Lead negotiators for the WGA just sent a letter to the membership that reads, “Your Negotiating Committee has voted unanimously to recommend that the WGAW Board of Directors and WGAE Council conduct a strike authorization vote by the membership.” Read the full letter below.

This would not be a vote to strike but to authorize the guild’s board of directors to call a strike if further talks fail to produce a deal.

Management’s Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers fired back tonight, saying the guild “broke off negotiations” but that the producers’ negotating team is “ready to return to negotiations when they are.”

The negotiators provided a glimpse at the progress or lack thereof on the main issues on WGA’s agenda. The letter says the companies offered nothing on pension and rollbacks on the guild’s health plan and rejected WGA’s family leave proposal. There have been some small gains for comedy-variety writers in pay TV.

A strike vote had been looking like a real possibility this afternoon, according to Deadline’s Dominic Patten and David Robb, with one source with intimate knowledge of the ongoing talks saying, “That’s the way the wind is blowing.” A strike-authorization vote among senior WGA officials takes the situation to a precipice Hollywood has not really been at since 2007. That, of course, is when the 100-day writers strike happened.

Negotiations with the AMPTP on a new three-year film and TV contract began March 13 in an atmosphere some described as “tense,” while others called it “cordial.” The current contract expires May 1, so there is time to make a deal.

Here is the full letter and its signatories:

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