Local News in Brief : Firms Bid to Settle Strike

The union representing striking film and television writers said it has received notice from about 50 production companies seeking to independently settle the week-old contract dispute.

Cheryl Rhoden, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America, said the producers of NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” were among the companies hoping to end the strike. Rhoden said the union’s board of directors was set to consider the requests at a meeting Monday night in West Hollywood.

Fred de Cordova, executive producer of the “Tonight Show,” said his program made its offer of an independent settlement in the belief that the issues that brought on the walkout were not germane to the popular late-night talk show.

The 9,000-member guild set up picket lines last week after rejecting a final offer on a new contract from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an umbrella organization that represents about 200 production companies and NBC, CBS and ABC.

While De Cordova was cautiously optimistic about an independent settlement, a spokesman for the alliance described the overtures for independent settlements as “an attempt to divide and conquer.”