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For those uninspired by our previous Halloween costume suggestions (honestly, we didn't really expect you to go around terrifying children in a Teri Hatcher mask), a thread developing on MetaFilter since yesterday could provide you with a more abstract, but no less timely, alternative that will make you the envy of every terrified, sporadically scribe writer at your local Halloween party:

I'm thinking of being the 2007 Writer's Strike for Halloween (because, you know, November 1st will be pretty scary for us WGA members living paycheck to paycheck.) Now— how to make this snarky, intangible and in-joke-ridden costume idea a reality?

I live in LA and the majority of my friends are screenwriters, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem with people 'getting it.' I just want it to be an awesome costume, with lots of funny little references. (A dartboard with Patrick Verrone's face? A handful of bounced checks to hand out?)

You can read the MeFi users' attempts at tackling the problem here; while our favorite from the thread was "a gigantic piece of paper that's completely blank save for a page number and the words FADE IN," we'd probably opt for an interpretation that more viscerally evokes the horror Hollywood could be facing on November 1st, suggesting that any strike-inspired costumes involve carrying a WGA picket sign and a two-months overdue unpaid mortgage bill (a screaming baby doll is optional) while wearing a pair of visibly soiled pants. We think the combination of those essential elements should be instantly recognizable to anyone who's been obsessing over the labor negotiations the past few weeks.