The strike has finally struck.

After an 11th-hour 11-hour-long (go figure) meeting between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers flamed out Sunday, the pens that power Hollywood are taking to the pickets.

According to the writers' union, scribes plan on picketing 15 Los Angeles locations, along with NBC's Rockefeller Center studios in New York, in four-hour shifts beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, every day until a new deal is reached.

The strike does not preclude the squabbling unions from continuing talks—some hope the stoppage may even encourage dialogue. And it's hardly a shocker, having been preceded by three months of stalled negotiations, even with federal mediators pitching in. The writers' contract formally expired at midnight on Halloween.

At issue is the writers' desire to include in their new contracts a bigger cut of the profits from DVD sales and other future digital media releases, such as when shows are made available online following their initial televised broadcasts. Currently, writers receive 4 percent of DVD sales and no residuals from the new-media ventures, though their producing compatriots do.

Last week, producers referred to the writers' insistence on receiving a cut of DVD profits as a "stumbling block" and ruled out any increase. During Sunday's talks, the WGA made a huge concession by removing its proposal to double writers' DVD pay.

However, producers refused to reciprocate on other hot-button issues, declining to budge when it came to compensation of new-media writers or those whose screen work is repurposed on other platforms, including the Web, PDA, iPod and cell phone.

Still, there seemed hope that an action could be avoided. The WGA East began its strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday, even while talks were continuing to take place on the West Coast.

AMPTP president Nick Counter insisted producers had done everything they could to prevent the strike, despite the WGA's insistence that free-use airings and other promotional proposals on the side of the producers "make a mockery of any residual."

"When we asked if they would 'stop the clock' for the purpose of delaying the strike to allow negotiations to continue, they refused," Counter said.

More than 300 strike captains have volunteered to lead the picket lines in Los Angeles and New York. The stoppage is expected to affect more than 12,000 writers and cost the entertainment industry millions, perhaps billions.

Among those spotted at various locations: Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Marg Helgenberger.

While a prolonged strike will affect scripted TV shows, in-production films and other longer-term projects, the most immediate casualties will be late-night talk shows. Production will be dark Monday, forcing the shows into reruns despite guests having been booked and the typically important November sweeps in full swing.

On Friday, Conan O'Brien told his audience he didn't know if he'd be back on air Monday, and Carson Daly kicked off his show with a mock press conference on the strike. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will also both go dark tonight, though Stewart's Busboy Productions, in charge of both shows, will reportedly pony up two weeks' worth of salaries for writers on both series to keep them afloat through the beginning portions of the strike.

Jay Leno handed out doughnuts to the striking writers in Burbank and joked that The Tonight Show would rerun episodes with Mr. T, MC Hammer and "the 'where's the beef' lady."

David Letterman, too,  was in rerun mode last week and will, alongside network mate Craig Ferguson, remain dark this week. Letterman was also one of the first late night hosts to shut down in solidarity during the last WGA strike, back in 1988. That walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the Industry an estimated $500 million.

Ellen DeGeneres announced she would not to tape her syndicated talk show Monday in solidarity with the striking writers.

Most networks, in anticipation of the strike, have squirreled away hours of reality television. But scripted programming will likely run out by January, when, per Los Angeles Times reports, the stockpiled episodes of, say, The Office, CSI: Miami and Desperate Housewives will be used up.

ABC on Monday removed its upcoming Cashmere Mafia from the schedule. The show, from the brain trust behind Sex and the City, had been set for a Nov. 27 premiere but decided to hold off for a few weeks in case of a prologned strike, sources say.

NBC had already indefinitely shelved its anticipated Heroes: Origins series, which was slated for a midseason launch. No episodes have been finished.

Other midseason entries, like Lost and 24, have only completed a handful of episodes. Lost has 8 of its 16 episodes for this season in the can, and Jack Bauer has only clocked in for 8 or 9 hellish hours of saving the world, rather than the full 24.

Still, the writers on those shows are more than willing to stick it out for the cause.

"This is a strike for future generations of writers," Lost exec producer Carlton Cuse told the L.A. Times. "It's just a critical point in the evolution of the business."

Not all writers appear to feel the same way, particularly when their legacy is at stake.

Although the strike puts in limbo all scripted series, the hardest hit will be those scheduled to end their run this year but have yet to wrap up major storylines.

Among those is Scrubs, which is six episodes shy of finishing its seventh and final season.

"What I care about more than anything right now is getting this thing settled, so it's either a short strike or no strike," creator and writer Bill Lawrence told the Hollywood Reporter Friday. "Right now, I fear that a lot of the writers have no real clue just how tough this is going to be. I'd imagine things will get very grim sometime after Christmas."

A handful of union members will no doubt be finding out even sooner than most how tough the strike will be, namely those who are currently pulling double duty on their scripted series as both writers and actors.

As WGA-ers, they are expected not to cross the picket line. As Screen Actors Guild members still under contract by their studios, they are expected to show up for at work.

Such is the dilemma facing such Office workers as B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling and Paul Lieberstein, all of whom are writers on the show and also toil onscreen as Dunder Mifflin drones. Steve Carell, who also has written episodes, and Rainn Wilson both were no-shows on the set.

Meanwhile, the senior writer-producers and series show runners are expected to be on hand to keep things moving as smoothly as possible, all while remaining on strike.

So far, though, many showrunners are sticking with their fellow writers.

"The only thing I can do as a showrunner is to do nothing," Shawn Ryan, the creator of The Shield, wrote in an email to WGA members. "I obviously will not write on my shows. But I also will not edit, I will not cast, I will not look at location photos, I will not get on the phone with the network and studio, I will not prep directors, I will not review mixes.

"I can't in good conscience fight these bastards with one hand, while operating an Avid with the other. I am on strike and I am not working for them. PERIOD."

To maintain talent relations, studios will likely not go after their stable of writer-actors or writer-producers should they not show up. But should those double-duty types cross the picket line and incur fines by the WGA, the studios would, paradoxically, likely help fight the sanctions.

Ultimately, the WGA action might be a prequel to an even bigger stoppage this summer, when the contracts for the Screen Actors and Directors Guilds are set to expire.