• PaidContent.org/Forbes.com, Thursday, November 8, 2007 11:45 AM

The Hollywood's Writers Guild is on strike. Among the many grudges they hold with the traditional media giants that pay them is compensation for digital recreations of their work. Forbes says the writers have to strike--that the future of their profession is at stake--while former Disney Chief Michael Eisner called it "insanity."

Eisner, who is heavily invested in online video startup Veoh, contends that writers don't understand "there's no money" in digital media yet. Media companies, entrepreneurs, and the press have piped on and on about how the future is digital and the future is now. Meanwhile, most have yet to earn a dime for their efforts. This includes Eisner's Veoh, which has enjoyed modest success with its series Prom Queen: "We made history, but we didn't make money," he says, adding: "For a writer to give up today's money for a piece in three years is stupid," because there won't be any money in it for at least that long. Of course, Eisner didn't mention what writers should do in the meantime. Sit tight?

Forbes says that's exactly what they shouldn't do. Writers need to secure their future, too--and media companies should be willing to pony up if they believe digital convergence will one day bear fruit. They need to remember that writers, too, face diminishing TV audiences as people spend more time on the Web, but as a result, they lose leverage at the bargaining table. Under the current arrangement, media companies are essentially denying that a digital convergence is taking place.

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