Three of the most powerful figures in media received a surprise present this week. Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, Jeff Imelt, chief executive of General Electric, which owns NBC, and Bob Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney, all received hundreds of thousands of pencils, with the message: "Go back to the table."

The pencils had been collected by the Writers Guild of America, which represents striking Hollywood screenwriters. It wants to put pressure on the chief executives to resume negotiations on a new pay deal after talks ended abruptly last week. "We are prepared to bargain," says Patric Verrone, president of the WGA West, in an interview with the Financial Times. "But the ability to do that is limited by [the media companies] not being at the table."