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Late last night, a top entertainment attorney who reps big-name writers called me to say he’d just closed 40 deals under the wire before the strike starts. So I asked him, “This may be a stupid question. But, if these writers aren’t supposed to write these scripts, why the big rush?” The lawyer paused for a moment, then replied: “Because, during the strike, they’re going to be thinking very, very hard.”
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Flyby, I’ve been struggling to break into this business for over ten years and I finally option a script which will get my agent to get off her ass and start pitching my other scripts but, instead, the strike happens which will drag on for God knows how long and the buzz I got from the option will have disappeared by the time I can capitalize on it. The only thing I can do at this point is continue to sell my scripts to non WGA signatory companies seeing as I’m not yet in the guild. So, instead of selling my work for decent money, I have to pretty much give it away.
I’m hardly the only person who is at the beginning of their careers either after years of struggle only to be derailed by others.
I’m also a longtime wannabe finally getting a shot with three, count ‘em three, scripts in different hands at the same time. And now they are all dead in the water.
But I still support the strike, for two reasons: 1) I believe in my own writing. The response I’m getting after too many years of dues tells me I’m in the right place at the right time with the right ideas and skills. Six months down the road, I think I’ll still be in that place.
And 2) writers are the canary in the coal mine on this go round. The producers are trying to rule out paying out on anything delivered digitally, when we all know that within a few years everything we do will be delivered digitally. So if the writers don’t win here, everyone will lose.
To clarify a few things noted above…some folks seem to think that a strike is a good time for unknown writers to break in, and what chance does a newbie have if x-number of top writers are writing?
The answer to the first is it’s not a good time to try and break in because anyone doing so will be forever precluded from getting into the WGA, and the answer to the second is…the odds are the same before as after a strike. The odds are up to you.
Every time there’s a writer’s strike, there’s always somebody saying “well, this will be a good time for new writers to get in.” Well, the reason most of those new writers don’t get in has nothing to do with who’s working, and who’s not, but the quality of the work. Nobody wants to consider that option, that they’re not selling because the work simply isn’t very good. It’s always THEM, THOSE guys who are keeping the rest out.
It’s simply not true.
A quality script shines in the dark, no matter who writes it, with what credits. And every single one of the “top writers” noted above had, at one time or another, not sold ANYthing. But THEY got through. If them, why not you?
Strike or no strike, every year new, previously unsold writers make their first sales in TV and film. Yes, there are some who may have four unproduced/unsold scripts in their desk, resenting their presence there, and it may be that those scripts haven’t found the right people yet. Or they may simply be four not-very-good scripts. Only time, not strikes, will answer that question.
An Average Joe,
Nobody on this thread is saying that a strike is a good time to break in. Myself and others have said that we finally managed to push the door open before the strike happened and now the strike is on and we’ve been kicked away from the door, down the street and out of town.
Meanwhile, the fat cat writers who aren’t affected by the strike because they have millions in the bank are doing under the table deals for writing assignments while others fat cats are scribbling away on specs.
So when the strike does end, the market is going to be flooded with scripts by the likes of David Koepp which will make it even harder for unknowns to get in (or those of us who finally opened the door after years of struggle to get back to where we were).
Do you honestly thinks that a Hollywood producer is going to pick an unknown’s script over David Koepp’s even if they’re of equal quality?
Of course not.
Again, the fat cats get fatter and the starving cats get scrawnier.
Non-WGA Writer said: “Do you honestly thinks that a Hollywood producer is going to pick an unknown’s script over David Koepp’s even if they’re of equal quality?”
Yes, its certainly possible. Again, the unknown writer’s script gets bought at first-time writer prices (unless there’s a bidding war, in which case people are going to want it no matter whose name is on the front). The Koepp script will cost what, seven figures? And of course Koepp wants to produce as well, or direct even, there’s back end points, dollar one points, all sorts of add-ons that will make the Koepp script an expensive undertaking, even if its a small little “dream” project.
And that’s the other thing. The A-lister who gets ridiculous rates for assigment work, what kind of spec is s/she gonna write with a few months off? The little script they always wanted to write but never had time because of all those highly paid assignments — about Darfur or Tibet or someone with cancer or super-AIDS or something.
People are reading the Koepp script because its a Koepp script. They’re reading yours because its a good commercial story, and its the kind of movie they want to make.
All the strike means for you is the potential for better a better deal when/if you get into the guild. Stop being narcissistic. The world doesn’t revolve around you and your Hollywood dreams.
Ronnie,
The producer will go for David Koepp’s script because many actors are lured to a movie project by a big name writer.
That’s why these same big name writers tend to rewrite lesser known writer’s scripts. Just so their name is on the cover page when it goes out to talent (i.e. actors).
Plus the producer can have an article in the trades about how they won the bidding war for the new Koepp script which makes them look good.
I didn’t know it was “narcissistic” to give a damn about keeping a roof over your head and food on the table.
Some of us aren’t trust fund kids, sweetheart.
Jesus, Non-WGA writer, it sounds impossible. How can you possibly succeed when all of Hollywood and fate and the Lord Almighty are conspiring against you? I guess you should just give up.
Totally with you, Non WGA Writer. Ronnie’s answer was fine until the last two lines. One might respond, the world doesn’t revolve around *you* and your Hollywood success! Instead, appreciate the support from those outside the guild, the people who plan to honor the lines and walk with signs. They aren’t getting the jobs, health coverage or benefits that members enjoy.
All the best to guild writers in the weeks ahead, and to the new talents who have successfully broken through the hardest doors at a most difficult time. Success looks easy in retrospect. Don’t let Ronnie Pudding or his narcissism bring you down.
Actually Non WGA Writer, the writers are like the Fox in the Hen house and the AMPTP is ripe for the plucking.
another non wga writer,
I’m not giving up now that I’ve been recently optioned (to a non WGA company so the movie is going ahead – director is attached). So try talking one of your other competitors into dropping out of the competition if that’s what you think is the only way YOU’LL ever get into the biz.
Toodles!
Jesus, the WGA will seriously never admit you later on if you try to submit work to companies during their strike? That’s a little paranoid, don’t you think?? It’s all well and good for them, they’ve already broken in and had nice careers. When are the rest of us supposed to get a chance, huh?
Here’s the REAl problem — retribution. IF writer write during the strike, and don’t hand in the work until after it’s over, we still have this Draconian threat of reprisals from the Guild — people will be “comparing” the work we sent in for validation with teh drafts we hand in afterwards (I love this — and then determine “how much” work we did on it during the strike?) For me, the choice i sclear, I handed in my last draft of a pilot before the strike started, and then I’m writing articles for gun magazines to feed my kids while the strike is on. But the rub is he WGA is insisting we to submit our current drafts — but I’m sure that you’ve heard by now that all the studios are sending out letters (got mine today) through our agents saying that if we comply with teh validation registry, that we are in violation of their right as our employers and our contracts will be terminated! How the hell did everyone set this up so that we are being threatened by the WGA and the studios with punishment? Seem like the owrking writer is getting it from both ends. Get what we want and settle this thing.