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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.
A Marvel-ous Idea For Screenwriters...
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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.
First…this isn’t breaking news, people have known about this for the last 2 months.
2. The marvel job is not for peanuts and will pay in the low 6 figs for writers
3. The Disney program pays writers over 200k a year.
4. Most of the people being considered for this are young screenwriters with maybe 1 gig under their belt.
5. I know several of the writers in the Disney program, and they can’t speak more highly of the people involved. These are writers who are pros before they go in, and come out better writers when they come out.
Some of you need to realize that you come off bitter, and untalented by writing before thinking. Idiots.
Let’s see I tried ABC’s Daytime program. They didn’t like my comedy episode. I tried Nichol, they didn’t push me pass the growing crowd of “screenwriters” I signed releases, sent synopsis, loglines to several producers, actors etc. No bites. So when they announce this I have to ask myself, does it pay 1000 per week plus benefits, how about the studio cafeteria? Can I eat with Samuel Jackson? Can I try to steal the slimmed down Scarlet J from her husband who made her loose that great figure? What can Marvel give me? Do I have to sleep with someone to get in this program? Will Halle be in the next Spiderman movie? Questions Questions, and five dollars and hour is better than working at McDonalds.
This might be better than the sixty hours (mostly free) I’m putting in for my “clients” and book editing
Nice! Marvel films is learning from Marvel comics. Nobody fucks creators like Marvel Comics!
Deaf – DUMB – Indian Muslim Anarchist carped, “how about writing a FEMALE SUPERHERO FILM FOR ONCE, GUYS????”
Hello…. Elektra.
The guy behind this is Kevin Feige, the guy groomed by Avi Arad to empty his spitoons and deposit his Depends. He was the one that wanted to reboot the Hulk, a great move which cost them most of their Iron Man profits. Now they find themselves trying to make movies out of public domain Norse Gods like Thor. And the terms of the loans from Merrill Lynch means they lose the rights to the characters if the film bombs. Avi may have been a rug merchant without any trustworthiness and he may have plugged his vagabond son into the company for shits and giggles but at least he knew the characters. Feige doesn’t even know that. He wouldn’t know an AntMan from an Atom if you introduced them. Why would any writer want to do this and work with these jackasses is beyond me.
Yeah, Marvel tried an equivalent writer-enslavement program back in 2003 with their comic writers, too, creating a new line called Marvel EPIC that anyone, including their fans, could submit their best revamps of old crap Marvel characters to.
Marvel’s plan was to ramp up development of their deep back catalog on the cheap, and hopefully find a few old characters with good modern takes that they could test-market in comics and then spin off into TV & Film. Problem is, throwing open the doors to just anyone invites in a lot of dummies without the necessary skills, and that’s not always clear on first impressions. Marvel were swiftly buried in 2000+ amateur submissions inside the first week without the staff necessary to wade through them, and the pile just continued to grow and grow and grow.
Worse, no professional comics writers would accept the onerous terms of the contract (which, similar to this one, owned your entire creative output for years).
Worst of all, though, is the fact that Marvel didn’t (and still doesn’t) give their creators a permanent ownership percentage for creating new characters the way DC does, so few creators were (or are) willing to give Marvel their best new material, even if it’s just a reimagined version of Marvel’s old stuff… it’s more worth it to a creator to redesign the Marvel idea further away from whatever Marvel character gave them the inspiration and then self-publish it… that way the comics guys own their Intellectual Property and can license it to the movies themselves.
Marvel’s EPIC “line” of comics eventually published something like 3 books, none of them lasted past issue #3, and the whole experiment became a life lesson in how not to conduct comics business.
And THAT was the trainwreck which resulted from offering wannabe writers $50/page to sit and revamp old junk. Imagine how many MORE applications they’re going to get for this mainstream Hollywood program… and they most likely won’t be any better, for the most part, than the wannabe comic writers were. Every geek in town and out of town will turn out to pitch their “awesome” take on Cloak & Dagger, no working professionals will stand to have their entire output monopolized by Marvel for a year + 2 year option, the smart people with good ideas for revamps of Marvel’s old junk will just keep it to themselves, and Marvel will most likely end up quietly shutting this whole thing down… just like they did with Marvel EPIC.
What was Einstein’s definition of insanity again? Oh, right… repeating the same actions again and again and expecting a different result.
are the studios no longer developing simply to punish the writers for the strike?
