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EXCLUSIVE: In a move that has writers and their reps buzzing, Warner Bros has just put out word that it will start to enforce delivery dates on first screenplay drafts. That means writers who signed contracts had better deliver on time, or risk the wrath of the studio. Deadlines are rarely enforced by studios, under the “better late and great” rationale. Writers function better under deadline, but scribes say procrastination isn’t the reason they fall behind on delivery dates. Low to mid-level writers are double-booking to make ends meet in an age when studios routinely slash writer quotes and offer one-step deals that leave scribes wondering if they’ll be jobless in three months. Some writers saw the Warner Bros move as another example of a studio imposing its leverage over writers, wondering how long before they return to the days when scribes reported to writer’s rooms on studio lots, turning in a day’s worth of pages when they clocked out.
Warner Bros said the new mandate isn’t nearly as bad as writers might fear. It is part of the studio’s campaign to streamline the development process and fix a fractured system. Warner Bros needs movies. Execs would pitch projects to stars and directors, only to see the screenplays turned in months late. The move came out of recent meetings that production chief Greg Silverman and his exec team took with agents and writers, and not all the results are bad. Based on a litany of complaints from writers and reps, Warner Bros is moving away from the one-step deals that have caught on like wildfire at most studios.
Studios turned to the one-step deals as a way to avoid having to invest more time and money in second drafts from writers who’ve gone off the rails on the first draft. Writers hate the deals because it puts tremendous pressure to get it right the first time, and some need the rewrite process to find the movie. The writers feel that one-steps are promulgating parades of writers, robbing a sense of authorship and contributing to a lack of originality, character development and depth evident in many films that are not performing at the box office.
The one-step deals have also pressured writers into doing free rewrites that violates WGA rules. Scripts are first turned in to producers, who give notes to the scribes. Writers feel compelled to address those in a second pass, done for free, before the script is formally submitted to a studio. Top scribes say no, but low and mid-level writers fear that alienating the producer is a good way to not be brought back.
Insiders at the studio said Warner Bros wanted transparency in its development system, but denied that 12-week deadlines were being given out uniformly. Time lines will be agreed upon upfront by the studio, producer and the writer. Scribes doing research-intensive projects will be given more rope. But the script better be there when the due date arrives.
Writers and their reps say they can live with the Warner Bros system, that this could be positive if one-step deals go by the wayside. Their concern: other studios will emulate deadline enforcement, and keep the one-step deals now so common all over town. One-step deals force writers to keep one eye on the next job. Assignments are harder to come by, and there can be 20 scribes pitching takes in vying for the same job. Writers who don’t take the time to prepare don’t stand a chance.
Warner Bros has another motive for the delivery deadline crackdown. The studio wants producers to move more quickly when they receive script drafts. One producer said that could actually could cost Warner Bros more money, because it won’t leave time for producers to squeeze out that free rewrite that has become all to common.
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even with specs they don’t pay on time!
It’s easy to make fun of writers. Because their job/ lives seem easy. It’s not. And if you could do it, you would.
It’s a great job, but it’s HARD (mostly, in a fun way). But yelling and threatening to coax a CREATIVE PROCESS is fruitless. Do you want faster scripts? Or GOOD scripts?
Even the BEST writers tank when rushed. Oscar winners. Too many examples to name.
I’ve heard crazy stories of writers being late a year. That’s unacceptable. But a few weeks if it makes the script better? Unless the thing has a start date and is in prepro, relax. Some scripts just take longer.
If you want to burn out all your best talent, go ahead. But it won’t get you the results you’re seeking. And as many people are desperately trying, the talent pool is actually not that big. It’s a rare skill.
And I’ve never. Never been paid on time.
This is just another reason why Warner’s is the worst studio to do business with in town right now whether you are a writer, actor or producer.
The talent exodus from the studio has begun and more BIG NAMES will follow in the coming weeks.
Mark my words.
Are they marked?
Okay then.
No problem turning a script in by deadline. But –
a) please pay us on time
b) please pay us commencement before we get started and please don’t ask for a second draft until you’ve paid delivery on the first (yes this has happened)
c) producers’ passes are often a waste of time because the studio and producer are not always on the same page
e)second draft deadlines are often the worst. the studio will take months and months to get their notes together on the first draft, schedule a notes mtg or call, etc. and you go broke waiting. so maybe you take another gig and THEN you get the call that the studio wants the second draft. if studios paid attention to how tv works, where both sides work fast on a deadline, maybe this process could become more efficient. oh yeah, and in tv you get paid for your work, without a question.
