Not a Good Time to be a Screenwriter: WGA

According to a recent WGA survey:

– One-in-four screenwriters reported leaving prepared materials behind as part of their pitch

– Three-quarters were asked to revise those pitch materials for the major studios, while requests at the smaller studios happened half of the time

– Producers were more likely to ask for revisions, but three-in-ten reported major studio representatives requested revisions to pitch materials

– A majority were asked by the major studios to work before being paid for commencement

– Most screenwriters received only 1 or 2 guaranteed steps in their deals from the studios

– Optional steps were common in these deals

– Nearly two-thirds say the major studios and over half say the smaller studios never exercised any optional steps in their deals

– Almost half were asked to do uncompensated rewrites at a major studio, with four-in-ten saying the studio representative made the request

– Smaller studios were somewhat less likely to ask for uncompensated rewrites, but a greater share of the requests came from studio representatives

– A majority of those working at major studios did the uncompensated rewrites because they felt it necessary to keep their current job or get hired in the future

– Nearly a quarter believe they were paid late by the major studios in 2011

I think most screenwriters will continue to work on a draft till they feel they've brought it to a certain point. Where it gets sticky is when your contract calls for, say, two drafts, and the client wants to call your second draft a "first draft revised." In that situation, you might never get paid for the second draft. I usually insist on getting paid for all my drafts before I start with the free polishes.

No WGA Award for Red Dead 'cause...

According to The Escapist, Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2 aren't up for Writers Guild of America Awards, 'cause Bioware and Take Two refused to submit scripts. Said WGA President Micah Wright:

Why? We don't know. Maybe they hate unions, or maybe they just hate winning awards, or maybe they have enough statues on their mantle. No way to know. So another game gets what would likely have been their nomination. Are we happy about it? No... but rules are rules and our rules are clear and very fair."

This came up because,

In an interview with GamesIndustry yesterday, Deus Ex: Human Revolution lead writer Mary De Marle said she was "kind of mad" about the WGA game writing awards because of the requirement that nominees must be Guild members. "To tout themselves as, 'This is the award that you want to get if you write in games,' that is not true, because they're not recognizing all the games that exist," she said.

However apparently if you're not a WGA member you can still join the Videogame Writers Caucus for $60 and qualify that way.

(Mary, you will recall, was kind enough to talk to us at our panel last month.)

As videogames move towards fulfilling stories, I hope more companies acknowledge their lead writers. A videogame is a collaborative enterprise, but so is a movie. And no one in the movie industry is diminished by people knowing who wrote what. I don't know, maybe companies are afraid that writers will get too much status and power. But it hasn't happened in the movies yet, so where's the problem?

Health Plan

Q. Since TV jobs are never secure, and we in the States don't have that fancy Canadian universal healthcare (yet), do most TV writers in the U.S. find health insurance independently?

Most professional writers are in the WGA, and the WGA has a great health plan. If you're getting work, it's free, and if you're not, you can buy in.

If you're not in the WGA, you're on your own, in this as in so many ways.

Was It Worth It?

Tonight South Park aired a new episode where Canada goes on strike, I assume to create a parallel for how they viewed the writers' strike. I love South Park, and I don't always necassarily agree with their "point" when they make one, but tonight's episode had me thinking. Their basic point seemed to be that what was ultimately won wasn't that much, but those leading the strike acted like it was. And the cost of the strike may have outweighed the benefits.

So was the strike a big win for writers or not? I'm confused!

I think the big win for the writers was not losing the strike.

What the studios wanted to do was set in place rules that, as TV reruns move onto the Net, abolished residuals. I don't have the numbers in front of me but residuals are a hefty chunk of writers' income, let's say for the sake of argument 40%. Was it worth going without pay for less than three months in order to prevent an ultimate 40% pay cut? You bet.

Moreover, had the Guild rolled over and accepted a 40% pay cut, that would not have been the end of it. The studios will always push for concessions until they meet resistance. Why wouldn't they? If they got free Internet distribution, they'd be back in three years to cut pension contributions. Or script fees. Or demand that writers shine their shoes.

