WGA's last-minute plot twist: scribes, producers talk into wee hours.

With Hollywood bracing for all-out war, last-minute talks on Sunday gave a slight hope that today's writers strike could be averted--or at least delayed.

A flurry of back-channel efforts to stave off a strike by the Writers Guild of America culminated in a Sunday meeting in Los Angeles that began at 11 a.m. PT--only 13 hours before the official start of the WGA strike.

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Federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who joined the talks a week ago, summoned both sides to the meeting in the wake of the guild's official declaration of the strike's commencement.

Sunday's last-ditch effort focused on those viewed as voices of moderation, such as "ER" show-runner and former WGA president John Wells. Conversations among key players from both sides focused on exploring possible concessions in hopes of luring the WGA back to the bargaining table and away from picket lines.

Among key players pushing to jump-start the bargaining process: CBS topper Leslie Moonves, Disney's Robert Iger, Fox's Peter Chernin and Warner Bros.' Barry Meyer.

In a potentially positive development, the closed-door talks were still in progress hours later.

Before Sunday, WGA members had been told they're expected to spend at least 20 hours a week on picket lines. The WGA East was planning to begin pickets at Rockefeller Plaza outside NBC this morning; the WGA West had announced high-profile locations for picketing including CBS Radford, CBS Television City, Culver Studios, Disney, Fox, Hollywood Center, NBC, Prospect, Paramount, Raleigh, Sony, Sunset Gower, Universal and Warner Bros.

Key players on both sides of Sunday's talks were not seeking to craft an entire deal--the talking points are too numerous and complex--but to at least delay the strike for a few days, to give negotiations another chance. The major focus appeared to be to get talks moving without the relentless saber-rattling that's dominated for the past year.

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Both sides had descended into a bitter battle of words for the past several months amid little actual back-and-forth bargaining. Nick Counter, longtime president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, and WGA West president Patric Verrone have repeatedly taken potshots at each other--prompting worries that the relationship between the two men is so damaged that it's become much more difficult to start moving toward a resolution.

Most of the prior negotiating sessions have ended with both sides issuing vituperative comments. Often, the question of when the next meeting would take place was left unresolved.

Prospects for success out of Sunday's session were mixed at best given the rocky history of these negotiations. Additionally, the WGA was already in strike mode over the weekend--featuring a Saturday meeting of 300 strike captains at WGA West headquarters.

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Though top execs such as Moonves and Meyer participated in the AMPTP's pre-negotiations presentation to the news media Counter in July, day-to-day negotiations were handled by Counter, AMPTP veep Carol Lombardini and the top labor relations execs from studios and nets. As a result, the AMPTP spent the first three months of negotiations with a revolutionary residuals revamp proposal that was widely derided by the WGA, leading to a 90% strike authorization.

By the time the AMPTP pulled the residuals revamp off the table on Oct. 16, relations between the two sides had soured enough to diminish the prospects of making a deal.

When the WGA took nine of its 26 proposals off the table two weeks later, Counter responded by saying that negotiations could not continue unless the WGA backed off on its proposals for increased residuals in DVD and Internet downloads.

For studios and networks, the key area for bending would most likely take place in new-media residuals and new-media jurisdiction. The WGA's seeking 2.5% of new-media residuals and TV minimums for work in made-for-new-media; the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers is asking for the status quo.

Verrone emailed members Sunday, urging them to hit the picket lines.

"Pickets will be the most visible and effective part of the strike in the next few weeks," he said. "They make us visible in a way that is outside the AMPTP's control. They deter and often prevent scabs from taking our jobs. They disrupt production, especially when members of other unions honor our line. But most importantly, a large turnout of pickets demonstrates visibly and irrefutably to the AMPTP that we are serious about getting a substantive, fair deal."

Verrone also warned that participation is mandatory and asked each member to contribute 20 hours a week.

"If there is a personal circumstance making strike support duties impossible when requested, members are required to arrange alternate times," he added.

(Michael Fleming contributed to this report.)

By DAVE McNARY HOLLYWOOD