If you’ve got a two-step deal (and I had to fight to hold onto mine, but have) there is a fixed reading period for the studio to respond. Generally it’s 4 weeks between drafts so you aren’t screwed and go broke waiting. Well guess what — the 18% late charges also go against commencement in this case. So if they don’t bother to pay your second guaranteed step on time cause sorry-they’re-out-of-the-country-for-Christmas and then they’re-back-and-really-busy-with-the-new-year and has-it-really-been-since-way-before-Thanksgiving? (that’s all verbatim by the way) you’re due 18% interest on that too.
Don’t get mad. Just get paid. People lost houses striking for these clauses so you don’t have to lose yours.
Thank you — I honestly had no idea about that — and surprised no one else (agents?) brought it to my attention because this really did happen to me… BUT NEVER WILL AGAIN! Seriously, thanks. And I will spread the word. Tired of studios taking advantage.
Add me to the chorus of the galled: It’s like BP complaining that we threw trash on their yard.
On my last script at Warners they didn’t pay me for five months after I had commenced. As it is I had to take a loan to keep writing because they had not paid me. My agents and lawyer didn’t want to piss off the studio and did nothing. And I am with one of the big agencies.
When the writer receives the check from the studio for commencement he or she should then commence. If the studio waits months to cut the check the writer should wait to write. Agencies don’t push for this, lawyers, managers or the WGA.
The WGA is nowhere on this. NOWHERE. They are the most pathetic union when it comes to getting paid in a timely fashion. SAG makes sure their clients get paid across the boards. There is a series of check and balances and late fees to studios. WGA does next to NOTHING.
I agree. The WGA is a joke. A shark with no teeth. And the more media is allowed to consolidate the less power they will have.
Enforcement? Don’t make me laugh.
The WGA is a shark? Try a dead fish.
i am also at one of the biggies, dan. and it’s really, really, REALLY annoying that agents (who are supposed to be the bad guys so we don’t have to) are now too scared to say ANYTHING to ANYONE. instead of representing us and putting their foot down they just tell us to quietly suck it up and do whatever it takes to make the producer, the d-girl, the VP and whoever else happy for a measly one-step deal. this often means 4 passes before official delivery to the studio. and for the record, i am one of those writers juggling multiple jobs. and it’s not fun. believe me, I AM grateful to be employed, but as soon as a script is finished, instead of feeling aaaah relief, i just feel a gnawing in my stomach…like i’m being led into a dark basement by my uncle pete to play the tickle game…
maybe what would be most helpful (to all of us on this site) is to make a list of the most egregiously late writers. These are the people who give other writers a bad name, and frustrate the shit out of execs and producers by killing the momentum of their projects. So, let’s have at it – who are the writers who are always late? And/or who are the ones who are the most late? Let’s out these folks once and for all!
Yes, let’s start a blacklist! Neat!
That list will include the highest paid, most sought after writers in town, along with several Oscar winners. All of whom will be entirely unaffected by being on such a list, same as they will not be bothered by this latest WB tantrum. Noise like this does not reach their level.
Hey Useful, way to keep it classy.
How is informing the town about writers who are notoriously late and don’t deliver unclassy? In almost every other business, you can go online and find out who is responsible and delivers good work, and who does not. There are websites for almost every other artistic endeavor to this end – architects, composers, editors, etc. They perform a valuable service so that you don’t waste your money hiring someone who has proven over time to be substandard. Heck, this website revels in calling out numerous producers, executives, and filmmakers who have behaved irresponsibly. Why shouldn’t writers who give other writers a bad name by being late and failing to deliver not be held to the same standard? Are writers that thin-skinned that they cannot face the music if they have been consistently late, or consistently fail deliver? Why the hypocrisy?
No, you’re right, compiling lists of names for public scorn is the height of class. Particularly in a forum where there is no burden of proof and the accused can’t defend themselves.
Isn’t that what this site does to EVERY other person in this business? Actors, Directors, Producers, Executives – they all face public scorn on this site for their hard work, “where there is no burden of proof and the accused can’t defend themselves.” Why suddenly the double standard for writers? Have you ever posted a negative or critical comment on this site about someone else’s work? If so, then you are a hypocrite. And if you were such a proponent of an open forum, then why do you post anonymously?
Wrong. What this site does is call people out for bad behavior/stupid decisions based on specific insider info. Read the recent Alex Young A-Team article. If you find Nikki credible, which I do based on her track record, this insider info provides both the evidence and the context for her claims. Also, Nikki can be sued for defamation if she’s wrong. The accused CAN defend themselves if, in fact, they’ve been targeted unfairly.
