My friend Chris Bird has put together a pretty exhaustive overview of the strike, why it matters and what various writers have said about it. The contrary opinion in the comments section is pretty good, too.

That link doesn't work for me, victor.

Tom, when I pasted the link, but then took out the entry specific part of the URL, it took me straight there.

From digg.com comments..

For those who think writers don't deserve to get paid as much as actors:

"Xmen 2" versus "Xmen 3"

"Empire Strikes Back" versus "Return of the Jedi"

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" versus "Temple of Doom"

Cause, you know, true dat.

I am a WGA member and as much as I never wanted it to happen, I fully support this strike. For the folks who don't really understand what the fuss is about, try this (And I must credit fellow member Steve Chivers for this explanation):

The Studios/Networks put tv shows and movies on the internet and don't pay the writers/creators of those tv shows and movies. The companies call this 'promotional use'.

If you download a movie or tv show off the internet and don't pay for it, they call it "Piracy".

Again, true dat.

Right now we're picketing, which I guess is important from a p.r. standpoint (and I got to meet the guy who wrote Beetlejuice, which is cool), but I don't think it's exactly the most effective means of protest in 2007.

My theory about this strike is that the studios are secretly terrified. They're terrified that the Internet is going to render them irrelevant. Tomorrow Josh Whedon could "pitch" a show on Facebook, get five million people to say, "Yeah, I'll watch that," and get enough advertising to pay for it.

I'm wondering if instead of picketing the casts of The Office, Lost, Family Guy, the Daily Show, etc. shouldn't just make videos and upload them to YouTube? They could talk to the fans, read fan emails, sing show tunes, do improv, whatever... Obviously for contractual reasons they can't do versions of their show, but they could entertain people while explaining what the stirke is about, and maybe convince people not to watch TV for the duration of the strike. The studios have unlimited money and the writers don't, so the only way we can win this thing is by showing the networks that we don't need them. Which we don't. It's just that it's still a few years away before we can tell them to fuck off, and in the meantime we still need to eat.

Who is this masked Josh Whedon with all that pulling power, he's talking about?

okay, I'm guessing at this point, I probably just need to ... put the keyboard down. And step away from the internet.

Despite bad punctuation and "Josh Whedon", I hope the writers continue to talk to the public using the internet. The few clips and blogs I've read have been very informative and interesting.

One of the things I'm personally pissed about is this: I got a battering on here a while ago for Aheming TV shows. So I went and got a proper US iTunes account, and started paying to download TV shows. I thought I was giving Tim and friends money for my downloads. That was my only interest in doing that. It cost me a lot of money.

And? It looks like I gave none of the creative people actual money.

Response to the digg comments...

There is Amazon Unbox, CreateSpace, Associates combo.

It is possible to upload original content onto CreateSpace so that it would be available on Amazon Unbox for pay download, and create a widget that you could embed in your blog that would show teaser clips, and so that clicking on it would bring you to the Amazon Unbox purchase page. By setting up CreaeSpace account you can also sell hardcopy versions (DVDs) through Amazon.

It would take time (Amazon asks for 2-4 weeks to put up content) and money (Probably less than $50), and Amazon takes a good bite of it, but that can probably be negotiated if you can deliver eyeballs.

Put it up on one the WGA websites, and say that money will be for the strikers. That would a) support the strikers and b) remind the studios the future is coming in one fell swoop...

I got a battering on here a while ago for Aheming TV shows

It was a little bit more complicated than that, IIRC.

Kevin, I have a response to that, but I fear it is antihistimine speaking and not me. So I'll wait for coffee and a shower to clear it.

I wrote a blog post about the strike, and supporting it as a writer. And wanting to kick the NYT andc Variety writers who sneered at the WGA writers right in the teeth.

And then I didn't post it because it was too angry, and I'd like to dial it down to shriftian levels of rage.

I think that was more about protecting this site from liability.

Cause, you know, when you download something for free, it's piracy.

Of course, when the studios give it away for "free," it's "promotional."