By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Striking Hollywood writers could return to work as early as Monday for the first time in three months if they embrace a contract deal that union leaders are said to endorse, according to a union-affiliated blog site on Friday.

The outcome hinges on meetings set for Saturday in New York and Los Angeles where rank-and-file members of the Writers Guild of America will be briefed on a labor pact taking shape in talks with studio executives over the past two weeks.

Sources familiar with those talks have said a breakthrough was reached last Friday on key issues of paying film and TV writers for work distributed over the Internet, and the two sides have been busy since then fine-tuning contract language.

If reaction from union members on Saturday is positive, the governing boards of the WGA's East and West Coast branches could move quickly to endorse the pact and order the 10,500 striking writers back to work while the deal is submitted to them for ratification.

In that case, board action to lift the strike would probably come Sunday and likely follow a formal vote by the WGA's 19-member negotiating committee urging approval of the deal.

If Saturday's response from the rank-and-file is negative or sharply divided, union leaders might opt to keep writers on the picket lines pending a ratification vote.

UNION LEADERS SAID TO BACK DEAL

WGA leaders and studio lawyers were still tussling over the contract's legal language late on Friday, according to a blog account posted on the pro-union Web site United Hollywood and written by Kate Purdy, one of a group of strike captains briefed on the situation earlier in the day.

That message, which appeared in a link at the top of the Writers Guild site, said the union's top leaders -- WGA West President Patric Verrone, WGA East President Michael Winship, executive director David Young and negotiating committee chair John Bowman -- all backed the deal.

But it said board members would only "vote to lift (the strike) if they feel the majority of the membership likes the deal and will ratify it. If that's the case, we go back to work on Monday."

Keeping the strike going for the 10 days that it normally would take to conduct a ratification vote "would hurt the rest of the TV season, the Oscars ... and the 2009 feature (film) slate," Purdy wrote. "This not only hurts the companies, it also hurts us, and the whole town."

Neither WGA officials nor studio representatives would comment on the record, citing a media blackout imposed by the two sides since contract talks resumed on January 23, days after Hollywood directors reached their own labor deal with studios.

But one union insider said the outcome of Saturday's meetings was hardly certain, adding, "We're signing up people for picket duty next week."

Meanwhile, Hollywood is chomping at the bit to get its writers back at their computer keyboards.

TV studios and networks are waiting to jump-start production on some of the biggest prime-time dramas and comedies knocked off the air or into reruns by the strike, hoping to salvage what is left of the broadcast season.

On the film side, a back-to-work order would allow producers to resume production on several movies put on hold due to the labor clash. Among them, according to trade publication The Hollywood Reporter, are Steven Spielberg's political drama "The Trials of the Chicago 7" and superhero movies "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and "Justice League."

Still, studios will be wary of rushing too much into production too soon out of concern about another potential Hollywood labor confrontation with the Screen Actors Guild when its contract comes up for renewal in June.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Sandra Maler)
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.