What you’re suggesting is entirely different. You just want to blacklist people, anonymously, with no evidence and no context and no legal recourse for the wrongly accused. It’s classless and lazy and indefensible so stop trying.
Silverman has changed. He has become “the man” trying to govern by fear. He has been behind the rumors claiming that this or that Warners exec is to be fired. He doesn’t realize that he is merely renting the job. I mean to be massively burning bridges this early on that’s crazy. ALSO note very well- Jonah Hex was his movie as an exec. Well done!
Silverman hasn’t changed. He’s always been a tool.
Warner Bros. is starting to sound like those shady producers you see on Craigslist trolling anonymously for free writers. Hey, now there’s an idea!!
How about this: On the day a script is due, call the studio – or have your agent do it – and say “The script is ready, come and get it. Oh, and bring the completion check with you. Otherwise, no script.”
Surely the studio execs can have no objection. After all, they’re getting what they paid for.
+1
Hold up your end of the deal, and hold the studios accountable every step of the way. Be upfront with them and don’t back down. You will only begin writing once the commencement check comes in (and clears). You will only turn over the first draft in exchange for the check that you’re legally bound to receive. No pay, no play.
If your manager or agent (who you’re paying!) is too big of a pussy to do this, then do it yourself. And then fire your representation and find someone with some balls to back you.
Chinaski, lovely sentiment, but shit-for-brains stupid in practical application. Go ahead. Alienate people. Especially the ones who hire you. Refuse to write until you receive the commencement check. Refuse to submit your draft until you receive delivery money. All you’ll accomplish is ensuring you’ll never work at that studio again. Repeat this process three or four times and you won’t need to fire your agent. He’ll take care of that for you. Because you’re now unhirable.
It’s nice to stand on principle, really I admire it, but it’s even better to know what the fuck you’re talking about.
Reasoning like yours is why the system remains as it is.
Insisting that the terms of a contract are adhered to is “alienating” behavior? Not in any other business. Why should it be in this one? Oh, because you’re “just a writer” and afraid of doing anything to displease the all-powerful studios.
You don’t have to be an asshole about it, you can use a little diplomacy… but expecting the terms of a contract to be fulfilled should not be alienating behavior. The fact that you think it is, and for that reason let the studios run over your contracts, is precisely the problem. If writers as a group simply stood up on these points, the issue would be over. Instead, people like you let themselves get run over in the name of not “alienating” the powers-that-be. You’re an appeaser. Grow some fucking balls.
Oh really?
Well, then thrill us, O’ Enlightened One, with your tales of standing up to the powers that be. Tell us about the times you used your ‘diplomacy’ to curb the studios’ behavior. Really. Educate us. Because you clearly have the system figured out and most of us don’t.
And since your balls are so huge, be specific. Name the studios and the execs you stood up to. Tell us what you said and what they said. Let your personal experiences be an example to all of us. Of how we screenwriters, with a bit of pluck, can be masters of our own destiny.
I’ll be waiting for your reply. And until then I’m gonna trust my gut that you’re another big talker who is full of shit.
Oh right – because anecdotal evidence about what I personally have or haven’t done would prove / disprove my argument. I could just as easily ask you to provide an account of all your “alienating behavior” and how it got you blacklisted by every studio. But I don’t, because it’s an irrelevant appeal fallacy. And this is the internet – people are anonymous. Remember?
The point is, every time a writer rolls over on a point of significance (maybe some writers don’t mind getting late paychecks – choose any other issue then), it reaffirms the studios’ mentality about their treatment of writers – that a writer’s expectation to be paid on time is unreasonable, antisocial, “alienating” behavior. Do you deny this? Do you deny that if writers as a group stood up on this certain points (like: honoring contracts) this problem would go away?
And what is your position, exactly? That this is just how it is, so all writers should suck it up and be happy to get their paycheck whenever they get it? It’s easy to say “that won’t work, you naif” – what do you propose? Where should the writer draw the line on the issue of payment? How late can the studio pay? 6 months? A year? At what point should the writer finally take a stand? And if they can take a stand at that point, then why not earlier?
Ah, just as I thought. You’re unable to provide even one example of how your enlightened ‘diplomacy’ solution has worked. Not one. How shocking. Call it an appeal fallacy all you want, it’s obvious why you can’t back up your talk. Because it’s just that – talk. The empty rhetoric of someone who hasn’t been there. You’re a yapper, yap yap yap, just like the guy whose ‘no pay, no play’ post you’re defending. I have no idea where you got the idea I’m blacklisted at the studios, but if that makes you feel better about your life go ahead and believe it. I would be blacklisted if I took career advice from you.
