Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Q. Should the looming WGA strike affect my timing? Should I try to get a spec out there sooner, or later?

I think you can drive yourself crazy trying to second-guess the market. I'd send your spec out when you don't think you can make it any better, and not before.

I don't think the writer's strike will really affect non-Guild writers. I went through a few writers strikes before I got my union card, and it didn't help me. TV shows can't hire scabs. The studios aren't likely to authorize hiring a non-union "baby writer"; they'll wait for the high-priced union veterans to come back on line. And the kind of producers that might consider hiring a non-union writer wouldn't be working with union guys in the first place.

On the other hand, try to get your spec out there significantly before the strike ends. What do you think all those union writers are doing when they're not walking the picket line? That's right. Banging out specs. After every strike, a flood of specs hits the market.

(Oh, and if you need a laugh ... go check out the WGA picket line. Writers. In the sun. 'Nuff said.)

Labels: Le Quattro Stagioni, spec scripts

10:32 AM

1 Comments:

The problem is that you can't actually sell your script during a strike - at least, not if you want a career - so while you could circulate it, you couldn't actually close a deal.

So then you're waiting until the strike ends. And waiting. And waiting. All the time your script is getting older and colder.

Plus, people may be unlikely to commit since they know, the moment the strike ends, there's going to be a ton of material to commit their development budget to.

Plus, I suspect, a lot of development execs will be on vacation for large portions of a strike ...

By  Hotspur, at 9:42 PM  

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