Striking Hollywood writers have rejected a new contract offer from producers, the two sides say, three weeks into a dispute that has disrupted the film and television industry.

The only real achievement of previous talks between movie and TV writers and producers was a promise to meet again.

The Hollywood writers strike against major studios will cost at least $US21 million ($24 million) a day in television production spending alone and idle 10,000 workers if it lasts much longer, experts say.

Striking screenwriters marched down Hollywood Boulevard behind a phalanx of Teamsters trucks today, in a final show of force before labour leaders resume contract talks with major studios next week.

Columbia Pictures says it has postponed production on Angels and Demons, a prequel to its box office hit The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks.

With the worst Hollywood labour crisis in 20 years headed for its third week, striking screenwriters and major studios have agreed to renew contract talks, offering the first glimmer of hope their deadlock can be broken.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria joined in as more than 3,000 film and television writers demonstrated in Hollywood on the fifth day of a strike, which has hobbled the entertainment industry with no resolution in sight.

Night comedy shows became the first casualties of the first strike by Hollywood writers against TV networks and movie studios in nearly two decades.

Last-minute talks to avert a strike by Hollywood screenwriters have failed to reach a resolution. The 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who are demanding a share of the cash film and television studios bring in from DVDs and online distribution of shows, walked out this afternoon.

Television's immediate future hangs on hinges today, as talk of a writer's strike threaten live shows, and depending on it's duration, television dramas and films.