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As this exciting and eventful first week of striking draws to a close (enjoy it while it lasts, for the picket lines probably won't stay so well-stocked with your favorite out-of-work TV stars a few weeks hence), we offer this Friday morning round-up:

· Finding Wednesday's ShowrunnerPalooza to be a great success, the WGA has even higher hopes for this morning'smore ambitious Striking Man festival at Fox Plaza, during which between 2,000-4,000 Guild picketers, hundreds of members of the media, and countless News Corp employees idling in traffic jams will join together to form an hours-long protest community and listen to an acoustic set by Tom Morello (we were just joking about the Rage performance last time, but now it's for real). At the conclusion of the event, a 50-foot tall effigy of Rupert Murdoch constructed from surplus picket signs will be burned to the ground, a dramatic expression of solidarity that will be cheered wildly by the thousands of red-shirted strikers who tossed matches into the pyre. [THR]

· Will studios turn to the U.K., where the WGA has no jurisdiction, for stopgap screenwriting labor? Beware the Blighty Scab Menace! [Variety]
· Why They Fight, Multilingual Equine Stars Edition: "'This morning, I picketed with an 86 year writer, who wrote for 'Mr. Ed.' He said, 'It pisses me off that that fucking horse wound up speaking Italian, Polish and Rumanian, and I never made more than a nickel.'" [United Hollywood]
· TV's favorite sitcom Neanderthals should be grateful for the strike, which probably will push the show's inevitable cancellation date back a bit. [LAT]
· An anonymous producer wants to collect the names of everyone who's lost a job due to the strike, then mail it off to WGA and AMPTP presidents Patric Verrone and Nick "Why Does That Pretty TV Doctor Think I'm A Weiner?" Counter, hoping to shame them into restarting negotiations. [DHD]
· Candy Spelling makes her pitch to become a strike mediator. Also: pie sounds delicious right about now.[Scribe Vibe]