What’s my position? If you had half a brain, you wouldn’t need to ask a working writer his position on being paid. If you had half a brain, you’d know without my telling you that it has nothing to do with my position. It has to do with the reality of the studio system. It has to do with the balance of power, which tips more and more in favor of the studios every year. It has to do with writers being relegated, historically, to the lowest tier. Sure, maybe in a perfect world, if all the writers would unite and speak with one voice, if A-listers gave a shit about B-listers like me, yes, maybe we could bring the media conglomerates to their knees and finally get some respect. But this isn’t a perfect world, it’s Hollywood, numb nuts.
yup, absolutely. Payment/script delivery should be like a hostage transfer- just leave the bag of money on the curb, pick up the script, and back away verrry slowly.
And as to the producer pass issue- I understand that producers put a ton of work into development and getting the script sold. That doesn’t qualify them to write it. Anymore than writing the script qualifies me to DP the shoot.
Writer here (or so I like to think.) I don’t really have a problem with “free passes.” I understand the execs point of view on that.
Some of us are not as amazing as the great Paddy Chayefsky and might need another draft or two to get it into Paddy Chayefsky shape… (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a WB exec say, “This is good, but we need this to be Paddy Chayefsky good… push that envelope!”) For the money the studios pay for a first draft, even the minimum money, they should get more than a vomit pass.
But this payment/delivery dance could really use some rethinking.
When I first started screenwriting, I severely misinterpreted the payment schedule. I thought they’d give me money to live on while I wrote the script. In fact, they even told me that would be the case. I moved to LA. Borrowed a bit of money for moving expenses. And then I waited for the contract. I had no idea the contract would take months. I had no idea I was supposed to write while waiting for the contract. (I got started once I was informed.) And then I waited. And borrowed money. And took out credit cards. Went into more debt. Started to wonder if this thing was actually happening. Was assured that this was normal and it was happening. Waited some more. Signed the contract. Anticipated my commencement check. More debt. More waiting. And then finally a check in which 15-25 percent (depending on manager) is taken off the top and then the IRS/California takes, or so it seems, about 50 percent off the rest, which left me enough to cover half my debt, so I was still playing catch up.
And that’s when I was told that people were unhappy that I was running late on my first draft.
I could have informed myself better and I could have handled myself better. I was young and made some missteps that I regret.
But I will say, I had an expectation that this would be like a real job and that I’d get paid in a timely manner. The studio had an expectation that this would be like a real job and I’d finish my script in a timely manner. In my naivete, I thought they’d go first.
None of these people are bad people. I’d even say that many at the WB are fairly good people, even if their meetings are scarily big for shy writers.
And it’s not just in our industry. Big corporations are not in the habit of paying freelancers on time. It’s there way of staggering cost. For example, one of my more business savvy friends told me that Dish Network is notorious for not paying freelance workers until they get sued.
In a better world, not the world we live in, but in a better one, we’d all get off on the right foot. I would have gotten paid to live while I wrote the material. Free from the stress of being teased with the possibility of paying my bills, I would have delivered the material on time and enjoyed my first gig.
So that is to say, if this leads to more mutual understanding and trust, I’d say it could be a good start.
I am embarrassed to be part of a union that does nothing for its members besides letting us know where to send our dues. Wake up WGA, you week ass f***tards and stop letting your members get jerked around all over town [in a bad way]
I am a produced writer with a good reputation repped at a big agency. I was recently hired to do a preproduction rewrite for a studio. Of course, because the movie was going into production, I was told to start immediately (as soon as I was hired) and to deliver a first draft as quickly as possible, which I did in 4 weeks, pulling all-nighters. Producers very happy with draft. Director very happy. I revised it per their notes. Draft was submitted to studio. Studio happy. I was asked to meet to discuss their notes in person and, approaching week 8, two drafts into the process by my count, I said, look, guys, I love this project, but I really need to get my commencement check before I come in for another meeting.
I was replaced immediately.
By an A-list writer, I should add, who makes in a week what I make in a year, who was working from my draft, which I still hadn’t been paid a dime for. A month later I received my commencement check. Another 4 weeks, my delivery check.
Anyone who thinks writers hold sway in this town and can strongarm a studio into dispensing funds is as clueless as I was. Welcome to Hollywood 2010. Relationships are out the window. Respect is out the window. They will shitcan you just to make a point.
Thanks for posting this. It’s one the more accurate responses posted in this thread.
I’m sorry you had to go through that. I similarly made a stand about compensation on a project and it fucked me royally. I was removed from the project within seconds and replaced by an A list hack who had no issue taking over my script.
