The show will go on — complete with one-liners, quips and on-stage banter — for the coming Screen Actors Guild Awards, after the union received permission for a striking Hollywood writer to pen the gala's script.

The U.S. performers union announced on Tuesday that it has obtained a waiver from the Writers Guild of America that allows one of its striking members to write for the SAG's awards on Jan. 27.

The Screen Actors Guild has been a close ally of the writers guild during its current contract dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with many actors joining their writing colleagues on picket lines. The guild is also scheduled to renegotiate its own contract with the studio group in 2008.

U.S. screenwriters are in the sixth week of their strike against the studios, with compensation for TV and film distribution on newer technologies — like the web and cellphones — proving to be among the most divisive issues at the bargaining table.

After talks broke down on Friday, industry watchers are now predicting that the strike will continue into the new year.

Since the strike began Nov. 5, the writers guild has also granted waivers for the recent Kennedy Centre Honours in Washington and for a fundraising event hosted by actress Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood.

With the film awards season now heating up with the announcement of  myriad critics' honours, organizers of other awards shows — including the Golden Globes and the Oscars — are also reportedly in talks with the writers guild for similar waivers so that their galas can also go on.

A spokesman for the western bureau of the WGA said Tuesday it was still "too preliminary to forecast" which shows would receive waivers.