Leave it to writers to find a creative way to explain a complicated, and quite shady, concept that's prevalent in the entertainment industry.

This is exactly what transpired when strike organizers held The Great WGA Bake-Off.

While participants baked up some sweet treats for the event, the real purpose of the competition was to illustrate how studios and producers coax free work out of writers.

With a spread of confections galore, 35 bakers presented their concoctions for review in front of one of entrances to Universal Studios.

But before the judging began, Bake-Off organizer and WGA member Andrea Ciannavei, took a moment to address the crowd and explain how the term is used in the entertainment industry as it applies to a certain type of interaction between writers and studios.

“Bake-offs are open writing assignments (commonly referred to as an OWA) in which studios and producers will give you a piece of intellectual property (IP) and tell you that they want you to come in with your take on the project,” said Ciannavei, using a bullhorn to be heard over the multitude of honking cars showing their support for strikers as they passed by the location.

Giving more details, she added, “Usually there are three, four, five, or six other writers doing the exact same thing. What that means is that you’re not just reading an article or listening to a podcast, you might be reading a 300 page book, and then you have to break it down and create the entire show — create the characters, build the world, the season one outline, the outline of the pilot, multiple seasons going forward — all for free. Then you have to rehearse it and sell it like an actor to these people all for free. This is months and months of work.

“On top of that, if you’re lucky enough to get picked, you have to do the pitch again and get more notes. It goes round and round like this.”

At this point, the passion in Ciannavei’s voice rises as she presents, in writer’s terms, the kicker.

“And then eventually, what you’ve been working on never gets sold, never gets produced, and all of your time has been [wasted]!”

Ciannavei then admitted that this has happened to her ‘multiple times.’

“I know it’s hard when you’re new in your career. Your [agent or manager] comes to you and says, ‘this studio has this great project you really should consider.’ It’s really hard to say no.”

While Ciannavei says that there’s no solution for quelling this practice as yet, she did offer some suggestions for questions that writers should ask the studio or producer prior to jumping into the project, such as how many writers are in the mix, how invested the studio is in the IP, if they actually have the rights to the property, and how many people have to say yes before the writer gets paid.

In closing, she quoted renown author and screenwriter Howard Rodman, who said, “I’ve been screenwriting for more than three decades now, and one thing I’ve learned is that opening writing assignments are always open for a reason.”

After Ciannavei’s speech, the actual bake-off got underway with members of the WGA Negotiating Committee and Board of Directors serving as judges. The field was first narrowed to ten semi-finalists and then three finalists.

WGA member and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator-executive producer-star Rachel Bloom served as MC and WGA Chief Negotiator Ellen Stutzman judged the final round.

In the end, Sylvia Batey Alcalá took first prize for her salted caramel sticky buns. Ali Rock placed second with her Eat the Rich S’mores and Nate Gualtieri’s midnight layer cake came in third.

While this event was a success in terms of producing tasty treats, and, more importantly making a point, the true hope is that going forward, bake-offs will only take place with creations cooked up in the kitchen, not the minds of writers.