They brought him in to just polish it before heading out to directors but he demanded a page one rewrite which was granted. He proceeded to destroy the script to the point that the studio never sent it out to directors and pretended his draft didn’t exist. One of the producers on the project was only allowed to read his draft at the studio in a locked room if you can believe it because they didn’t want it getting out around town.
All these writers claiming threatening the studio/producer works, either haven’t worked in a long time or aren’t working on the big studio level.
They are cutthroat and the second you try to flex any muscle they put you in your place reminding you how replaceable you are to them.
I’ve had many exchanges with creative execs who say to me, “well if you don’t make that change, someone else will”. They’ll say it in passing or as a joke, but it’s a fact.
I’ve worked hard to jedi mind trick the fuckers into thinking my ideas are their ideas. That seems to work, but sometimes they just can’t be reasoned with. A lot of times it’s a Junior Exec or a Creative Exec who grew up very privileged and wants to put something that reminds them of their life into a script regardless of what it does to the story.
I once had a creative exec (who thankfully lost his job) tell me I had to put in a scene where a character danced around to Kriss Kross’ song “Jump” because it would be so hilarious. When I pressed him on why it was so hilarious, he told me that his Uncle danced to it at his bar mitzvah and everyone was just tickled by this. Uh huh…
Writing that scene had nothing to do with the story and it had to be shoe horned into the script. When I turned in the draft immediately I was called out on the scene. When I explained why it was in there and where it came from, the fucker said, “that was only a suggestion of his” and then afterward he had the audacity to say to me in private, “the reason that scene stuck out like a sore thumb was that you didn’t fully embrace it”.
I’m always shocked you don’t hear about more murders by screenwriters in Hollywood. It’s certainly crossed my mind on more than one occasion.
True Story,
That’s a damn shame. Where the hell was the WGA?
As an actor, I remember doing an episode of JAG, back in the 90′s, where I worked 17 hours on a day under a forced call. All told, I was owed about $2,400 and some change. Not a lot of loot but it was earned and it was mine.
The production office claimed I never worked the 17 hours, nor reported for work before the twelve hour turn around. I was dumbfounded — I routinely documented my hours, just in case, and tried to figure out how they could be so stupid. They probably figured since I was a day player I wouldn’t rock the boat. They figured wrong — I didn’t a fuck if I ever did the show again.
Without calling SAG or my agents I had a Chicago flashback on the UPM’s assistant, informing him of the need for a new office decorator if he didn’t un-ass my cash — quickly.
I had a check in my hand within two hours.
None of us have livelihoods without writers. It mystifies me the way they are disrespected in this town, given their role as the generators of raw material. Unfortunately, a lot of writers I’ve met have neither the personality nor inclination to be entrepreneurs.
For those of you looking to control your destinies, producing your own work would provide a degree of authority to withstand some of the bullying that I find so abhorrent in this town. I will not stand for sub-human behavior toward me. Neither should you.
I am very sympathetic to your situation, which is why it pains me so much to say this:
They fired you for very good cause.
You may have thought you were saying “Hey, guys, I really need to get paid now”, but what they heard was “I am holding your $50 million movie hostage. Pay me.” Telling them you won’t come to a meeting until you’re paid is the equivalent of an actor saying they won’t come out of their trailer when a crew is standing around waiting on set. At that point, they simply couldn’t afford the risk of having you on the picture going forward, even if they agreed that it was egregious that you hadn’t been paid yet. It’s a $50 million train, and it MUST keep moving at all costs. They didn’t fire you to prove a point, they fired you because when a movie is a go, you don’t get to say “I’m not coming to work until I get my check” or any other version of “I’m not coming to work.” You become a $50 million liability, and you must be replaced with someone reliable.
This is why you have an agent. Your agent has these conversations. You never talk about money with an executive. Your agent should have advised you in the strongest possible terms against saying anything like this to an executive, ever. Then your agent should have gotten you your check. This is what agents do for a living.
Finally, everybody here needs to recognize something — studios don’t view you as an employee. They view you as a contractor. This is a good thing, for the most part. I don’t want to be a studio employee. But the downside is that corporations don’t pay contractors the way they pay employees. They pay them as late as possible, to earn interest on the float. Waiting weeks or months without payment is just part of life as a contractor, unfortunately. This is why, as a writer, you must always have enough cash on hand to last at least six months, if not a year. You should never, ever be in a position of needing money, if only because needing a job almost guarantees that you won’t get one. I would borrow money before ever letting a studio executive think I needed his money, or his job.
I write this not to rebuke you, but so that any writer reading this will take it to heart and avoid making the same mistake. Good luck to you.
Great insights, fellow writer. Thanks for that.
