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Television and movie writers went on strike against producers Monday, a move that will put late-night comedy shows into immediate reruns. The Writers Guild of America said the strike, which began at 12:01 a.m., was necessary to protect their future incomes as the shows they write are increasingly distributed over new media, primarily Internet downloading. While studios have been hoarding scripts for months in anticipation of a strike, topical shows like "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with David Letterman" are expected to immediately go to reruns. A last-day effort to reach a new work agreement collapsed Sunday night despite a major concession by the writers as they dropped their demand for a doubling of how much they are paid for DVD sales.