Posted: 11/26/07 Section: Diversions

Media Credit: Damian Dovarganes, The Associated Press Striking writers picket with life-size photos of legendary actors, Marlon Brando, left, and James Dean. The protest took place Monday in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES - Striking TV and movie writers kept up the pressure on studios by picketing and intensifying an Internet campaign that uses the very medium at issue in the contentious negotiations.

Both sides were set to resume contract talks Monday. The Writers Guild of America went on strike Nov. 5 over payment for work aired on the Web. Writers want more money when TV shows and films are sold on Internet sites such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes.

Studios, networks and producers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, say it is too early to know which business model will succeed on the Web. They want flexibility to experiment without having to be locked into payment formulas.

As the strike enters its fourth week, writers have increased their use of blogs, short videos, MySpace pages and other Web-based methods aimed at keeping their ranks together and reaching a wider audience, including TV viewers who will soon have to settle for reruns of their favorite prime time shows.

The guild's West and East coast branches have posted strike schedules, press releases and other information on its official Web sites.

But soon after the strike started, other sites sprang up, including one maintained by strike captains and another hosted by writers for "Late Show with David Letterman."

Writers also began using social networking sites, including MySpace and Facebook, to communicate among themselves. The irony of using a site like MySpace, which is owned by media conglomerate News Corp., a company being struck by writers, does not go unnoticed.

"It can't be fun for Rupert Murdoch for me to be doing this in his back yard right now," said Kristen Stavola, a screenwriter behind the MySpace site "Hollywood Interrupted."

One of the most popular efforts has been the video "The Office is Closed," which was shot on the picket lines by Peter Rader. The video features the show's writer-producer Greg Daniels and cast members belittling a TV network claim that reuse of episodes on the Web is merely "promotional."

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