Fellow Writer,
I agree with a lot of what you said. I obviously misjudged the situation. I assumed because the work was well received and I was clearly devoted to the project I had some pull. I learned my lesson, believe me. (Incidentally, my agent was involved from day one. He could not get me paid.)
But what’s disturbing about your post is you seem to think it’s right and okay that the production status of a movie dictates whether or not our contracts are legally binding. You’ve got the studio’s back on this in a big way.
Oh, well, if the movie’s greenlit, who am I, lowly writer, to suggest WGA guidelines have any bearing? Gosh, how silly of me to think I have any rights whatsoever.
I understand the reality of the $50M locomotive (now more than ever) and I accept it, but I will never condone it as you do. You even use the studio’s inflammatory language ‘holding a movie hostage’ to indict me, ignoring the fact that the work I did, in good faith for 2 months (after 3 weeks of meetings just to get the job), helped make the movie castable, made it possible to schedule and storyboard, not to mention solving huge story problems that could have derailed the production.
You ignore all that, like your average studio hack, and say my firing was justified because I’m unreliable. If you are a fellow writer and that’s how you really think… fuck, how sad.
You don’t have your agent do it cuz they’re all in bed with the studios. You have your lawyer get you paid– it’s his fiduciary responsibility to get you paid under the terms of the contract he vetted. Lawyers (good ones at least) get you paid, not agents. My lawyer has a dorsal fin under his sport coat.
Interesting. Thanks. I hadn’t even considered that.
Yeah, I kinda figured you’d react that way.
For the record, I am an above-average studio hack. And I hate to break it to you, but getting paid eight weeks late is literally the least of the injustices you will endure in your career. Getting fired is the second-least. The worst, by far, is seeing your movies ruined.
I have done my fair share of yelling at studio executives. I’ve done it with the every expectation that it will get me fired. I do it very rarely, and I only do it for one reason: for the good of the movie. Interestingly, I’ve never gotten fired for it, but I’m sure I will someday. That’s fine by me.
If you are the type to work yourself up into moral indignation over getting paid eight weeks late, you probably won’t last very long. You will either burn out or wash out, because you are going to face far greater injustices than that. I recommend that you save your energy for the battles that really matter — the battles over what winds up on the screen. That’s the only thing worth getting fired over. As for everything else — adopt a pragmatic attitude in order to get what you want.
If you are angry about the experience you’ve had, there are two things you can do with that anger. You can sit and fume about the injustice of it all, rail about the indignities that studios inflict on poor, unfortunate writers.
Or you can do what I like to do:
Win.
Get rich. Work hard. Make great movies. Produce and/or direct your own work.
If you are young and talented, you will outlast every single executive who currently sits behind a desk in Hollywood. Every one of them will come to you one day, asking you to work with them. That is, if you’re smart enough not to derail your career over a late paycheck.
Oh, and by the way? I’ve probably worked on over two dozen movies for every studio in town, and I’ve never gotten paid late in my life. I’ve never even mentioned getting paid to my agent. The check just shows up.
If you’re not getting paid on time, fire your agent.
Finally we get to the truth.
If you’ve never been paid late in your life, then you’ve never experienced the frustration of it (and yes, the anger) which is probably why your advice, though well-meaning, rings hollow. I am continually amazed by people’s willingness to come here and pass judgement on others in jobs they haven’t done and/or with experiences they haven’t had.
I have been paid late. It doesn’t happen every time, but more than it should. It seems to be a fairly typical experience for a working writer. Your experience where everything just magically takes care of itself is atypical. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t need the WGA. We’d just do our work and life would be rosy.
I’ve experienced the full range of injustices and success as a writer. I have seen my movies destroyed, I’ve seen others made faithfully, marketed with skill, released to good reviews and solid box office earnings. I have fought the creative battles. Having fought them does not make financial misbehavior by the studios any easier to stomach. Contract law shouldn’t become moot simply because a movie has a start date. The train doesn’t trump our rights. Well, it does, but it shouldn’t.
I am not as rich as you nor as wise apparently, but neither am I a fool. I’ve admitted to a misjudgment. I learned from it. It’s hardly ruined my career. I’ve already been offered work again by the same studio. (That’s how little this stuff actually matters to them.)
You sound like one of those wildly successful A-listers who live by different rules than the rest of us. Congrats. You’ve made it. Now how about cutting your fellow writers a little slack? At the very least walk a mile in our shoes before you descend from the mountaintop to pass judgment.
Incidentally, the only other A-lister I met was also more aligned with the studios’ interests than the guild’s. I suspect that’s why we are a weak union. Our top talent defects.
