I like to write. It’s always a rewarding process. Sometimes it feels like exercise, but I eventually break through the wall and can coast for as long as my wrists can manage. But for me this is just a hobby, not a job, and it is unfortunate that artists have to struggle to make a living. That’s why I’m sympathetic to the WGA strike.

I like Cambridge. With the bricks, the history, and now, covered in snow, it feels almost surreal. With some 50 colleges and universities in the Boston area, it’s also a great place to go to school. I was in Harvard Yard when the writers descended. I was looking for a place to study and heard chanting. Curious about who would protest around Harvard, I followed the noise and ran straight into a long line of picket-yielding actors, writers, and other WGA strike sympathizers.

I paced alongside Chuck, an actor from New York, who believes the studio position is unfair. He recognizes the sacrifices that both sides are making by pursuing this bargaining strategy, but insists it’s the only way for the writers to get the compensation they deserve.

Ever the entrepreneur, I told him about Scripped. I explained that I’m a student at MIT and that my friends and I produced a free online screenwriting software and are offering it for free to writers. So instead of spending $200 on software like Final Draft, you can use Scripped for nothing. He thought this is a great contribution to the strike. I like to see it as even more than that.

We created Scripped to try something new in a rapidly changing market. We are artists too and want to provide useful services to the writers who need them. We also think interesting things can happen when a great group of writers shares some cyber space and is able to collaborate on new pieces of writing. Ultimately we want to improve the quality of scripted online video. That’s what drives me, at least. I can’t really speak for Sunil and Zak.

Seeing the writers march and picket through Harvard Square brought much of what I’ve been reading and hearing about home. To see and talk to real writers involved in the struggle, in a region about as far from Los Angeles as you can get, pronounced the importance of the strike and the impact that it is already having.

I was glad to see the strike in person, but I’m more glad about the other eyes and ears they reached. Parents with their kids, tourists, and local residents each got a taste of what the WGA and the writers are trying to do. I hope Scripped can expand the impact even further.