What the Guild got was a small payment on Internet distribution which is to increase as Internet distribution rises. The principle was essential. The numbers for year one and year two of the deal were not so important. The third year numbers are what's important, and the principle.

The details of the agreement probably don't make anyone terribly happy. That's in the nature of these negotiations. But the Guild proved it won't roll over, and that when it says it's going to strike, it will strike. Next time the MBA comes up for renewal, I'd be surprised if the studios try to ram rollbacks down the Guild's throat. Nobody wants another strike.

Trey and Matt are entitled to their own opinion. They moved from struggling animators to gagillionaires in one bolt of lightning. They have never had to rely on Guild-negotiated minimums. The Guild is not there to protect Trey and Matt. All their deals are way over scale, and no one at a studio wants to piss them off. The Guild is there to protect your average working writer who can be replaced and knows it.

You, in other words.

Was it worth it? You bet.

Novelists on Strike!

It could be worse.

Novelists Strike Fails To Affect Nation Whatsoever

LOS ANGELES—The Novelists Guild of America strike, now entering its fourth month, has had no impact on the nation at all, sources reported Tuesday.

The strike, which scholars say could be the longest since 1951, when American novelists may or may not have voluntarily committed to a six-month work stoppage, has brought an immediate halt to all new novels, novellas, and novelettes from coast to coast, affecting no one.

Bookstores across the country saw no measurable change in anything.

Nor has America's economy seen any adverse effects whatsoever, as consumers easily adjust to the sudden cessation of any bold new sprawling works of fiction or taut psychological character studies.

"There's a novelists strike?" Ames, IA consumer Carl Hailes said. "That's terrible. When is it scheduled to begin?"

The Onion

Heh.

Back to Work!

The WGA strike is over. Thank God.

Tentative Deal

According to a letter from Patrick Verrone on United Hollywood today, the WGA leadership has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. If the membership approves it, and management doesn't renege in some way, the strike is over.

I'm in New York, where the sigh of relief is audible.

WGA Members: Meeting Saturday

There are meetings Saturday for all WGA members, for the leadership to explain where the negotiations are. That sounds promising. Until now, there hasn't been anything to explain.

The game's not over, though, so here are your Wednesday picketing events.

Work, and Rumors of Work

Rumors have it that the WGA and the moguls have reached tentative agreement in their "informal negotiations." ("Informal" means "without Nick Counter getting in the way.") We'll see if this is another negotiating tactic or the real deal. But this from Nikki Finke suggests why it might be the real deal:

Some of New York City’s independent film companies reached interim agreements with the WGAE and WGAW. They resume business immediately. Agreements have been signed with GreeneStreet Films, Killer Films, Open City Films, and This Is That corporation. Other side deals have been signed with: The Film Department, Intermedia, RKO Productions Inc, Lionsgate, Marvel Studios, Yari Film Group, Anonymous Content/Overt Operations, The Weinstein Company, United Artists, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Spyglass Entertainment, MRC, Jackson Bites, Mandate Films, and Worldwide Pants.

These guys are making movies and TV now. Everybody else is sitting on their thumbs.

This shows what happens when creative people stick together and support each other. WGA members: stay strong, you're winning. Aspiring monkeys: this week may be your last chance to walk the picket line, make friends and ask for story advice from pro monkeys.

Maybe I'll get to go to an Oscar party after all.

Sale Days Are On

Seems that US nets are buying Canadian shows THE LISTENER, SOPHIE and THE BORDER. That's after the already-announced sale of FLASHPOINT, which raised a bit of a kerfuffle.

What does this mean? First of all, that the nets are not sure how long the strike will go on, and have realized that even if the strike ends tomorrow (Insha'Allah), it will be a while before they can get new stuff produced.

Second, that US nets have decided that at least some Canadian TV series are good enough to air in the US. At any rate, they're better than US reruns. I hope this opens the door to Canadian TV series continuing to air after the strike it over. THE BORDER is pretty good TV.

A Revised First Draft Walks Into a Bar

You turn in your draft. The producer gives you notes. You turn in a revised draft.

