and irresponsible." 

"The writer is one of our most highly regarded assets and one of our most highly rewarded," Counter told Variety. "Working writers on average earn over $200,000 a year. All they have to do is earn $31,000 to qualify for a full year of coverage in the finest health care plan in the country. And they are among the few employees in the world who get an 'additional annuity' in the form of residuals beyond their initial compensation."

"Their DVD proposal would more than double the cost to producers," he added. 

The Screen Actors Guild, knowing what it means to bargain for benefits and residuals, and the Teamsters have thrown their support behind the writers.

If the scribes do indeed walk out, late-night TV shows—The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, etc.—could immediately be forced into repeats, but most prime-time series have enough scripts squirreled away to last until January. Film studios have said they have enough screenplays to keep theaters stocked throughout 2008.

CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves, for one, announced Thursday his network is prepared to carry on.

"We're fully prepared to offer alternative programming options, and we would anticipate no material impact on the company for the remainder of the television season," Moonves said in a statement.

But no matter how many cycles of Survivor are on hand, or how many episodes of Lost have already been shot (only eight or nine out of a promised 16!), WGA leaders are confident in their position, even if there's no reason to tote the laptop to the coffee house for awhile.

"They're not in the position to go without writers," Young said. "They just want to give us the cheap deal as always and we're putting our foot down...The only thing we want less than a strike is a bad deal."

ABC Studios, meanwhile, is encouraging the writers to walk—away from their union, that is.

According to a memo obtained by Entertainment Weekly's Website that was prepared by the studio's legal department and addressed to WGA members,  writers can still "resign their membership" before the strike kicks off Monday and still be entitled to guild benefits as guaranteed in the WGA Minimum Basic Agreement.

"We encourage writers to work," reads the memo written by Milinda L. McNeely, senior VP of legal affairs. "The decision whether to join or not join the strike is an individual decision for each person to make."