Although August was unable to start writing the script until February 12, 2008 this gave him enough time to really think about the storylines in his mind.
Oh, I don't know - would even thinking about the script have been in violation of the strike?
I'm envisioning every union writer having had to wipe out of their heads even the slightest thought about what they were working on before the strike or were about to be working on. And if a thought did indeed pop into their heads, I'm then envisioning a scenario right out of AA where that writer had to quickly phone a colleague to confess and that colleague would then have had to force the writer to think about something/anything else.
Seriously, though - I do wonder if ideally no one was suppose to even think about any of their work? It would be interesting to read what the strike's bylaws were and if they were that restrictive. Though, of course, no one could actually prove that any writers had "illegal" thoughts during the strike so long as nothing was actually written down regarding them...