you may have noticed that i’ve added a li’l icon to my sidebar to show my support of the hollywood writers’ strike. this isn’t something that people over here are too riled about - yet - perhaps because it won’t affect our favourite US-made TV shows for a few months. but when i was in the US it was BIG news, and i wholeheartedly support the campaign, and really really hope it can be resolved at the next round of negotiations next week.

in the meantime, i want to encourage everyone to do a couple of things to support the striking writers:

1. sign the petition

2. send a box of pencils to a media mogul

i’ve just done both (the internet makes collective bargaining so easy!)

just in case this whole thing has bypassed you completely, here’s an excellent video showing what the strike is all about.

and finally, sandra oh made an excellent, rousing speech in support of the strike, and suggested we can all use purchasing power to do our bit. (does that mean i can’t buy grey’s anatomy series 3 until this thing is resolved? damn.)

i’ve read some suggestions that hollywood writers are all brilliantly well paid anyway, so who cares? to which i say…

a. not true. a few are brilliantly paid; none earn as much money as actors, and yet without writers there would be no film or TV show. plus, for every DVD sold, the people who manufacture the plastic the DVD is wrapped in are paid more than the people who WROTE it.

and:

b. do you really believe writers should earn NOTHING each time one of their works is (legitimately) played over the internet, itunes etc? what if in future the internet becomes the principal way to watch TV and films, as it likely will?

it may all be rather L.A and glamourous, but it’s still david-and-goliath.