The latest venture is Strike TV. http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2008/01/strike-tv-boot-camp-19-1pm.html
"Strike TV is an Internet fundraiser. It's an online "channel" featuring original video shows created by working professionals in the TV and Film Industry. These shows are self-funded and owned by their creators. Funds raised by ad revenue will go toward the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund, assisting union directors, actors and below the line members who are affected by the strike. Strike TV videos will not be about the strike. This is a chance for writers to do what they do best - be original and tell stories. Visit the Strike TV MySpace page<http://www.myspace.com/striketv>for full details including info on the upcoming boot camp seminars." http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/12/strike-tv-coming-soon-to-internet.html
Of course as I have repeatedly reminded everyone, the WGA is a small and relatively weak union. They are in a key position in their own industry but that key position has been diminished because of massive conglomeration of entertainment and because the Hollywood unions have remained small. The unions have not spread to new types of shows, new types of media, and to the people who create short segments. (There has been a massive explosion of written and directed short segments on cable since the MTV eighties started the trend.) The WGA leadership beginning with the Verrone ticket two years ago has tried to rectify this. The bosses have responded with the usual firings and union busting procedures and has used IATSE as a company union when-ever unionization has been threatened by the WGA. The entertainment unions are not unified so in the long run this strike is a true uphill battle.
But one thing that all unions can learn from this strike is the publicity war. If the TWU had been able to do 1/10th of the kind of thing that the writers do then the strike two years ago might have turned out differently. Of course the writers have the know how and the technical skills. And that is part of the point. If these publicity tactics could be integrated into the union movement and used as a matter of course it would certainly be helpful. It would not be a magic bullet but it would help.
Jerry Monaco