With the WGA strike in full swing, I have spend a lot of time looking over the arguments and trying to understand the issues.  At first, the whole thing came off like a major league baseball strike: both sides have more money than the Flying Spaghetti Monster, so who really cares?  After further review, not only is one side (the writers) clearly "the little guy" here, but I have a very self-serving reason for wanting them to win: I love content.  I like new ideas, new plots, new characters, it's the one and only reason I watch TV.  I need narrative; everything else is just window dressing.  I asked myself, when is the last time I saw a great TV show or movie with tremendous acting, but so-so writing?  Probably never, that combination is awful.  I've seen a lot of great shows with amazing writing and a so-so cast because it's the writing is what carries it through, despite the fact that that the actors get the big bucks.

I know from personal experience that good writing is just plain hard, and I admire those who can do it for a living.  Giving writers more incentive to create great works, or try out new ideas because they have a little money in the bank to risk will only produce better quality content for the future.  Especially since the avenue that is the main point of contention, receiving residual payments for content delivered in formats other than television and DVD sales, in particular, the internet, is about to open up dozens of new possibilities.  We seen these ideas scratched at with web puzzles, webisodes, and character blogs, but if we want writers to really take full advantage of these media, we surely want them to get paid to do it.  In particular, I liked the idea pitched by one writer, to just simply pack up their tents and head over to Google, and see if they wouldn't want to pay them decent money to put stuff up on YouTube.  I agree that this is management's worst nightmare.

I'd like to ask for something in return from the writers though: make it a matter of professional pride to continue to deliver new content instead of going the route of the RIAA and MPAA who have chosen to spend their time finding new ways to profit from existing content.  If you receive the desired 5 cents for a $2 episode of The Office, your incentive becomes greater to assist the network in finding a way to get 5 more cents from me instead of writing another episode.  I don't believe writers will do this, as they profit from their ability to create something new, but it's a concern that has lingered in the back of my mind since I first heard about reasons for the strike. 

Ultimately, I believe that the writers will prevail in the end because they hold all the cards, so it's just a waiting game.  In the meantime, I'll guiltily churn though all my backlogged TiVo content.  Or maybe I'll just keep watching the some old episode of Flavor of Love over and over again in an act of solidarity.