If they have any sense at all, and if the directors, actors, and producers who say they support the writers in this strike are serious (and they should be, because at some point in the future, they will face the same issues), then there is one thing they all must do: make shows now, specifically for distribution through the internet. Since the networks and studios do not want to compensate the writers (and the actors and directors and producers) for their work that they sell on the Internet, it's up to them to do it themselves.

On the web, there are no fixed lengths that they must conform to. There are no censors, no power-wielding studio heads that dictate what they can and can not do. There are no restrictions on how many episodes in a series. In short, they have what every creative person loves: a clean sheet of paper.

They can pay for these shows via subscriptions or advertising. If they choose the latter, getting customers to pay $29 for a season (if they want to make it 26 episodes, that's ok, but it's basically whatever they want), and they can get 1 million viewers, the revenue per episode is more than $1 million. They have to be able to come up with series ideas that don't cost more than $400,000 per episode to produce. That leaves a lot of cash for profit, and funding future shows.

The networks and studios only real values are as financiers and distribution channel. I would think between some of the actors, producers, and directors, a motivated group could come up with enough capital to fund a pilot or two. And as far as the distribution channel, the web is cheap, it's established, and it has wide reach. The executives running the networks and studios are typically short-sighted, they should be working to lock in the creative talent into their archaic system for web delivery, yet they choose to exclude that from their agreements. The talent should take this strike as an opportunity to start their own companies, and eliminate the middle man (the studios and networks).

Writers, actors, directors, producers, this strike is not a bad thing. It is an opportunity to take more control of your careers. You don't need the studios. They need you. Without content, they have nothing to sell. They can't learn to write, act, or direct, but you can learn to sell.

Hear, hear. If only there were an investor out there to help kick it off. I suspect the initial outlay of dough is a fair amount of what stops that very scenario...that and contracts, I supposed, but contracts seem nil when there's a strike.

While the writers aren't among the wealthiest in hollywood, there are a bunch of actors who can afford to be venture capitalists in their own industry, just like people in the tech world do who sell their companies. It will only take a few successes to create more interest in this model. Every new industry needs a Netscape.