I may be a cynic at heart, but I always at least try to find
the silver lining in any negative situation, if only to say I tried. I suppose
something as negative as the recent Writers Guild of America strike should
present a case that would be difficult for such an endeavor.

All of television that is not "reality TV" is either off the
air or close to it, as no new scripts have been written past what some analysts
say is January — though networks would have us believe they have scripts
extending to the end of the season next May. Who is to be believed is anyone's
guess. But, seriously, how could something like the laying off of the entire
staff of "The Office" — 102 people — be a good thing in any light? When stated
like that, probably nothing.

I am not a fan of clichés, yet the saying "When one door
closes, another opens" might well fit this particular situation. While there
may be no union writers penning new episodes of "Lost" or "24," nonunion and
amateur writers ("scabs") are certainly presented with the opportunity of a
lifetime. If there was ever a likelihood of an undiscovered Quentin Tarantino
or Alan Ball getting his or her work seen by an executive at a major Hollywood
studio, now would be the time.

Our generation — the YouTube, MySpace and Facebook
generation — has a golden opportunity through this event to literally
revolutionize the way Hollywood produces film and television. Imagine, if you
will, some kid in his dorm room with an unpublished screenplay sitting on his
computer. Before, this kid came to the realization that his work may never see
the light of day beyond, say, friends and family. He knows he has little chance
of ever successfully selling his script to a Hollywood producer, much less
having the chance to pitch his idea at all, considering Hollywood employs
hundreds of professional writers for their projects.

But wait. This kid never envisioned a writers' strike
encompassing all of Hollywood. Now his script, once thought to be nothing more
than just something he wrote, could actually be worth something to a Hollywood
suit. The script went from competing with hundreds of others for production
down to zero. There is light at the end of the tunnel, after all.

So, I urge all of you writers with your rough drafts and
manuscripts to take that step forward and present your work to a studio. Worse
comes to worst, it gets rejected, but you lose nothing if no one produces it.
But there is always that possibility that someone green-lights your eloquent,
yet understated dialogue. Really, there is no reason not to submit your work.

Now, this may read like a call to arms, and perhaps it is,
but I am probably the wrong guy around which to rally because of said cynicism.
My goal here was to possibly inspire some young writer among us Badgers to
either finally write that future Best Original Screenplay or Pulitzer Prize winner,
or to just have his or her work published and seen by someone who can do
something with it. It does not even have to be someone from this school — not
even someone from Generation Y.

Some of us are not writers; I know that. But let us not forget
the YouTube generation's most important contribution to television and film:
the remix. I mean, who hasn't seen "The Shining" recut as a family comedy? Even
as I write this, I just discovered a new remix of the "The Office" recut as
crime thriller, complete with "Hello Zepp" as background music — it is
absolutely brilliant. Our generation has found a way to entertain ourselves by
creating and recreating, all at the cost of nothing. All one needs is a
computer with video editing software in order to remix something. That, or one
could go "old school" and make a film with a 16 mm camera for around $27,000
and have it make millions like Clerks
did.