Top Hollywood union officials traveled to Washington this week to lobby lawmakers amid a high-profile writers’ strike against the big studios.

The heads of two of Hollywood’s major artists’ guilds made the rounds on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, meeting with several California Democrats, including Sen. Barbara Boxer. They also visited three members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Rather, they sought to update lawmakers and FCC officials on the dispute and expressed opposition to any further consolidation in the media industry, an issue that is heating up in Washington.

Seizing on the Hollywood strike, the guild presidents argue that the market power concentrated in the hands of a few media conglomerates is helping to muzzle striking writers seeking news coverage of their side of the story.

“When the movie studios own the TV networks, it’s tough to get a fair shake in the press,” Rosenberg told The Hill during an interview Wednesday.

The six studios targeted by the strikers include some of print media’s largest advertisers and the owners of major broadcast networks, giving them an edge in the battle for public opinion on the strike, Rosenberg and Verrone argued.

 As a result, the striking writers had been portrayed as “wealthy people trying to get wealthier,” said Rosenberg, who contends that “98 percent of our members struggle to keep their heads above water.”

The artists’ quest for a bigger slice of studio profits for “new media” productions is a middle-class issue, he argued: “If we don’t succeed in getting a fair formula in new media, then middle-class actors will leave the industry in droves.”

According to the studios, Hollywood writers take home $200,000 a year on average. But Verrone disputes that, saying that his members over a four-year period earn an average yearly salary of $60,000.

WGA is the only guild on strike, but Hollywood actors share the writers’ quest for a greater share of studio profits. The two guilds have been in close collaboration during the dispute and many actors, including stars such as Robin Williams, have joined the writers on picket lines.

 Aside from Boxer, the guilds met with California Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Henry Waxman, whose constituents include both striking writers and studio heads. They also sat down with Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the respective chairmen of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the subcommittee on telecommunications, as well as John Lawrence, chief of staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

At the FCC, they huddled with the commission’s two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and Republican Robert McDowell.

If the studios are swaying the news coverage, they haven’t been doing a very good job. According to a new poll from Pepperdine University, 63 percent of Americans polled said they are inclined to side with the writers against the studios.

Also, in a victory for the writers, the issue has caught fire with Democratic presidential hopefuls. Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) as well as former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) released statements in support of the striking writers.

 Meanwhile, California lawmakers have tread cautiously on the strike. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who is a SAG member, met with WGA leaders and called a number of studio executives earlier this week, a spokesman for the governor told Reuters.

The governor is rumored to be mulling a run for Boxer’s seat in 2010. A prolonged strike that hurts the Los Angeles economy would likely be an issue in such a race.    

The last time the writers walked out on the job, in 1988, the strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry roughly $500 million.

Though WGA and SAG officials did not meet with any Republican lawmakers, they argue that their issue is not partisan in nature. “This is an issue that cuts across party lines,” Verrone said.

Still, the union officials are not disappointed Democrats are calling the shots on Capitol Hill. Asked if the Democratic takeover of Congress helps their cause, Rosenberg replied, “I certainly hope so.”

The union officials are leveraging the strike to make headway on other issues.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing to relax media ownership rules by the end of the year. His plan has incensed several lawmakers, including Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who have introduced legislation to thwart his plans.

Since last year, the entertainment guilds have been unsuccessfully lobbying the FCC to institute a rule requiring independent producers to account for a quarter of all network broadcasting during prime time.

Using the writers’ strike to argue that there’s too much concentrations in the industry is a shrewd strategy, Washington telecom attorney Michael Gardner said.

“It’s a timely argument to raise in view of the concern before the strike about the FCC moving forward on more deregulation,” Gardner said.

In addition, the unions are lobbying the FCC to act to clamp down on studios’ growing use of “product integration,” where advertisements for consumer goods are woven subtly into movie and television show scripts. The groups say the practice deprives writers and actors of income from ads and fails to notify viewers that they are being marketed products.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is negotiating on behalf of the studios in the labor dispute, declined to comment on the assertion that the writers were getting less coverage in the press.

An industry source connected with the studios argued that the guilds’ lobbying wouldn’t have an effect on the dispute: “There is no real role that any elected official can or should be playing in this … Moreover, the companies are not as concerned about public opinion as they are about maintaining their financial viability and strength.”