a dream or a song: The WGA Strike: Day [a lot] of [endless]

Ugh.
Anyway there is finally some news; Conan and Jay Leno are returning to television on January 2nd. In statements released they both say they're doing it for the non writers on staff so that they won't have to be laid off, which is noble and thoughtful I guess
Conan's statement:

With the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision. Either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for 14 years, to lose their jobs. If my show were entirely scripted I would have no choice. But the truth is that shows like mine are hybrids, with both written and nonwritten content. An unwritten version of ‘Late Night,’ though not desirable, is possible and no one has to be fired. “So, it is only after a great deal of thought that I have decided to go back on the air on Jan. 2. I will make clear, on the program, my support for the writers, and I’ll do the best version of ‘Late Night’ I can under the circumstances

Jay Leno's:

I remained positive during the talks and while they were still at the table discussing a solution. ‘The Tonight Show’ remained dark in support of our writing staff. Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 nonwriting staff, which were laid off, back to work. We fully support our writers, and I think they understand my decision.”

I'm usually not up that late anymore so I'm not really caring but it is a very symbolic move (and one that seems to echo almost directly Johhny Carson's staying off the air for two months before resuming his show.)
[UPDATE INSERT: And apparently some writers do notsupport the decision and have vowed vengenance

But the writers aren't just sitting around- they're looking at changing the game by talking to venture capitalists and hedge funds about web start ups, as reported in the L.A. Times
Dozens of striking film and TV writers are negotiating with venture capitalists to set up companies that would bypass the Hollywood studio system and reach consumers with video entertainment on the Web.

At least seven groups, composed of members of the striking Writers Guild of America, are planning to form Internet-based businesses that, if successful, could create an alternative economic model to the one at the heart of the walkout, now in its seventh week.

Three of the groups are working on ventures that would function much like United Artists, the production company created 80 years ago by Charlie Chaplin and other top stars who wanted to break free from the studios.

"It's in development and rapidly incubating," said Aaron Mendelsohn,

[snip]

"I'm 100% confident that you will see some companies get formed," said Todd Dagres, a Boston-based venture capitalist who has been flying to L.A. and meeting with top writers for weeks. "People have made up their minds."

So far, the percentage of the guild's 10,000 striking writers who are in discussions with venture capitalists appears to be small. Any deal of this kind, however, could put pressure on the studios and help the writers' public relations campaign. Writers who are talking to venture investors say the studios would suffer a brain drain if high-profile talents received outside funding and were no longer beholden to them.

Mendelsohn and others said they would stick with their ventures after the strike ended.
(y’know if it ever ends)

[snip]
Most writers who have been talking with venture capitalists declined to discuss their plans on the record, saying it was too early to provide details. Yet an array of strategies have emerged from interviews with writers, investors and others involved in the process.

The groups modeled after United Artists (which eventually was bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and recently was revived with the help of Tom Cruise) envision creating and distributing programming for the Web and recouping their investments by selling rights to the most successful properties to TV networks or movie companies.

Some high-profile writers and technologists are trying to create a collaborative studio they hope would be officially sanctioned by the Writers Guild. They want to build on the popularity of strike-related videos on the guild-inspired blog UnitedHollywood, YouTube and elsewhere.

"We are uniquely positioned to take our case and new business model directly to consumers," said a leader of that effort, the primary writer on a TV show that was a blockbuster a decade ago. "This will be the officially sanctioned Hollywood union portal."

Others seek to create a privately owned studio that would develop episodic series for the Web. The studio could turn a profit even without cutting movie or TV deals if it developed an audience coveted by advertisers.

Dagres said he had met with one group focused on developing material for potential theatrical distribution and another concentrating on Web series.

At least two additional groups plan to create companies that would distribute material on Facebook or other online gathering places where they might quickly become popular.

Facebook director Jim Breyer, a partner at Silicon Valley venture firm Accel Partners, said he was weighing deals that would rely on Facebook's platform. "It is likely we will make investments in Los Angeles screenwriter/content-oriented companies in 2008," he said.

Accel and Dagres' Spark Capital are among four venture firms that have been meeting with writers since the strike began

Some of the writers who are drafting business plans said that if the strike had lasted only a week, they would have just gone back to work. But now they've had time to plot strategy -- and to realize that a prolonged strike with reruns and reality shows filling the airwaves might allow them to grab a wandering audience.

"The companies are pushing us into the embrace of people that are going to cut them out of the loop," marveled one show runner who is tracking the start-up trend but not participating.

"We are one Connecticut hedge-fund checkbook, one Silicon Valley server farm and two creators away from having channels on YouTube, where the studios don't own anything."

Of course I wish them luck and I'll support them (I'll take my fix where I can get it.) And are there still actual picket lines, especially in New York? it's supposed to be like blizzarding and stuff and that would be awful. But I guess this just goes to show that you can't affect real and lasting change just by hoping for it, that those with power won't just decided to give it up but rather you have to demand change and fight the vested interest.