John August: Big Monday Picket Is Important

John August maintains one of the essential blogs on screenwriting and Hollywood. In a post from a few hours ago, he frames the current situation with typical wisdom:

For any writer — WGA or otherwise — tomorrow would seem an especially important day to be on the picket lines. If the strike is ending, it’s your last chance to be part of the picket line. If it’s not ending, then a big showing on Monday will be important for the media who show up to cover the presumed resolution.

We couldn't agree more. Let's a get out there in force all this week.

And in the same post, August reveals that, spurred on by the strike, he's making the leap to original online content.

The decision to do the project — I’ll tell you more when it’s done — really crystallized after Indie Day at Paramount. It was there I felt a change of memes. The message from writers to the studios had been, “Come back, baby. We can work this out.” But after the second time negotiations fell apart, the message became, “Maybe we should see other people.”

I decided to start seeing other people.

The project is financed outside the studio system, with some of that much-fabled internet money. It has actors you recognize, and it probably could be a TV show — but it won’t.

And John August is far from alone. There's a creative reinvention of the business going on that United Hollywood will cover once the WGA strike is over.

But it's not over yet. Stay tuned...