Hello… The sooner Elektra is forgotten, the better.
“No good writer is going to give away a year of his time for a non-negotiable deal”. Typical BS attitude toward everything. Instead spend that year trying to sell ONE (which you probably won’t because that’s usually how it goes) script for WGA minimum that never gets made anyway. People are so paranoid of “bad” deals and/or plaigiarism that they never release a single thing out of FEAR. IF you’re in the minority that actually is working as a writer, shut up and enjoy it. If you’re not, shut up as well…hopefully you realize that it’s YOU at fault for lack of work…too many excuses and chill on the narcissism it’s bad for your career.
Has anything actually ever come of one of these first look/last look/writer’s program deals? I have heard far and few mentions of scripts that actually ended up getting purchased by Disney/ABC/whoever out of one of these programs and none that have ever been made.
This is how Marvel held onto all the rights from the Martin Goodman days forward, and the “work for hire” provision of U.S. Copyright law makes it allllll possible. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Buscema, John Romita — all of them were cut out of owning their creations because they either took a salary or signed freelancer releases. The subject is Marvel in this thread, but all the old studios owned every word their employees turned out whether shot or not. You think Billy Wilder and the Estate of Charles Brackett got paid for the Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard”? You think Joe Mankiewicz got a dime from the musical “Applause”? They were lucky to get opening night tickets. Work for hire.
Actually, Josh, yes several people have come out of the Disney writing program and have gone on to very lucrative careers.
As a matter of fact the Disney program has paid off for Matt Lopez in particular. Another writer currently in the program just had her project greenlit by the studio (all of which involves more money going to the writer).
These programs work out very well for the writers involved. Stop all the madness, this is a good thing for writers…especially younger ones.
This has been a very interesting commentary; much more so than anything regarding, say the SAG situation of late. Thank you all for that!
I’m not a Writer, but if this Marvel deal is like the Disney program, it seems that it could be very good for young and developing talent, but not, of course, not for you seasoned pros.
From another perspective one might note that in the world of actual film production, Marvel is standing almost alone as a production entity committed to making movies in Los Angeles. They’ve put up and apparently they have a slate of big dumb fun movies in the pipeline which are going to keep a lot of people employed for some years to come.
So don’t sign the 70 page contract.
Disney pays 50K a year and they’ve staffed everyone from the last two groups to one of their ABC/Family shows. Still sound like a scam to you?
Haters, keep hating. The rest of us will go for it and risk whatever perils await. Probably the same perils that EVERY writer faces with every studio all the time.
I have a question:
Why would they hire a bunch of beginners and/or semi-professionals, or whatever you want to call them, and lowball them on the pay….to produce what exactly?
Scripts for $200 million comic book epics?
Really?
You wanna pay some writer next to nothing, and then bet your entire company on the project?
Is that how it works?
Maybe their calculation is, ‘big writers, small writers, big names, no names, you still get the same mediocre shit at the end of the day. So why pay the big bucks?’
This is very much a continuation of Marvel’s COMIC BOOK practices, which, as been pointed out, have screwed a couple of generations of cartoonists out of owning their creations. But (and this is true of the copmics themselves these days),Marvel doesn’t WANT you to create anything new; they just want you to squeeze a few more drops of blood from their existing stable of properties…
Does ANYONE have info on how / where to submit?
“that it’s YOU at fault for lack of work…too many excuses and chill on the narcissism it’s bad for your career.”
“So don’t sign the 70 page contract.”
This all sounds so much like the tone before the writers’ strike. Question does Disney get to keep the digital rights, or will you ever get residuals like REAL WGA writers? Somehow we are not worried about are careers. We just want to write and see our names on IMDB.COM. Personally I just want one check for 500k. As for narcissism you clearly haven’t went to Script Expo or any other writer’s convention. WE LOVE TO TALK ABOUT OURSELVES. Especially if we have a few million in the bank.
As for not signing the contract. Hell, most writers will skip to the back page or may have a computer stamp just to get the pain over.
I hope whomever gets in this program gets a better deal than those eliminated in the last writers contest at Bravo’s Situation: Comedy and Project Greenlight ( 2 movies, 1 movie, 8 movies ( not me) mostly Saws) Because even if our greatest works are paperweights, at least we are not slaves, who like in pre WGA days had bosses standing over us cracking the whip, saying faster type faster, no white out for you newbie.