From time to time, a producer will assert that the second draft you turned in is a "revised first draft," not a second draft. Your producer may truly believe himself. But his belief, not inconsequentially, means he doesn't owe you a second draft payment.

Here's the reality:

Q. A revised first draft, a devout Muslim and the Easter Bunny walk into a bar. One of them orders a drink. Who is it?
A. The devout Muslim. The other two don't exist.

Which is how the WGA and WGC contracts work. If the producer (or the director, or the producer's development assistant, on his orders) gives you notes and you revise, that's a second draft.

That doesn't mean I only revise things once. I'm a team player. I can't tell you how many times I've revised the pilot of the show I'm developing. And if I send in a draft and then fool around with it without producer or network notes, and send it in again, I never consider that a new draft.

But I expect to be paid for the two drafts that are in my contract before I do any free tinkering. Otherwise who's to say when you finally get to a second draft? Principal photography? Whenever the producer is in a jolly mood? Whenever he has some spare money burning a hole in his pocket?

This is one of the reasons I stick closely to my union. The first time a producer pulled this on me, I wasn't in the union, and I was out 20% of the contract. Which was for $1000. Yes, they stiffed me for $200! Since joining the Guild, God bless them, I've had admirable help 'splainin' the nature of a second draft.

Producers will sometimes tell you, "That may be what's in the contract but everyone revises their drafts for free." My impression is that the standard of the industry is this: you are paid for a draft and a set, meaning a draft and a set of revisions. Many writers will rewrite the draft quite a bit beyond the set, without asking for additional payments, unless they're on a weekly. But there are no free revisions until the paid revisions are exhausted. The paid revisions come first.

How can you avoid this awkward situation cropping up? Make sure there's a "paper" trail.

When you start writing a treatment, send your producer an email saying "I'm really excited to be starting the treatment for GO POSTAL." When you email in your treatment, make sure the subject line says "GO POSTAL treatment" and that the text says "here's my treatment for GO POSTAL." Don't use writer terms like beat sheet or step outline or synopsis. An outline does not trigger a payment. Use the term in your contract, which in a Guild contract is "treatment."

When you start writing your first draft, send an email saying, "Okay, I'm starting my first draft, wish me luck!" If you don't get a positive answer right away, you might want to send an email saying: "Um, should I start now?" and make sure you get a positive answer.

And when you turn in your first draft, write, "Here's my first draft of GO POSTAL!"

Don't say ANYTHING in that email about how there might be further work to do, or it's not perfect, or apologize in any way for your first draft. You might cause your producer to expect you to revise your first draft for free. Keep your own notes to yourself, if you have them; let your producer bring his notes. I always make more revisions than the producer's notes, trying to improve things even if he thought they were good enough.

When you start the second draft, send in an email saying, "Great notes, thank you. I am starting my second draft now." Make sure you get a positive response.

While none of this will protect you from a truly unscrupulous producer, there are far fewer of those than there are producers with a slightly self-serving point of view. Clear communication and a paper trail will help eliminate any confusion that might exist in your producer's mind. It is very hard later on for a producer to maintain he didn't know you were writing a second draft when you have a copy of your email to him that says "I'm starting my second draft." If you're clear, the question may never come up at all. And then everyone's happy.

In both stories and contracts, clarity makes for a smoother ride for everyone.

Not A Completely Sucky Deal

According to the preliminary analysis on United Hollywood, the DGA cut itself a not-completely-sucky deal. Which is a relief, because the DGA has a habit of rolling over.

The WGA is not obligated to take the DGA deal. Residuals are far more important to writers than the membership of the DGA, which is mostly not directors. (The DGA is mostly assistant directors, who don't get residuals anyway.)

But if this means the studios are now considering negotiating in good faith, with the DGA deal as a starting point, it is a very good sign.

I Guess We Know Who's Going to the Oscars in 2009

Looks like the Weinsteins signed with the WGA. They're the guys who used to run Miramax, sold it to Disney, and started a new studio when they got tired of working at Mauschwitz (as The Walt Disney Company is sometimes known in Ho-town).

