Over the last week I've added many more names, and shows to the database of Writers/Actors seen on the picket lines. If there is anyone still missing, let me know.  

I also have two requests, one from David Rambo, and one for my database.

1. If you live in or around LA, CSI writer David Rambo is asking fans to show up in support of the strike for a sort of Fan Support Day on the picket lines. This isn't just for CSI fans. Details here. 

2. I'm looking for everyones favorite videos regarding the strike. It could be from the picket lines or just something giving out information. Post the link in the comments if you have one.

Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, ( of "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life," and other good stuff ) are taking control away from the networks. They are...well I'll let Mr. Herskovitz tell you:

"We've created a project called "quarterlife" -- a series and a social network -- that we own and control, and we had to give up our TV deal in order to do it. The series will premiere Sunday on MySpace and then on our site, quarterlife.com, the next night. We've worked very hard, and spent a great deal of our own money, to make it as good as anything we've ever done on television. And we've gotten calls from every guild and virtually every producer we know, all of whom are curious to see if this little experiment can succeed. Because if it does, it will prove that there's a way to independently produce, finance and distribute ambitious content on the Internet. And if we can do it, others can do it. To be sure, there's every possibility this series will end up on television after it's established on the Internet, but only if we still own it and control it creatively, which would make it unique in today's landscape. "

This is so what needs to happen! read the full article by Mr. Herkovitz here or go straight to
http://www.quarterlife.com/

Don't know if anyones seen this yet or if it's been posted, but Jenna Fischers (Pam from The Office) blog is #1 of the most read blogs at the moment on MySpace. She's been talking about WGA and the strike.

http://myspace.com/pambeesley

Not sure if you guys have seen this, but the guy who is selling he WGA bracelets gave me the link to check out.

Some of the stuff is the same thing you guys have posted, but there is some new stuff as well.
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/

I have created some images for any of The Office fans that would like to share our message!

Feel free to use them any and everywhere, just please no hotlinking. Also please make sure to check out www.offow.com to see what we're up to and how we're supporting our favorite writers, along with all of the WGA members. Also feel free to join our LJ community at communities.livejournal.com/offow.

Signature Banner:


Icon:

I've created a couple of banner ads for fans4writers.com -- 728x90 and 468x60 -- which I've sent to them and am running one of over on Spindle.





If you have a website that supports one of those two ad sizes, please feel free to swipe one and put it up, linking back to http://www.fans4writers.com/participate.shtml

NOTE: I'm not affiliated with fans4writers; just a fellow writer trying to support however I can.

So what can you do to  help spread the word?

Click here to find out.

Over on Deadline Hollywood Daily they're talking about the showrunners from CBS shows getting warning letters re: litigation. (Don't know what I'm on about? Quick scroll down and read the post two or three down from this one) In the comments on that thread a chap named Will writes:

I say the showrunners should all go back to work and edit their shows into incomprehensible, postmodern messes that the networks could never air. That would be honoring the contract, right? You can’t put a gun to someone’s head and make them create.

Hey everyone, UnitedHollywood has posted a petition in support of the strike. I urge everyone here to sign it and show your support. :)

http://www.petitiononline.com/WGA/petition.html

I posted about the strike in my blogger
blog, and received a response from a TV Guide Representative. She
emailed me some info about TV Guide's Strike
Watch Blog. I wanted to aske the mods if it's ok to give her a
link to this comm, as she asked me if there were any sites about the
strike I knew about.

What do you think?

I'm afraid I'm going to be doing something horribly wrong on a comm this big, but I think this is okay so here it goes.

Today I started a facebook group:
http://umichigan.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7516431084&ref=nf
For boycotting new media for the duration of the strike. I think facebook is important because most of my fandom friends (and thus LJ friends, mostly) know what's going on but getting it out to people who just watch the shows but aren't necessarily as involved is important. So yeah! I'd really like this group to grow (Colbert got actual press when the 1,000,000 strong for Colbert fb group got so big).

I'm using a post on my LJ to keep track of important information regarding the strike so that I'm not digging through 8 million articles to see if my favorite actors were spotted on the picket lines or to see which showrunners have walked out. I try and update a few times a day.


Somethings included are:

-Master list of showrunners, actors, and of course writers spotted picketing by fans and the media
- List of shows that have shut down production
- Different Fan Support projects
- Useful links 
- Other information that I find that is related (for instance a funny quote of the day regarding Steve Carell's reason for calling in sick)

(found here)

LiveJournal tends to be the anti-MySpace, but I know there's a few of us who cross homes. :)

This is a recently created group (brand new, in fact), aimed to reach people NOT on LiveJournal. However, if you have Myspace, I encourage you to join, show your support, and let others on MySpace know what's going on. You may also discuss the events here, and share any resources you might have.

A high membership count says more than you might think, so please join and spread the word.

http://groups.myspace.com/fans4wga

We're grown to 777 members in two days. We had a two-hundred member jump in four hours. That's incredible. Makes me want to boogie.

