US movie journal Variety has predicted that cinema and TV writers striking in the US over royalty payouts may soon turn to scripting video games.

Members of the Writer’s Guild Of America union have been on strike for four weeks over the amount of money they receive from DVD sales and media downloads.

And, according to Variety, the WGA is allowing its members to write for video games during the strike – meaning development studios have a golden opportunity to hire the best Hollywood has to offer.

"It has been an interesting shift," one actor's agent told Variety. "The literary agents are now saying, 'Why don't we get our clients [into games studios] during the strike?' even though in the past they thought the money wasn't good enough or the work was too demanding."

The WGA recently established a video game writing prize for the upcoming WGA Awards.

IMAGE: New York Times