Film and television writers started going on strike on Monday as last-minute talks aimed at averting the Writers Guild of America's first strike in almost two decades collapsed, the union said.

The strike is expected to shut down many sitcoms and send popular late-night talk shows such as NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," immediately into reruns as they rely on a stream of topical jokes.

The members of the union's East Coast arm officially went on strike at the designated deadline of 12:01 a.m. EST. Their West Coast counterparts were set to follow them three hours later.

The East Coast walkout led to the collapse of 10 hours of talks in Los Angeles between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios.

The two sides have been mired in contract negotiations for months, but hit an impasse primarily over demands by writers for higher fees, or "residuals," derived from the sale of movies and TV programs on DVDs and the Internet.