Be interested to know if they are just going out after talent or are they accepting open submissions. If it’s open, when will they make contact information available?
RE: Put a Sock In It
It’s not about being a hater it’s about SELLING OUT to the lowest bidder. If you or anyone else that supports this program were talented enough, you wouldn’t need to defend SCHLEPPING for the studios. There is NOTHING fair about this deal. And that is true for the Disney deal too.
My agent laughed at the Marvel underling who phoned him to ask if any of his clients wanted to apply. Writers are not automatons working in some dream, ah, nightmare factory. And ANYONE who participates in this program is either A) Desperate B) Pathetic C) Lack the skills to make things happen for themselves and/or the talent to make on their own merits.
This is yet another attempt but yet another “studio” to take advantage of the schmucks with underwoods who long to suck at the teet of the Hollywood machine. It is no different then a young girl from Kansas just off the bus in LA with stars in her eyes only to end up as supporting figure in three of four porn films shot in the valley. ANY writer who agrees to these terms is WILLFULLY exploiting themselves, quite simply, they are WHORES.
What’s most interesting about this whole deal is the assumption many have here that this is a “good” deal. This job pays $100,000 according to Variety, or about double what the Disney Fellowship pays… but without the immense career push that the Disney Fellows get (Disney gets them pitches and meet & greets all over town, Disney can get them in to see most any producer, Disney helps them get management & agents, etc. etc.).
You’ll be working on Marvel’s C-grade material; Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, & Nighthawk are the characters being bandied about. Blechhh. Having run out of classic characters created by geniuses like Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby (both cheated out of the millions and millions of dollars their characters have generated), Marvel’s dredging the worst of their 70’s dreck. What’s next, an “Angarr the Screamer” movie?
Lastly, read Nikki’s article again. Marvel has first dibs on EVERYTHING you’ve ever written, own outright anything at all you write while you’re working for them for $2,000/week, and has first dibs on everything you write for TWO YEARS after you leave their employ. WTF? How is this a good deal for any serious, creative writer? Everything you’ve previously written? For $100,000? That’s barely above WGA minimum for a single spec sale.
Good comics writers make about $100 to $150 a page for writing comics. 21 pages x $100 = $2100, 21pp x $150 = $3150. The best comics writers can crank 3 to 4 books a month. That means it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that a comics writer like Geoff Johns will out-earn you by 50% just by writing comic books during the same year that you’ve given Marvel direct access to everything that you’ve EVER written, ownership of everything you write in your spare time at night, and an option on everything you write for two years after you leave their employment.
This isn’t a job… it’s an empty seat next to Ben Hur in the Roman galley.
The sad thing about this whole program is that if Marvel treats writers right, they wouldn’t need to contractually obligate them to give Marvel first look.
One of the first rules of showbiz is that people will tend to stick to people or companies that treat them right, and not screw them over. It’s just that simple.
I get the feeling that this program was developed by Marvel’s lawyers rather than anyone who works with writers.
The terms do seem tough, but they make sense to me. It sounds like Marvel just want to cover their backs. And as Marvel Studios focuses on making movies based on Marvel properties, they’ll likely only option scripts that are based on stuff they own, or are too close to something Marvel want to release.
Anyway, you could just sit on a script until your 24 months is up.
That said, Marvel are offering to give a dozen screenwriters work for a year with a regular and decent paycheck ($100,000 is over double the average annual wage in LA), provide them with a way to break into a tough industry, develop their skills, develop a work record, and build up contacts in LA’s film industry.
That doesn’t sound like such a bad deal.
Just wanted to correct Comic Scribe – Steve Ditko created Dr. Strange with Stan Lee in the ’60’s. Maybe more comics today would be worth reading if the writers knew their history…
FOOM: Your assessment of Marvel’s EPIC line is about 90% wrong, and really not analogous to what is described above. I should know. I was one of the writers who was published under Epic.
None of the writers or artists who were published under Epic were “dummies” or lacking in skill. In fact, all of them are still working comic writers today: Robert Kirkman, John Jackson Miller, Jason Hendeson, Mark Millar, myself.
There was no enslavement. Marvel did not “own your creative output for years.” We signed contracts around the books we were doing. Did Marvel own their pre-existing characters? Yep. Did Marvel own anything else we were doing outside of the books we were writing for them? Nope. In fact, Mike Sangiacomo took his Epic book and published it as a creator-owned book after the line buckled. Daniel Way was also able to withdraw his book when it was decided they weren’t doing creator-owned stuff.
