selenite0

Joss is asking fans to join the strike.

Oh, boy. The writers' strike is one of the many, many things I've classed as "not important/immediate enough to need to make a decision on." Some of the discussion has been interesting, but I soaked that up in a couch-potatoey way instead of thinking that I might actually get, you know, involved.

But Joss has figured out how to trigger actions from his fans. He's talking about strike activities away from Hollywood, in the cities where we live. Like little cons with signs, bringing out the girls in pretty costumes and boys arguing obscure details of the shows. How can I resist?

Well, first I have to decide if I actually support the strike. And after thinking it over I do. But not for the reasons Joss is asking me to. See, Joss wants to fix the system. He's spent his life in the Hollywood system, he's done great work within it, and he's invested a lot in learning how to work it. All he wants is to tweak it so the writers get a better share.

Now me . . . I don't like the Hollywood system. It's Procrustes. Stories get chopped or stretched to fit the arbitrary time slots they've been assigned. More often they're discarded unseen because they might not pull in enough advertiser-manipulatable eyeballs to justify the huge overhead of the studios.

But it doesn't have to be that way. New companies, owned by the creators, can form and send their art directly to the people who want it. Internet torrents, direct to DVD sales, Itunes, and there's probably more ways to deliver it that haven't even been invented yet. All that's stopping them is the trampling feet of the Hollywood dinosaur herd. Which, right now, makes them awfully damn stoppable.

The strike can change that. If the dinosaurs starve long enough they'll die, and the mammals can grow and spread. So hell, yes, I support the writers' strike. I support keeping the strike going until every writer on the line no longer has a job to go back to. I support keeping the strike going until writers leave it by the half-dozen to form their own companies. I support keeping the strike going until it's a tourist attraction, the last stop at Universal Studios, which has become a pure theme park.

And to have something to do while walking the picket line, I offer a song to sing. This is a filk of a Leslie Fish song. To no one's surprise it needed very little change to become a strike song.

Bring the Studios Down by Karl and Laura Gallagher
A filk of Bring It Down by Leslie Fish

We don't like the shows you've made. Bring it down, bring it down.
We'd take D T V in trade. Bring it down, bring it down.
Let the shows go on wi-fi,
And give up the smallest slice of pie
Just so long as the studios die! Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.

We don't like the work we do. Bring it down, bring it down.
Nothing useful, safe, or true. Bring it down, bring it down.
Faceless bureaucrats in the hills
Drive us down at the pace that kills.
They get dividends, we get bills! Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.

We don't like stale TV. Bring it down, bring it down.
Let us work creatively. Bring it down, bring it down.
Writer’s dream has fallen far.
A million rules have dimmed its star.
We don't like the way we are! Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.

Ads and ratings hem us in. Bring it down, bring it down.
Let us write our best again. Bring it down, bring it down.
Slowly growing deepset rage
Breaks the bars of a paper cage,
Put pure passion on the page! Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.

No reform will save the day. Bring it down, bring it down.
Sweep this system all away. Bring it down, bring it down.
Mindless pap and cliches grating
Grow the worse, with longer waiting.
To save our writing, smash the ratings! Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.
Bring it down, bring it down.