If the Unions were smart (which they aren’t), they would find methods to encourage their membership to be working within the internet television space now, even though the economics aren’t there yet. They’d create a flat fee per episode if “first window” was internet broadcast and leave it up to each writer to do some equity/profit deal on their own (plus, writers could control spin-offs, sequels, etc. if a show moved to Broadcast and those minimums would apply). And, the Minimum for an episode would be in the $500 range.

Seems like the highest budget internet television series (i.e. professional content) are IN THE MOTHERHOOD, which looks to be over $10K/episode, alamoheightsSA was in the $5-10K range, and PROMQUEEN was around $2K (albeit for :90 seconds). I doubt the writers on any of those shows received more than $500/episode? Would be interesting to find out?

But, a WGA writer (or, the Union) is going to be looking for a bare minimum of what? $1-3K per episode for something under :10 minutes. Maybe more. Plus, they want residuals that are impossible to calculate based on viewership (can only be revenue/profit based).

There will be a Strike. And, akin to 1988, the world will change. The writers will lose (the last Strike created the onset of “reality” television and put many writers out of business). This strike may be the Unions shooting themselves in both feet, and knees.

Best suggestion is: Make a WGA writer an Executive Producer on your show. Provide them with Fees, plus equity. Screw the Unions, unless they are willing to work within the reality of the business (a 5% of Budget, flat, would suffice).