No professional comics writer would accept the terms? Hmmm…Robert Kirkman was already doing WALKING DEAD and INVINCIBLE when he signed up with Epic. Mark Millar seemed to be doing well before his Epic time as well.
Two epic titles ran for six or more issues. The rest were cut short when Bill Jemas was ousted and the line was shuttered. Regrettably, I was caught in that slamming door.
Your payment number is off too. I’m not saying I was making top dollar, but my page rate was considerably better than what most non big-2 pay.
I’m not trying to say Marvel is all butter and cookies. Plenty of creators have been hurt by them over the years.
But there’s little or no analogy between the above and the Epic line, except maybe this: being a Marvel Studios staff screenwriter could prove a valuable stepping-stone for a young up-and-comer, just as Epic proved so for me.
…plus a first look and last refusal to any and all projects the writers have previously written…
While I was merely throwing up in my mouth reading that, entire legions of actual creators, including Big Jack Kirby, just started spinning in their graves.
And before somebody from the current comic book or movie writer’s peanut gallery working for Marvel pipes up, NO, you are NOT creators! Some of you are good craftsmen, but pretty much all of you are writing fan wank with characters that are decades old and were given birth by somebody who actually DID create.
The same goes for most of Hollywood’s writers and directors these days. Some are decent craftsmen, all of them want to do fan wank.
If you honestly think that writing the next X-Men movie/comic book or Batman movie/comic book or the next zombiefication of Star Trek in whatever damn medium is “the one thing I always wanted to do, the culmination of all my creative dreams and aspiration”, you, Sir, are a fan wank writer.
NOT. A. CREATOR.
Creation means to build something where nothing was before. Look it up. It’s in Genesis. Writing remakes? Sequels? Remake of sequels? Not creation. That’s merely pimping your car and showing off the fact that you have a very small creative penis.
Slavery — American style, 21st century. This whole business model has to shift. Its just not conducive to creativity.
Writing is about publishing, end of story. You want to learn to write, be published early and often. And live a life worth writing from.
A large reason why so many movies are crap today is that actors no longer act and writers no longer write. They were never schooled in the proud histories that created the giants in their respective fields. Movies are rarely fed by talents that emerge from hard work done in stage, publishing, and most other creative enterprises. Sadly, modern media has usurped those histories with the Mickey Mouse Club and writer’s ‘internships.’
It’s a steady paycheck. It’s a chance to become the next reality show producer. But it’s not writing. It’s not acting.
I mentioned it earlier but I’ll say it again since a lot of people missed it. Here are the terms of the contract that I saw – $150k a year (40 weeks, not 52). They can renew this for a second year if they want. So if you’re doing well for them, be prepared to work a second year for 150. A bonus 80k if they make one of your movies and you’re the solo writer. They have first look and last refusal for 2 years as people have said, but they also have the option at any time during those two years to make you do a screenplay plus writing steps, or a bunch of rewrites at basically guild minimum.
On top of all of that, they want you working full time at their offices in Manhattan Beach 5 days a week, which will be a shitty commute on the 405 for most writers.
Oh, and as for how to submit for this – you can check the Marvel website but my guess is that if they haven’t gotten in touch with your agent yet, they don’t want you. Our writers that might do this have already met with Marvel.
P.S. This is basically better than not working for a couple of years, but I think it’s obvious that any feature writer that has a chance at selling even one script at WGA minimum or above during the next year would want to avoid it. A baby writer out of college? That might be perfect. Problem is, Marvel isn’t asking for those.
“S l a v e r y?” Seriously???!!
Writer+work+opportunity=pay Nothing wrong with that.
Apply or don’t apply, and that’s it. You sometimes go to school to become an engineer, and end up working as a salesman for a crappy company–thanks Dad! Sometimes you take what you can get-you have to-if you can make any kind of living as a writer/artist you do it, you bite your lip, and try and make a better deal the next time. There’s nothing sadder that a writer being stifled by a regular ‘nine-to-five’ that’s the tragedy folks.
Not narcissism because you have a million in the bank, that’s the obvious. I’m talking about middle ground (if that) writers that are so ‘above’ it all that they not only NOT enter these opportunities, they critisize those that do. Let people get in when and how they can. They may otherwise spend two years working at starbucks, or worse yet, an assistant–unable to do any writing, so really? Not all that bad compared.
