At the Barham Gate

Mark Verheiden reports on recent picket activity at the Barham Gate, and reports that the President of the Colonies, Mary McDonnell paid a visit to the writers.

United Hollywood has an excellent study of all the different view points and agendas of all the studios and big media corporations and the cards they are playing.

Also, the WGA sent a delegation to Madison Ave. to talk to the advertisers, to put pressure on the networks:

Our WGA crew, lead by Matthew Weiner, showrunner of "Mad Men," laid out our position to the advertisers -- who for some reason might not be getting entirely accurate forecasts from their corporate customers like CBS.

The event was a success. The coalition of media buyers agreed that our demands are reasonable and that it was "irresponsible on the part of the networks not to settle this dispute immediately."

There's also this, a sign of the digital future:

In the interim, Family Guy creator Seth McFarland has contracted with Google to develop a series of sponsored five-minute mini-programs. Rather than residuals, McFarland will retain 50 percent ownership of the copyright. Other WGA members are forming ventures to take their work directly to the internet, allowing them to deal directly with advertisers.

This is a big deal. Remember that in Hollywood, writers give up 100% of their copyright to the studios.

In other news, AMPTP mouthpiece Chris Lehane gets caught in another lie.