Having been acquainted with book writers for many years, most of them – the real ones not the Demi Moore ones – would laugh at this. They write a whole book and when it a publisher accepts it they get paid. That payment has the provision that there will be edits – called ‘passes’ – to be done on deadlines before the book goes to print. The writer gets paid for what he does and that pay includes a contract that states that there will be passes and everybody knows what the deal it. This goes for writers who get a $5000 deal and writers who get a $500,000 deal.
With this haphazard committe like atmosphere in screenwriting its a surprise that any script ever gets written and no wonder so many of them are so bad. I talked to a novelist who had some understanding of screenwriting and he said to me once ‘Book writers dont unionize.’
I have lived at the whim of a group of writer-producers on a top 10 network tv show for years. I don’t think they’ve made a delivery deadline yet. We typically prep from studio or network drafts that have nothing to do with the production draft when it arrives, usually just before, or just after, the first day of shooting. I’ve sat in countless production meetings where the mantra was oft repeated “don’t move on that yet, it’s going to change.” I’d LOVE to see deadlines enforced, especially in tv where you already know what’s expected well ahead of time.
Thank God i write my own original specs and plan on directing the next one…
fuck that bureaucratic shit
Since the WGA won’t do anything to help writers get paid on time, there’s only one thing you can do to make your life easier: Save up 6-12 months of living expenses and ALWAYS live below your means. I know that’s hard for most Americans, but I live this way and I never get stressed about money. Having a nest egg allows me to focus on the writing, instead of worrying about how I’m going to pay my bills while I wait around for douche bags to pay me.
That’s a very sensible comment. As I writer, I still have a full time job too – and I make sure that I’m never desperate for money – because desperation leads to unprofessional behavior.
I also make it a point of making every deadline issued, or notifying the producer well in advance if I don’t think I can make it.
And when I’m at the point that I can just write full time, I have already set up a budget of 70% for living, 20% for saving, and 10% for retirement.
As much as I hate to bag writers, I find a lot of them go into it expecting to find the easy life. And it’s just not like that.
There are indeed tools in the WGA for settling pay disputes, but they require you to actually use them. It doesn’t just magically happen. So instead of making threats, sit down like an adult, outline your complaints to your agent, and schedule a meeting with the producers to work it out in a professional manner.
Like a lot of people – some writers just need to grow up!
For all your maturity and professionalism in the end you’re a writer who can’t support himself by writing.
Congrats.
If you ever do have an actual career (big if), the kind where you’re getting offered big studio assignments that can’t be written on coffee break at Radio Shack, and you have to quit the day job, and you find yourself supporting a family of 4 and elderly parents with your writing alone, and one afternoon you realize the studio is withholding your commencement check as a business strategy, I hope you come back here to DHD to vent your frustration and commiserate with fellow writers and some prick who isn’t even doing the job tells you you just need to grow up!
That is my wish for you.
You need to get more vocal about your development fees. Studios screw the entire process by withholding these and often not paying them out at all. Congloms have led to this terrible behavior, but for producers, these fees make the process less like a deathmatch and more like the creative environment it’s supposed to be.
Give me a fucking break! I am so sick and tired of hearing writers whine and bitch about not getting paid for producer’s pass! As an independent producer, who has worked tiresly ( and for free) on developing projects for months sometimes years with writers and have taken tremendous risk by spending my own money to option scripts, this attitude is truly insulting! If you don’t want our input and don’t want to do any free drafts, then do an amazing fucking job the first time and wow us! Writing is a process. We are trying to make the script the best that it can be. The financing game is becoming tremendously difficult and we all have to adjust accordingly. The key to success is always giving you 100% and doing what ever is needed to get the job done. This awful attitude and expectation that you have to be paid in-order to get it right is among the reasons why there are so many shitty scripts out there.
Go fuck yourself. There are as many shitty producers as there are shitty scripts. I have a pretty good idea what kind you are from your attitude toward writers. Hear this. Are you listening? We owe you nothing.
Writing is process? Gee, thanks for the scoop, you self-important prick. Guess what? We do the process. You? You observe it. You comment on it. You opine. Never realizing that your career only exists because of our process. That without our process you’d be selling used Hondas.
There are great producers in this town, I’ve worked with a couple and let me tell you, they are rare and they respect writers. More common are the parasites who think simply by calling themselves a PRODUCER they’re entitled to my blood and sweat for free. You’re not. Again, we owe you nothing.
This notion that writers are eternal slackers who phone it in and still have a career is fucking nonsense. We earn every opportunity we get. Nobody is hiring us for our looks.