Well said Richard, and comment about Kansas girl getting off the bus and doing a porno? MAYBE a reality show not equivalent to a porno. It’s a crappy little credit on the IMDB and hopefully tenacity, talent and contacts gets the ‘real’ work. It’s up to the individual. Is there a link to this? or only through agents? (If only through agents, it’s a non issue, good luck getting in).
You guys are amazing. There is a potential to put years and years of bitching about “How you would do it…” in action, with an opportunity to write for Marvel. Yet everyone is content to bitch about it and what a “scam” it is. I guess you guys are better at talking, than putting your talent where your mouth is.
Thomas R Hart and Agentasst -
You guys nailed it.
Just read those two posts and you’ll know everything you need to know about this issue.
The next question would be if they are exclusively looking to these five or six writers they hire for material or if they’ll still accept anything from outside this tradeship brain trust.
I guess you guys are better at talking, than putting your talent where your mouth is.
I always find it funny when somebody has a big mouth, but doesn’t have the balls to sign with a name, hell, even a fake name.
Of course signing a statement like that would require some type of creativity, but considering that the use of “anon”, unless hiding an author’s name to sign a book of erotica written in the 18th century, displays neither creativity nor does it show any character…
… there are writers who do create from the ground up, and who do so without the immediate benefit of a steady paycheck. You know what that is called in the book publishing world? Taking. A. Risk.
Stephen King. J.K. Rowling. John Irving. John Grisham. Even Stepheney Meyer and James Patterson (whose works I don’t like personally, but that is a matter of taste, for the most part).
They all CREATED. Did so in the beginning for little to no money. But they CREATED. And OWN it.
And here’s a question: What is the difference between the 8-year-old kid in his sandbox in the backyard playing monster-mash-up with his toys and yelling “I am Optimus Prime” and Michael Bay?
A 200 million dollar budget.
Pathetically enough, I’m sure those badmouthing the deal are applying as I read this drivel.
Wow. Reading this comments, I didn’t realize how many people out there were doing so well… so accomplished that they’re turning away writing gigs, and making so much money that the thought of taking a job doing something others might love is tantamount to baby rape.
People are being laid off everywhere (even studios, you dipshits), there’s fewer and fewer films going into production every year making opportunities a scarcity … and so many of you have the gall to say “pass on this, it’s a bullshit deal”.
Nikki, you have a bunch of deluded dreamers following your website. They seem to think this business is easy.
“Nikki, you have a bunch of deluded dreamers following your website.”
Given that Marvel appears to be looking for writers who have established themselves to some degree, this is a shitty deal for them because they’re potentially making it more difficult to sell their previous work (having to go through Marvel at both the beginning and the end has the potential to mess up a lot of possible deals), giving exclusivity to Marvel for a year without the possibility of working on anything else, even on their own time. And then having those two years afterward of Marvel being the required first and last stop for everything you write.
For a writer who has done well enough to have made it into Marvel’s sights for this deal, they’d likely be better off passing.
Some pretty funny (and sad) stuff in all of these posts. Now I know why I don’t go to movies anymore – all of the the people responsible for “creating” them are a bunch of narcissistic losers. ‘Nuff said.
And now after we heard this message from the sponsor of the entitlement generation, who come out of colleges with the notion that why the hell should I suffer or do some actual work while keeping my head over water with other thing, give me my damn paycheck, give me my damn LCD TV and the damn McMansion that is supposed to surround it (how’s that American Dream going, by the way?), why the hell actually create or invent something myself, for fuck’s sake, shit gets produced in China anyway…
… Stephen King wrote Carrie and Salem’s Lot on a crap teacher’s salary, and he fought his way through an admittedly easier time into the besteller lists…
… J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter in a cafe in Edinburgh on the dole, and even when she wrote the second one, she was back to teaching classes after finding a job as a school teacher…
… but please, pass the KY and sign not just away your life for essentially two years (which barely anybody would have a problem with, and the point is not the money), and it shows the typical thinking of the current Entitlement Generation thinking that grew up quietly masturbation over Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is good” speech that the big point of contention is THE MONEY.
Money Good. Greed Good. Thinking Bad.
I want it all! I want all! And I want it NOW , as Freddie Mercury sang.
