Key role is also a tough one

Neal Baer hasn't written a word since the Writers Guild of America went on strike against the major studios three weeks ago. But the executive producer of NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" took a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York last week to meet with about 150 people on the show who could be out of jobs once scripts run out next month.

"I felt I owed it to my crew," Baer said. "I wanted to tell them how deeply sorry I was. They face the calamity of being laid off. But the writers had to fight for what was right."

Since the strike began Nov. 5, the elite group of TV show runners -- writers, including Baer, who also manage prime-time productions -- have felt torn by their dual loyalties to the guild and to their programs.

The majority agreed to stop work completely, hoping that by shutting down production of popular shows, studios would become crippled and would capitulate, thus bringing the strike to a quick end. Baer and other show runners vowed not to fulfill their producing obligations until serious negotiations resumed.

But a contingent of more than two dozen have quietly returned to work, editing episodes written before the strike began, according to talent agents and writers.

Their actions have stoked worries among writers about a repeat outcome of the last major Hollywood strike in 1988, when show runners went back to work after five months, undercutting the bargaining power of the guild, which ultimately agreed to terms that it had earlier rejected.

Whether the rift this time around will give the studios an advantage in negotiating a new contract will be unclear until the two sides resume talks Monday. Show runners have been credited with helping to bring the studios back to the table because some shuttered productions while others extended an olive branch by returning to work.

"I think we woke them up a little bit," said Steve Levitan, the show runner for Fox's "Back to You." "What we've been saying all along is we're your partners on these shows. We understand the big picture but we think that the studios have not been operating in good faith."

What makes the situation complicated, said Baer, a member of the guild's negotiating committee, is that "show runners are both labor and management."

Show runners are responsible for the teams of people who bring TV to life.

"At the end of the strike, you have to ask yourself: 'How did I behave?' " said veteran show runner Jonathan Prince, who returned to his job overseeing CBS' "Cane," starring Jimmy Smits.