Hollywood striking writers said December 5 that the negotiations with producers started to sound optimistic for the first time in five weeks since the strike started.

The Writers Guild of America released a statement on Wednesday saying its contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have been “substantive.” They also underlined that more talk is needed regarding specific areas of their proposals.

“For the last two days, we have had substantive discussions of the issues important to writers, the first time this has occurred in this negotiation. However, we are still waiting for the AMPTP to respond to all of our proposals including Internet streaming of theatrical and television product and digital downloads," a statement released by the guild said.

Among the issues in discussion is union’s jurisdiction over the Internet and reality TV. Studios proposed a flat $250 payment for a year’s use of an hour-long TV show on the web. The writers are currently earning $20,000 for a single repeat of an episode on one broadcasting network.

The AMPTP, representing the studios and network, said that its latest offer “will put all of us in the entertainment industry in a better position to survive and prosper,” said a statement released by them.

The AMPTP had already made a proposal last week. They offered to pay $130 million a year to what the writers are already earning. However, the WGA rejected the proposal saying that it would cost the studios and networks less- only $151 million over three years.

The current strike is by far worse than the one that happened in 1988 which lasted 22 weeks and damaged the industry with $500 million. The estimated damage of this year’s strike has already reached $1 billion.

The strike, started on November 5, resulted in closing dozens prime-time and late-night shows, which are dependent on writers to provide topical material. Network televisions were forced to rerun the shows and to fire dozens of people before the holiday season.