With no successes to date in the yearlong campaign to get reality shows under WGA jurisdiction, some guild members have begun questioning the effectiveness of concentrating so much of the WGA's resources on that sector.

But other members remain strongly supportive of the strategy, contending that organizing nonunion work often takes several years and noting that it took close to a decade to bring "The Simpsons" under guild jurisdiction.

No consensus emerged at a members-only Thursday night Town Hall meeting, which drew about 60 to the WGA West's Hollywood HQ, with president Patric Verrone and interim exec director David Young taking questions. Board member Robert King emceed; VP David Weiss and board members Craig Mazin, Tom Schulman and Dan Wilcox also attended.

Much of the two-hour discussion centered on the WGA's support of the two-month strike by writers of "America's Next Top Model." Young admitted that the guild has spent several hundred thousand dollars on that campaign but noted that the WGA has signed up more than 1,100 reality writers who want to be repped by the guild, so he expects there to be many such battles in the future.

Verrone noted WGA members have been strongly opposed to allegedly poor conditions for reality writers because they believe employers have the financial resources to do better. He also estimated that 5% of the reality employees are already guild members, prompting criticism that the organizing effort does very little for the existing 9,000 members.

The reality drive also came in for scrutiny at the meeting over the efforts to organize about 450 editors on those shows. The Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees already has organized some of the reality editors, including those on "America's Next Top Model."

Young and Verrone also characterized the push on reality as an appropriate response to the negotiating leverage such shows give nets and producers, a significant hedge during bargaining with the WGA. But Mazin, who's decided not to seek re-election, contended that the strategy is naive.

Mazin also told the audience that public militance -- such as disrupting advertiser conferences, creating insulting Web sites, using "street" theater and making what he called "strident" statements -- is counterproductive. By allowing the WGA to be portrayed as crazy, Mazin asserted, the guild is only marginalizing itself.

However, Mazin gave credit to Verrone and Young for focusing efforts on showrunners. (NBC Universal TV filed a complaint last month with the federal government against the WGA, alleging the guild is violating labor law by telling showrunners not to cooperate in the production of Webisodes).

Thursday's discussion also included emphasis on the need for the WGA to bargain aggressively next year on the issue of Internet downloads. Except for "Lost" Webisodes being paid at the pay TV rate, companies have opted to pay residuals at the lower homevideo rate.

The WGA's contract for showbiz writers expires in October 2007; eight of the 17 board seats will be decided next week. The guild's tactics -- particularly since Verrone's slate was swept into office a year ago -- have convinced studios and networks that a strike is a strong possibility.

In the election pamphlet sent to WGA West members, most of the board candidates expressed support for the harder line by the current board.

"The good news is, for the first time in years, it feels like the Guild is moving in the right direction," wrote David A. Goodman. "An indicator: in May, Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, publicly condemned the WGA's adoption of 'blue-collar union' tactics. If those tactics weren't working, I don't think he'd be complaining."

But support for the board isn't unanimous, with scribe William Schmidt asserting the guild leaders are ahead of the members in terms of aggressiveness and contending that producers knew far too much about the WGA's positions during the 2004 negotiations.

"By declaring war months in advance, we gave ourselves no wiggle room," he added. "As is happening today. I believe we should tone down our rhetoric and act maturely."