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Marvel Studios has started a writers program. The goal is to put more than half a dozen film writers on staff, give them an office, and “work them like horses!” one of my sources says. I’ve confirmed this smart move. (Makes you realize how backwards
Warner Bros is by comparison on their DC Comics film development.) *UPDATE: Marvel comic book writers are not excluded from applying.* One source tells me the terms of the program “are apparently more onerous than the terms of the Disney Writers Program. Before the writers are even allowed to come in and meet, they must sign a non-disclosure agreement and a 70-page, non-negotiable contract. Among other things, the contract gives Marvel ownership over everything the writers create during the one year term of [the] deal, plus a first look and last refusal to any and all projects the writers have previously written or will write for 24 months in the future.” Egads! Unfortunately, with Hollywood feature development at a near standstill, I suspect Marvel could have its pick of film writers in exchange for $5 and a hot lunch.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Do you have more information (link) on Marvel Studios writers program (or Disney Writers Program)?
Thanks,
E
Meh. Just hold onto the good stuff you write and send it around when your year is up. First look / last refusal is a joke. But this idea is a joke. No good writer is going to give away a year of his time for a non-negotiable deal. The writers who join this program will either be desperate, fresh off the bus, or both, making the whole thing a shot in the dark talent-wise. Pay your writers and you’ll get more out of them.
Hells yeah!
Screenwriters! Now’s your chance to become a 21st Century Slave!
Who wouldn’t pass up the chance to pick cotton for Marvel Studios?
his or HER time
As someone who sees most of the worthless poop out there posing as commercially viable scripts, maybe being “worked like horses” is exactly what these writers today need. The discipline is gone … and so is the originality for the most part. So let Marvel or Disney shepherd them for a bit … who better to know what audiences want.
how about writing a FEMALE SUPERHERO FILM FOR ONCE, GUYS????
As opposed to the slavery of working a shit day job…
It’s worth considering, given the masses of untapped, fresh talent out there.
How would a good slave like me apply?
Marvel = Scumbags sweatshop owners
Thank god I hate comic books.
They are no better than all those fly by night “Talent Agencies” around this country that promise stage moms everywhere (for a fee) a chance to get their little “Farrah” or “Shanequa” the career in “The Biz” that Milf never had.
Sad, But they fact that Marvel is doing this to earnest hardworking comicon geniuses with burning ambitiona is really shameful.
Let me guess is this an interniship?
I think the terms are tad too onerous to inspire writers to give their all to the program. I mean you have give them a reason to do their best, not try to contract them into oblivion.
If they want writers to work full time for them, they should just have a contract that reads “We won’t screw you.” That’ll inspire legions to put their best work forward. But 70 page contracts only serve to make money for lawyers.
soon Stan Lee will be everyone’s Daddy
its all about choices fellas, and you kinda narrowed your choices down with your work stoppage. i guess you have no one to thank but yourself.
Bring back the writers’ bungalows on the lot! I hope I get the one next to William Faulkner.
Scam…
What’s sad is that it’s going to be filled with not screenwriters applying, but the myriad of comic book writers who want to break into screenwriting thinking they’re the next Brian Michael Bendis or Jeph Loeb. If you’ve ever read a comic book writer’s attempt at a screenplay, it’s certainly worth a good laugh, but if this is who Marvel starts picking from this pile you’ll know they couldn’t get any Hollywood scripters.
… and I owe my soul to the company store…
I would imagine the deal has to be WGA which means they’ll be making somewhere around $200k per year at least. Pretty good if you ask me. Comic book writers make much less. These days screenwriters that don’t “work like horses” don’t work period.
200K?! Keep dreaming, Trevor K. The ABC/Disney Fellowship pays about 50K/year.
Ehhh.. sorry, I’m usually all for the worker’s side, but most of the comments here I think capture the problem as it exists:
Writers in this industry have gotten so lazy it’s not even funny. Lazy, and entitled.
If you’re a writer, especially one starting out, sign on the dotted line for, as Nikki put it, $5 and a hot lunch. It’s not a fly-by-night production company. It’s Marvel Studios.
Work hard, get enslaved/sell out/whatever for a year. Be a workhorse. LEARN HOW TO WRITE.
When you’re done, if you’re lucky, your script will actually be good enough for production. You’ll be steps ahead and above the absolute, unbelievable dreck that’s out there passing for screenplays.
If you’re not so lucky and you don’t get produced, you’ve LEARNED HOW TO WRITE for a year, under actual discipline (yes, writing IS that hard.) And maybe just as importantly, you’ve made some contacts.
So writers, stop dreaming about starting a bidding war over your awful scripts just because someone else once managed it. Believe me when I tell you I’m not oblivious to how hard it is in this town, how getting effed is like waking up in the morning.
But the fact of the matter is that the skill of writing has become almost nonexistent in this town, and no amount of vilifying the studios will obfuscate that. And the studios, as evil as they can be, are sick of it. And you know what? Like it or not, they’re the majority buyer. So if I were you, I’d stop being a prima donna about my nonexistent skills, and get me some.
This is a total scam to avoid hiring proper writers and paying decent living wages. No surprise it’s done by Marvel.
the deal is WGA and it pays 150k (it’s 40 weeks not 52). It also says that they have the right to get a bunch of work out of you for WGA minimum any time during the 2 years AFTER you leave their program. A screenwriter would have to be pretty hard up or just out of film school to go for this BS job and be “worked like a horse”. Oh, and the kicker? If you end up with sole screen credit on one of their big movies? you get an extra 80k. That’s it.
“200K?! Keep dreaming, Trevor K. The ABC/Disney Fellowship pays about 50K/year.”
In addition to the fellowship, Disney ALSO has a lesser-known program for more advanced writers. It sounds similar to what Marvel is attempting. As of four years ago they were offering $200k for one year, with an option to extend for a second.
Before we speculate on how onerous and unfair this may be, does anyone REALLY know how much they’re paying for this year of servitude? My quote’s $350,000 a script, but give me a guaranteed $200,000/yr and, in this economy, I’m IN.
Are they interested in existing scripts that would fit into their pipeline well?
“What’s sad is that it’s going to be filled with not screenwriters applying, but the myriad of comic book writers who want to break into screenwriting thinking they’re the next Brian Michael Bendis or Jeph Loeb. If you’ve ever read a comic book writer’s attempt at a screenplay, it’s certainly worth a good laugh, but if this is who Marvel starts picking from this pile you’ll know they couldn’t get any Hollywood scripters.”
wow did you walk in and find the wife in a compromising with some X-men comics?
Chaka Khan, do you have any idea how this business works? It’s the studios who force us to write that schlock. They don’t want to see quality original material because that’s not what 14-30 year old men pay for. So we all have our masterpieces gathering dust in a drawer while we slave away at mindless garbage for the paycheck. Don’t you dare blame the writers — it’s ALL on the studios.