That said, I have a few modly announcements.

Fans For The WGA <-- Click Me!

Our message board is up and running. Please join as a member (even if you do not intend to post). Feel free to make yourself at home. Jump right in. If you have any questions, you can PM Tracie or me, or you can e-mail us at fansforwga@gmail.com. We have forums and threads set up for discussion on shows, protests, and supporting the cause. Please, please, please, link this board to anyone you can think of. If you are a member of another board, please put it in your signature. Why? Because we want to make sure all of the "Support the Writers" causes know about what the others have plan. We don't want to be Big Brother. We want to make sure every cause/group gets the MOST help and MOST attention they can.

1. We set up an official e-mail for the community: fansforwga@gmail.com. If you need to contact us FOR ANY REASON (really, any reason) just shoot us an e-mail.

2. The WGA East is looking for Fan Support. We put the FFWGA on the mailing list. We will post any new information they send out. But if you want to join the mailing-list, hint-hint nudge-nudge....

3. Reminder: fans4writers.org will be up and running soon. Jen already posted the goals for the site here. Please keep up to date! And Caitlin just created a MySpace group: Support WGA

4. FFWGA needs some help. We're looking for some html savvy member to help us with creating a website. We have the domain, we just need to make sure we're sitting it up right. If you want to help out, please e-mail us or leave a comment with your e-mail.

5. Do you want to affiliate? Have you created an online petition? Tell us! Are you the moderator of an existing community (subject not-with-standing)? Do you support the cause? If you do, we will list you in our user's info. We will also list links to other broads discussing the idea, other websites, or any online petitions you created. Then we are going to post them all over at the Message Board.

6. IMPORTANT-OCD-MOD-REQUEST: Tag your entries. I love tags. Tags make me happy. Please use them (please go back and tag your old entries).

• discussion For any form of discussion on the strike, questions you have, or new developments.


• civil disobedience For any ideas on how we can protest the networks, supporter the WGA, and go after the sponsors.


• scheduling For any information about new programming, the network's Plan B, and how the strike effects the shows.


• news/media For any articles, blogs, op-eds, videos, or coverage of the strike.


• websites/communities For any new website or community we need to know about.


• petition For any online petitions floating around.


• official wga statements For any information or video directly from the WGA


• mod post For mod posts


• what about us For posts about fandom, about the fans, about we should keep ourselves sense, etc.


• fandom If applicable, please tag entries by fandom. The format is "fandom: [show]” For example: fandom: brothers and sisters OR fandom: the office.

*

I've read all of your posts and all of your ideas (even if I haven't commented on them). They all are really solid and great. Keep them coming. We need ideas to last us until the new year. I want to comment on two things:

1. Fic. Some folks have called for fan-fic writers to stop writing during the Strike. This is an apt gesture of Good Will -- but it has no direct correlation with supporting the Writers' Strike.

Let me explain. (A) The writers are protesting over rights to royalties for "new internet technology". Whether we write fic or not is a moot point. If you want to directly support the writers then stop downloading and stop watching "promotional" episodes from network sites. (B) Fan Fiction is a vital part of fandom. If we intend to keep the support campaign energizes for months, even during the blackout, fandom needs to stay active and happy. I don't know about you, but I don't mess with fangrls and their fic. (3) Most -- and I stress most -- writers look the other way about fan-fiction. It's free publicity for the show, and comes with the territory.

Yes, it's complicated and tricky. But until the laws change, FFWGA is not asking you to stop writing fic. Instead we're asking fic writers to do two things:

a. Post a link to the WGA, banner of support, or new article on the Strike with your fic.

b. Add in this disclaimer (example): 'House' belongs to David Shore, who is on strike 'indefinitely'. I support him and the entire WGA! For more information please visit the WGA Website and/or wga_supporters.

[Name of Show/Characters] belong to [Name of Writer/List of Entire Writing Staff... or Most of It. But do not mention the network], who [is/are] on strike 'indefinitely'. <b>I support [writers name] and the entire WGA!</b> For more information please visit <a href="http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2204" target="_blank">the WGA Website</a> and/or <lj comm="wga_supporters">.

2. Networks care about two things: sponsors and demos. Mostly the demo. For those that don't constantly watch the trade ratings, the 'demo' refers to the demographic that watches the show. It usualy focuses on age and gender. The most important demo for a network is 18-49 (followed closely by 25-55). FFWGA is in the progress of creating an 'open letter' to the AMPTP that pledges to take action in support of the writers. We're going to ask focus to leave their name, favorite television show (or shows), demo, and local affiliate. [Ex: Pen, House, 18-49 F, Boston-WFXT 25]

(This is why we need some assistance from the web savvy.)

And. That's all.

Wait, no, it's not.

I want to take on American Idol.

Post more details tomorrow. There's some brief details here.

Again,
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTINOUS SUPPORT.

Fans4Writers is up and running! Please spread the information below to as many fan communities as you can. The wider we can spread the message, the more impact we can have.

