As you may have heard, the members of the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) are on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP). (To better understand the WGA's position, watch this short video.) You probably also know that the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) has lent their support by encouraging its members to not participate in any productions in the interim, effectively shutting down Hollywood. The WGA has met numerous times with the AMPTP to have the issues resolved and a new contract drafted, but the AMPTP has steadfast refused to meet the WGA's demands. The last time they met was at the beginning of December 2007, where the AMPTP gave the WGA an ultimatum: take certain demands off the table or we have nothing to talk about. Thus the two sides haven't met since.

Now you may be wondering why I've brought all of this up. Well, I'm getting to that. Besides picketing the studios represented by the AMPTP, the writers and actors have taken to other means to get their point across. One such way is to use the very medium for which they want to get paid for in the first place: the internet. The writers and actors have banded together under the banner United Hollywood, and have started a short film contest, with the grand prize winner receiving an authentic WGA strike poster with over 175 signatures by writers, actors, and directors who autographed it while on the picket line and a copy of Final Draft scriptwriting software (1st and 2nd place runner ups just recieve a copy of Final Draft). Looking over the names of the folks who signed the poster, it makes me wish that I were a writer, actor, or director and thus were eligible to submit an entry. The Ghostbusters cast and crew members who signed the poster include David Gerrold, Walter Koenig, Michael Reaves, and Patricia (Patti) Carr - plus there are a lot more really cool people who signed it as well.

One of the entries is a short film entitled The Creature From the Black Casket, written and directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick) and starring Kurt Fuller as Count Nicholas III (a parody of J. Nicholas Counter III, the President of the AMPTP). Kurt, as you may recall, played Jack Hardemeyer in Ghostbusters II (now you see why I wrote about this?).

To fully understand the video you essentially have to know what I wrote about in the preceeding parahraphs. Namely that Count Nicholas III is a parody of J. Nicholas Counter III, the President of the AMPTP; that the AMPTP broke off negotiations because the WGA would not take some of their demands off the table; and that one of the WGA's demands is to get a share of residuals for internet distribution of the works they wrote. Once you understand those points, you should be able to find the humor in this video which has been described as "Ed Wood meets The 2007-2008 WGA Strike".

Personally, I enjoyed Black Casket very much. I thought Kurt did a great job in the role, and wouldn't mind seeing him play a comedic Count Dracula in some movie in the future - once this stike is over with, of course. I also got a kick out of the count mentioning the new revival of American Gladiators, which is hosted by Hulk Hogan, because in 1989 Kurt played Hulk's nemesis Mr. Brill in No Holds Barred. Though I'm sure it wasn't meant to be an inside joke, and I'm sure Kurt would much rather forget that he was in No Holds Barred anyway.

Free free to view the rest of the contest entries. The contest ends on February 20th, with the winner announced on the 28th. Sadly, the public can't vote on which film they'd like to win. A panel of writers/directors will determine the winner.

[UPDATE - 2/29/2008]
First, the writer's strike officially ended on February 12, 2008. Second, the winner of the First Annual United Hollywood Short Film Festival is "The Creature from the Black Casket" by David Twohy. Although it technically broke the "four minutes maximum" rule, I am glad that it won.