Uh oh! Gulp. Here they come.

An article in the LA Times describes efforts by several striking WGA writers to form their own web production companies and circumvent the Hollywood machine for the creation and distribution of online content. We all knew this was coming. It was only a matter of time. The web production companies are rising.

At the end of the day the only true asset traditional Hollywood brings to the table is distribution. Oh, and there’s that whole economies of scale thing. Well now, scale aside, the gates to the distribution kingdom have been torn assunder. Guess what, Hollywood? We don’t need you anymore!

We think?

We only have to turn to Jerry Maguire if we want to read the tea leaves: Show me the money! Unfortunately there isn’t any. At least not any in the Hollywood sense.

If these new web production companies are to survive, they’re going to have to go to the currency exchange and trade in their Hollywood bullion for web pesos. That’s the key to our survival here at Sebastian’s Factory.

Now we’re not saying our clients pay us nothing, but we are saying that they’re paying us a miniscual fraction of what Hollywood would even comprehend as a number. To make that work we have to do more with less. Like the idea of specialization? Sorry writers. In this biz you won’t make it unless you can write, direct, edit, act, mix the sound, pull the keys, animate the spaceship and oh yes, clean the toilets. We could call that guild the WDEAMPAT GA. And no, they’re not on strike.

Of course all this may change. But I highly doubt it.

Maybe Sarah Connor can save us? But if the straight-from-Hollywood Sarah Connor Chronicles are any indication, we’ve met the future and it’s ugly.