One of the reasons I'm fascinated by the current Writers Guild of America strike is that it represents the collision of a few of my geekdoms. I'm a TV geek and a behind-the-scenes geek, particularly interested in how the writing process works. I'm also a bit of a web geek. This strike is circling around the issue that the TV industry is going to have to face an enormous transformation as digital distribution becomes the norm, not the fringe, so it's the trifecta of geekdom for me.

The industry as a whole hasn't faced that issue particularly well. The producers aren't lying – much – when they say they're baffled by exactly how the Internet will affect their business model. I'm not lying – at all – when I say I don't understand why that means they can't give the writers a percentage of an unknown figure, or how they can claim full episode streams and downloads are promotional.

In the 1980s, when the home entertainment market was unproven and DVD manufacturing costs were enormous, the Writers Guild settled for tiny residuals on DVD sales, and have been unable to negotiate a higher rate even now, when DVDs are cheap and a huge part of the market. If the writers settle now for no or little participation in online distribution, they have to accept the word of the studios that they'll renegotiate when digital distribution is more of a known quantity. They can be forgiven for not taking that on faith.

Yet online content is here, now, and can't be deferred until the industry knows what it's doing. Building an online audience can help a struggling show become a cult show, or a successful show become a phenomenon.

Anyone trying to make original web content has run into the contract problem, though. Because the online world isn't properly covered under current guild agreements, it takes forever to hammer out a deal to get union members' participation and payment, and the red tape is like an umbilical cord wrapping itself around the neck of spontaneity and creativity.