• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, December 17, 2007

One of the demands of striking TV writers is for compensation when their work appears online. Now, according to today's Los Angeles Times, some writers are taking matters into their own hands by pursuing deals to develop shows for the Web.

At least seven groups of writers intend to form ventures to create shows for the Internet, the paper reports. If they manage to get any of these businesses off the ground, they'll be joining a growing number of other high-profile entertainment industry veterans now creating content for the Web.

In some ways, the proliferation of broadband and video-sharing sites has put TV industry veterans in a situation similar to print journalists during the first dot-com wave. Just as many newspaper writers realized the Web offered new alternatives and launched online news magazines like Salon, it makes sense that television veterans would also turn to the Web.

In the last year, former Disney head Michael Eisner last year founded a Web production company that has already seen success with "Prom Queen." ABC veteran Lloyd Braun, after a brief stint at Yahoo, co-founded a new company, BermanBraun, that's creating shows for the Internet (as well as other media). And Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick debuted a new video show, "Quarterlife," on MySpace, resulting in NBC picking up the program for next year.

While the amount of money available to writers for new Web-based video shows is still unknown, some executives appear interested in funding these ventures. Facebook director Jim Breyer, a partner at Silicon Valley venture firm Accel Partners, told the Los Angeles Times that it's "likely" the firm will invest in some "screenwriter/content-oriented companies" next year.