A steamy new NBC soap opera, "Coastal Dreams," is coming soon to a small screen near you. But not the TV -- the PC.
And it's not alone. CBS has a mockumentary, "Clark and Michael," while ABC's "Voicemail" is a voyeuristic peek into the life of a twentysomething single guy.
The Web series reflect the networks' headlong drive to harness the Internet and lure a young, and increasingly elusive, audience. Yet the online rush has heightened tensions between the major studios and networks and the unionized actors and writers who fear being shortchanged by this new digital frontier.
To handle much of the Web work, networks are relying heavily on nonunion scribes and guild writers who are quietly working outside of union contracts. In some cases, networks and television studios have created separate nonunion companies to create original online entertainment on shoestring budgets.
They also have launched digital studios that serve as "farm teams" for new concepts on the Web that might one day get drafted for the major leagues of prime time.
The issue of how to compensate talent for work distributed online is central to contentious contract talks with writers -- and could trigger the first major strike in Hollywood in nearly two decades.
"The more it looks like television is migrating to the Internet, the more important it is for us to ensure that writers are covered under a writers guild contract," said Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West. "We certainly don't want to get left behind the way we were with cable television, reality TV and animation."
Network executives are loath to further inflame the issue by discussing it publicly. Privately, however, several studio and network executives said they were not trying to circumvent the unions but instead attempting to adapt to a changing landscape in which entertainment plays out on multiple screens.
Many likened their situation to being in a vise grip, squeezed on one side by advertisers and fans demanding more online entertainment while pressured on the other side by guild officials who insist that ground rules be established first.
"It's something that our viewers are demanding," said one television executive, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. "We are doing a disservice to them by not providing it. We are going to provide it to them one way or the other."