Also, if you don't know how to explain to others about the strike, tell them to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk

Thanks!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fans4Writers is a movement born from fans of Joss Whedon, at WHEDONesque.com. As supporters of the people behind the scenes, who develop and write the stories that have meant so much to so many, we wanted to do something tangible to show them that we support the Writers Guild of America strike.

Our first foray out to the picket lines was to deliver pizza to the writers at Universal Studios, to feed the bodies that have fed our mind. You can read about it at http://whedonesque.com/ws/

It quickly became clear and necessary for the effort to encompass more than a single fandom. As such, fans4writers.org is not just for Whedon fans. It is not just for "genre" fans or television fans. This effort belongs to fans of ALL striking writers.

So, what are we doing?

The fans4writers.org site is currently being fine tuned, and will have all the details of our campaign, as well as resources to educate and spread the word.

What kind of things will the campaign include?

DIRECT SUPPORT

Through our "Food for Thought" program, we will organize and facilitate the delivery of provisions to writers on the picket lines. In addition, fans will gather to join their favorite writers on the picket lines.

MORAL SUPPORT

Through a planned ad in Variety or other major outlet, we will tell the industry -- and the public -- in no uncertain terms that we support the writers' right to a fair deal.

LONG-TERM SUPPORT

Should the strike be of any significant duration, we will contribute to the Guild's strike funds to assist affected writers.

FOUNDATION SUPPORT

At the conclusion of the strike, any remaining funds will be donated to the Writers Guild Foundation to support its charitable and educational activities.

While the studios might not be prepared to value the writers highly enough to offer them a fair deal, the fans will commit themselves, their time, their energy, and their money to show just how highly WE value them. For as long as the strike lasts.

Our message is simple - "Don't write until it's right."

WHAT CAN I DO TO BE INVOLVED?

Check in at fans4writers.org (currently under construction). In addition to the details of the "Food for Thought" and other campaigns, we will inclulde many ways that you can help, from boycotts to postcard campaigns, and much more. We will shortly have a Paypal link set up should you wish to donate.

We want to be able to support all writers, but we understand that some fandoms would prefer to take the lead themselves. With this in mind, we are structuring our fan support campaign in such a way that individual fandoms can use the formula and conduct their own campaigns. We would ask that each fandom who chooses to do this select a campaign head, and liaise with us. This way, all writers will be supported, and no picket line is neglected.

If you would like to volunteer to help us deliver "Food for Thought" to the picket lines in Los Angeles or New York City, please email us at fans4writers@gmail.com, and leave your contact details (including phone number and availability).

If you would like to become involved and organise an affiliate campaign, please have the campaign head contact us, so that we can support each other.

Remember, without the writers, there would be no fandoms. And without us, there would be no studios.

Yours in solidarity,

Fans4Writers.org

Email: fans4writers@gmail.com
LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/wga_supporters/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19177889752
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fans4writers

Why should we stop with JUST LJ?! Spread the word! I'm using a WGA banner as my profile picture. I also added "I Support the Strike" to my interests!

Spread the word on any media you have! Livejournal, Facebook, Myspace, Blogspot! Whatever you have, the more we show our support, the more people will know!

Here's the banner I made for Facebook:

In terms of campaign promotion here on LJ, it might be an idea to see if we can use fandom_counts.

Back when the LJ vs Fandom issue exploded, 35,000 fandom members joined that comm to make a statement. If we can talk to the mods there and maybe open up the comm for posting access, we would be able to reach 35,000 people all in one hit.

It would be a brilliant way to advertise campaigns or even just get the word out here on LJ.

Not to mention, if the strike goes on for long enough, we could even start thinking about placing an ad supporting the writers in one of the main Hollywood publications/papers. I know it costs a lot of money, but if even half the members of fandom_counts donated $1 dollar we would be well on our way ♥

Currently in the beginning stages, but here's a site being put together by some Whedon fans: fans4writers.org.

Maybe this is a crazy idea. The main issue in the writers' strike seems to be internet/new media revenue. So, I purpose that we the fans stop viewing episodes online via official web sites and stop downloading shows from services like iTunes and Amazon Unbox. Call it a fan strike :)

Thoughts, comments? Do you think we can get enough people to do this to make a statement? Possible promotion ideas?

ETA: I've started a thread about this over at Whedonesque.org. You have to register to view, sorry.

If anyone else starts pushing this on other boards, give me the link and I'll add it here.

Yesterday, fans on Whedonesque.com got together to show their support of the Writers Guild of America by ordering and delivering pizzas to striking writers in Los Angeles. They’re also planning other ways to show that fans understand how important good writing is to quality television, and that we believe writers deserve fair compensation for their work.

I’ve created some graphics to allow other fans to show their support, including the Whedon-centric one I'm currently using as my LJ icon.

Visit my site for other versions, including one you can customize yourself. I'm also available to make new ones for those that don't have the ability to do it themselves.

Also, please help spread the word by digging the original post.