It’s the fact that they expect their writers to give them full access to EVERYTHING those writers have written AND perhaps CREATED prior to entering the contract, which they will have to SIGN EVEN BEFORE TAKING A MEETING. And even AFTER you fulfill your contract for two years they can EFFECTIVELY KILL every damn self-created script you will write by the rights of last refusal.
Be an idiot. That’s fine. But a GOOD writer and NOT the people lining up damn convention tables to tell them that they have, like, the coolest idea for Wolverine ever (this time he burns to a crisp, and only his skeleton remains, oh no, we have already done THAT) must be incredibly desperate to sign away not just his/her craftmanship for a year (and that would be perfectly fine), but essentially everything he/she has ever done prior AND – when there are NO MORE PAYMENTS coming in – the future work.
So, all over sudden your 100 K for ONE year turns to 33 K for THREE, in case you cannot get another project off the ground, if Marvel spits in your soup!
Let me repeat that: 33 K per annum over three years!
And they STILL have access to everything you have created prior to MEETING with them (which beckons the question, since you have to sign that contract prior to taking a meeting, hey, is there a clause in there that they STILL have access to your stuff even AFTER THEY TURN YOU DOWN?)
“He who eats my bread sings my song.”
This sounds like a great program for newbies. Grind out a few years working for the man and pick up what you need.
Kind of like what electricians, carpenters, and designers do. Work as an apprentice making 1/3 of what a journeyman does.
Would it be a good gig for someone who is already making 2x what they are offering?
Umm No,but for those who are looking at a way to enter the business it is a way in.
If you think it is slavery, grow the f*ck up. Nobody is holding a gun at anyones head to sign the contract. We all have suck ass jobs when we are entering our trade, you roll through them and get to where you want to go, or you bounce from one suck ass job to the next.
“Umm No,but for those who are looking at a way to enter the business it is a way in.”
Yes. And if Marvel were actually looking for those writers, it could be a decent opportunity.
But they want established screenwriters. Not at the Zak Penn level, but somebody who has sold or done some assignments and who probably could sell again within the next three years without the Marvel program.
This deal is about the same as the standard work-for-hire one you get as a freelance comics writer for Marvel, only you get paid about three times more than you would to write two books a month. When you work for a big company on characters you don’t own, it’s pretty standard to expect to not own anything you write for them. If you’ve got a brilliant idea for a superhero character, as a few people have said, you wait until your deal is over and do it then. Can’t hurt to have a good idea in the drawer. Meanwhile you get steady employment and make contacts in the business. If you really want to mine your creativity, write a novel in your spare time while you’re planning to buy your new car.
And the people who are ranting about this being “the same as what they did to Kirby and Ditko, et al” are just ignorant of comics history, the way contracts work, and much of this business in general. When those guys worked, work-for-hire was pretty much the only game in town, so they didn’t have a lot of choices if they wanted to make comics (though Bob Kane and Will Eisner DID retain ownership or some rights by being smart). This deal is about choice — if you think it’s a crap deal, DON’T TAKE IT. If you don’t mind the restrictions, then do it. No is being forced into anything and it’s not the only game in town. The people who are crying foul are reacting the same as people do when they go on about how Alan Moore was screwed on his deal with Watchmen. In that case he was given characters that were owned by someone else (the Charlton heroes then bought by DC) and given an assignment. He happened to create a brilliant and groundbreaking comic. But no one forced him to sign the contract for the book. He knew full well what his film and other media rights were. DC didn’t dupe him. He made a choice.
Also, Comic Scribe gives as an example the comic book writing output of someone like Geoff Johns saying that if you did that you could make 50% more than you would if you took this offer. Most comics writer’s don’t have the output of someone like Geoff — it’s not a good comparison to look at the amount of work one of the most in-demand writers gets and compare it to a program for up-and-comers.
One thing though — if they are actually asking to have first look/last refusal on everything you’ve previously written, that does seem pretty extreme. It might be hard to get away with legally. It’s also likely to be something individual writers may negotiate. Even when you’re given a boiler plate contract doesn’t mean that you can’t negotiate some parts separately, which does happen. Not everyone at Vertigo has exactly the same contract though I believe there is a standard one you start with. Again, some people here should speak from what they know before launching on an irate tirade.
Anyone know how you actually APPLY for this program? There are people here giving lots of inside info, but there’s no address.
Help me out?