Everyone’s talking writers.

Everyone’s talking partnerships.

Too bad that in the entertainment industry, these are so often separate conversations. When producers, or broadcasters or new media content-makers emphasize their director, distributor, special effects or even financial partners ahead of writers, these image drivers reveal the fuzzy logic of zooming in on structure and style without pulling focus to the story.

What would Remembrance Day rituals be like without the potent verses of Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae informing our mind’s eye picture of a soldier’s spirit, a killing field, a blood-red flower.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,

Between the crosses, row on row…

We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe/To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.

Of course, Canada has produced many fine poets, novelists and screenwriters. Some of these craftspeople recently hoisted, and even polished, Gemini trophies to honor their work. Included among the winners, the late Rob Forsyth (Dr. Lucille: The Lucille Teasdale Story), Julie Lacey (Power Play ‘Foolish Hearts’), Francine Pelletier (the fifth estate ‘Legacy of Pain’), Vicki Grant (Scoop & Doozie ‘What Rubbish!’), Jennifer Baichwal (The Holier It Gets), and a raft of 11 comedy scribes for This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

So – leaving aside for now the ethical issues of how Canadians might behave if offered writing work on struck productions – why are commentators musing, apparently intentionally, that if the Writers Guild of America strikes against long-form producers next year, they won’t look north for writing talent? They say our directors are much more warmly received in the land of George W. But what becomes of the director’s warm reception after he or she directs an uninspired script?

Writers need to be respected partners in production, broadcasting and new media. Certainly, judging by some of the finance-focused comments from online content providers, new media may perpetuate the ignore-the-writer trend. They’re tackling content branding, optimal interactive content, content destinations such as wireless appliances, even how to manage a coproduced new media project. They worry a lot about how websites look, who visits them and especially how often. But the writing on some of these sites can be an area where the partnership falters both with writers and viewers.

If Canadians producing content for any media want to have writers truly partnering with them next spring and summer, these producers and coproducers better develop a compelling scenario, pronto.