LOS ANGELES , California ( CNN ) -- Show-business writers will go on strike early Monday after their negotiating team recommended a walkout over royalties that could immediately pinch late-night TV shows . Timely programs like `` The Daily Show with Jon Stewart '' could be among the first affected . The Writers Guild of America board voted unanimously to strike as of 12:01 a.m. Monday ( 3:01 a.m . ET ) , officials said . The walkout will be the first in 20 years . Steve Skrovan , a screenwriter for the Fox show `` 'Til Death , '' said a strike is all but inevitable . `` We 've never been more united and we are willing to deal -- and our decision-makers are at the table , '' said Skrovan . `` Their decision-makers are not at the table and that tells you pretty much all you need to know about how the companies are pushing this . '' The news of a possible strike is not unexpected , said Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers President Nick Counter . `` By the WGA leadership 's actions at the bargaining table , we are not surprised by tonight 's recommendation , '' Counter said in a statement on the AMPTP Web site . `` We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend . '' The labor impasse is over royalties from DVD sales -- last negotiated in 1988 . Writers also want royalties from `` new media '' -- all the various places their works are now distributed , including Internet downloads . `` The future of TV is not going to look like what it 's been for the last 30 years , '' said TV writer Dave Schiff , who has penned scripts for `` King of the Hill '' and `` That '70s show . '' `` So , you know it 's not just for us who are currently working , but writers down the line , that we make sure that we get a ... piece of the pie . '' Producers say the royalty issues are non-starters , but writers accuse producers of being nonresponsive . `` After 3½ months of bargaining , the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals , '' a statement from the WGA said . `` Every issue that matters to writers , including Internet reuse , original writing for new media , DVDs , and jurisdiction , has been ignored . This is completely unacceptable . '' TV writer Bryce Zabel agrees . `` It sounds like the producing companies that have decided to force the writers into a situation of a strike , '' Zabel said late Thursday . `` So really , our choice right now is to accept a completely unacceptable deal or to go on strike . `` Strike is the only option . '' If Hollywood writers do go on strike , late-night television hosts like David Letterman , Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel , as well as programs like `` The Daily Show '' would feel the pinch first . Watch how a strike could affect your favorite shows » . Because of their topical nature , networks do not typically shoot these shows in advance . Daytime soaps normally stockpile about 30 days in advance and most prime-time shows would likely make it through the end of the year without any major impact on programming . But networks would have to resort to reruns , news programs and reality shows to fill the schedule in 2008 if a strike were to drag on . The film and television industry is responsible for an estimated 1.3 million jobs in the United States . The union 's most recent strike , in 1988 , lasted 5½ months . Industry estimates say a half-billion dollars was lost because of that walkout . E-mail to a friend . CNN 's Douglas Hyde and Matt Carey contributed to this report .
NEW : Writers Guild of America board votes to strike as of 12:01 a.m. PT 3½ months . Shows like AMPTP , `` Daily Show '' could be hurt first by walkout . Impasse concerns royalties from DVD sales and new media . Film-TV industry responsible for estimated an estimated 1.3 million Hollywood jobs .