The WGA contract has expired and things are not looking good for Tinseltown. Negotiators are calling for a strike as early as Monday, so to get you ready for what may be months of televisual-literary deprivation, here’s a primer on union strikes.

While employing the writers from the Deuce Bigalow series might not be the best way to garner support for the guild, the title cards at the end referring to the Internet as, “Ya know, the thing we don’t get paid for” are pretty poignant.

Alex Perez: Scab Writer – Promo #1 – Hi Hollywood

Alex Perez’s web site, HollywoodScabWriter.com, boasts the tagline “Helping Hollywood in its time of need.” Even scabs need a YouTube channel.

Harlan County USA

Harlan County underwent a violent, bloody struggle in the 1930s when coal miners were trying to organize a union. In 1973, the miners at the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Co. went on strike and filmmaker Barbara Kopple was there to capture labor’s struggle.

Chico and the Man – The Strike

Running from 1974 to 1978, Chico and The Man starred a cantankerous Jack Albertson and a buoyant Freddie Prinze (father of Jr.) and brought to the fore racial relations between a young Chicano and an aging bigot. In this episode Chico attempts to join and union and picket Al’s garage with a singular solidarity.