So don’t lecture us about the process. We live the process. The process is our life. The writers I know give 100% to everything they work on. Because that’s what it takes to survive in this town. All it takes to be an independent producer is a business card and some unchecked hubris and a table at Starbucks.
More than ten years ago, when free rewrites threatened to become common, I asked the President of the WGA at a members’ meeting why the Guild didn’t fight this practice. The President responded “Guild Rules forbid free rewrites…”, then he smiled broadly and said “…but if I were you I’d do them so I didn’t lose my job.” Hm. Was it Jack Warner who said, “Writers are just schmucks with Underwood’s”?
I heard Jonah Hex was delivered on time.
When are writers going to learn that without them, studios have NOTHING.
The next WGA/AMPTP talks should center around studios being offered
a LEASE on any writers material. 5, 10, 15, 20 years. Whatever.
Go ahead, make a movie or don’t.
If it works, the writer gets the appropriate residuals or participation.
After the lease expires. Too bad.
Renew the lease, or fuck off.
Dear “Thunder Duck”,
90% of the material being developed today is based on comic books, video games or other properties that the writer doesn’t control. No rights can revert to the writer if the writer didn’t control the rights in the first place.
If you write an original spec, you always have the choice of optioning it rather than selling it. The WGA has no reason to get involved in these cases.
If only that could happen. Imagine studio’s that were run by the artists themselves. Better films at a fraction of the cost.
+1000 on this sentiment.
Something that one post said struck a chord – writers do not unionize and that novelists don’t. It is interesting that for basically turning out a story, a novel or a script, the way a deal goes is so different. A novelist writes a book & tries to get an agent, the agent cuts a deal that sets down how and when the pay installments will be made and the publisher sticks to the deal. Why do you so often hear of WGA members being stiffed and so rarely hear of book authors being stiffed? In both cases you have a writer, an agent and a buyer but in the screenwriter case you also have a union. So does anyone ask – is that difference the problem?
Also – someone said something about the ‘creative process’ not being subject to pressure. All good writers have to submit to deadlines. The authors I know of call them that – deadlines – while screenwriters seem to refer to them as ‘pressure’. A professional is someone who can give it to you good AND on Tuesday.
Inger wrote: “A professional is someone who can give it to you good AND on Tuesday.”
Yes, dear, that’s called “client work.” It’s what you do in PR/Advertising/low-end genre fiction.
But we’re talking about how long it takes to do truly great, original books and screenplays. It’s why there’s a difference between a bodice ripper for Regency and a Jane Austen novel.
As for writers without unions not getting screwed, HA! I hope one day you put down The Fountainhead long enough to realize just how naive you are.
No, “dear” that’s called being a professional. Professionals all have deadlines whether or not their work is “creative”. It’s not a money pit, or moneyless pit situation where you nurse a project on forever. What professional has the luxury or self indulgence to do that? There are good books and screenplays that are written in a few months, and lousy ones that the writer worked on for years – but once you have a producer or a publisher telling you they need the work by a certain date part of your job is to get it to that person by that date. As for the unions – union dues are hefty and for many writers it is a struggle to pony up and they do it because they assume that the union will be their recourse when they are not paid on time and/or for the work they do. If all you are getting from the Guild is as the poster John Binder says, that the union “forbids” free rewrites and then tells their writers to do them anyway – if a topic like this brings out so much latent anger at the Guild – than maybe what writers need are good agents who can write a solid contract and good lawyers who can enforce it. Naive? I have written dozens of pieces in a variety of media and been paid on time for every damn one.
No one is arguing that deadlines should be abolished or consistently disrespected. The point is that since this is especially creative work, there should be an understanding that some screenplays may be more complex and take longer to write, and therefore one-size-fits-all deadlines are unrealistic.
You’re absolutely right about the frustrations with the WGA. Your initial post seemed to have a general, Libertarian anti-union slant, which is why I reacted so negatively. In fairness to the WGA, it should be remembered that unions enforce minimum payment standards. Agents and lawyers can’t do it alone, to judge by the book publishing industry. There’s no closed shop union saying you must pay a minimum x, and so there are publishers who feel no shame at offering ten grand take-it-or-leave-it advances for books that may take months to research and write. Gotta save the money for Demi’s ghostwriter, after all.
As for getting paid on time, I want to live in your universe! My favorite excuse came from an editor at a national glossy who told me frankly that the magazine was a vanity project for the publisher, who prioritized paying for feed for his horses over paying writers.
It’s been done. Many times.
See “United Artists”, “The Directors Company”, etc. The films were not always better and certainly not cheaper.
The cost overruns on HEAVEN’S GATE destroyed United Artists.