The occasion was the current writers strike plaguing the film and television industries. If you haven’t been keeping up with that story, writers want a cut of the money made from so-called new and digital media—you know, prevalent stuff like DVDs, iPod downloads, and online video streaming—but the production studios that currently control the money are saying, “No way. We love everything just as it is right now, with all of the revenue lining our pockets.”

It’s no surprise that a region such as Boston, which is bursting with colleges and universities, also has its fair share of writers, some of whom even specialize in TV and movies. One is Cambridge-based Jaime Paglia, a co-creator and writer for the fantastic Sci Fi Channel series Eureka, which I highly recommend to the uninitiated.

Paglia organized last Friday’s march and rally to galvanize support in Boston for the striking writers, who are mostly walking the lines in New York and California. The affair was so well planned, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly guru Joss Whedon even showed. You have to understand how much Whedon is adored by his legions of fans to fully appreciate what a big deal that was. Rob Kutner, a scribe for the ultra popular Jon Stewart series The Daily Show, was also in attendance.

As the local newspaper The Cambridge Chronicle reports, hundreds of supporters joined Paglia, Whedon, and Kutner to trek through the slippery, slush-covered streets of Cambridge and show their solidarity with the writers on the picket lines.

Thanks to Chronicle staff, everyone can get a sense of what the event was like by watching the 157-second video that follows.

Post from: The Boston Traveler