This is another big crack in the AMPTP's ranks. The Weinsteins have a habit of taking Oscars home. You know they'll be shooting Oscar bait this summer for December release. What's Paramount going to shoot? Or Universal? If the strike goes on, the Weinsteins and Tom Cruise will have Christmas all to themselves.

I think that is going to be hard to explain to the shareholders and CEOs of Uni and Par. Something like this conversation is probably going on now:

Nick Counter: "We couldn't sign with the Guild because their demands were so outrageous no one in their right mind would sign with them. "

CEO: "David Letterman did. And Tom Cruise. And the Weinsteins."

Nick Counter: "Well ha hah, because Tom Cruise and the Weinsteins are not their right minds, so I'm still right!"

CEO: "Nobody in show business is in his right mind. Sign a goddamn deal already."

I'm going to be chatting on Quebec AM tomorrow at 8:20 am, saying more or less the above, if you're in their listening area. It's not like being on Q, but I don't sleep with all the right people like DMc does.

The Lunatics In Charge of the Asylum

United Artists has made a deal with the WGA.

Hee hee. This is particularly beautiful because UA was formed by silent film superstars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and DW Griffiths because they were sick of being taken to the cleaners by the studios whom they were making rich. "The lunatics are running the asylum" was the thinking at the time, and as a business plan it did not work. But it's a fine legacy.

I guess Tom Cruise will be producing pictures next year. Anyone else want to have movies this summer?

Meanwhile, the Golden Globes ceremony has been cancelled because no A-listers will cross the WGA picket line. Way to go, A-listers! Way to go, SAG!

I think the AMPTP may be starting to get the message that the writers are serious. What they'll do with that message is anyone's guess.

Watch Letterman January 2

As you probably know, the WGA has done a side deal with David Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants. WP gets its writers back; the WGA gets everything it was asking the AMPTP for.

Apparently some feature writers are miffed. They feel that if they're out of work, everybody should be out of work, I guess.

This seems selfish and short sighted. The more side deals AMPTP members do, the harder it becomes for the others not to grant the WGA the terms it's asking for. Who wants to be the company sitting at home with the sniffles while the other kids play?

The AMPTP isn't really a monolith, after all. NBC doesn't share revenues with CBS, nor do their parent companies. Putting Letterman back on the air -- not only with writers, but with star guests who may not be willing to cross a picket line for Leno -- doesn't help anyone but CBS.

As I read in the NY Times:

Every host who doesn’t work for CBS — like Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert — will now face the prospect of doing improv while Mr. Letterman is doing a nightly monologue and Top 10 list composed by his usual complement of writers. Beyond those advantages, the two CBS shows are expected to be able to line up far more impressive lists of guests. That’s because the Screen Actors Guild, which is supporting the writers, is explicitly directing its members — including every A-list movie and television star — to appear on the CBS shows. Alan Rosenberg, president of the actors’ union, issued a statement saying that his members “will be happy” to appear on the Letterman and Ferguson shows “with union writers at work and without crossing WGA picket lines.”

I'm not a Letterman fan myself, but you can bet I'll be watching on the 2nd. Now if only Jon Stewart can convince whoever owns his show to do the same deal, I can have my Daily Show back.

Digital Media Blawg

Jonathan Handel has been blogging a lot lately at Digital Media Law about legal issues related to the strike. If you're looking for a relatively neutral point of view, focusing on the legal questions, check it out!

Ask Your Congressman

From today's NYTimes:

The alliance “represents all the companies both individually and on a multiemployer basis,” Mr. Counter said. In all, about 350 production companies are represented by the alliance, whose stance is controlled by representatives of the big corporations.

Even if forced to bargain separately — and representatives from both sides said they expected the unions’ position to be challenged — the companies would remain free to deal through the alliance and would be permitted to let other companies monitor their separate talks, allowing them to remain on common ground.

Ask your congresspeople how it is not illegal collusion for the 6 media companies running the AMPTP to coordinate their strike strategy against the WGA. If General Motors, Chrysler and Ford all sat down at the table together against the UAW, that would beyond a doubt be illegal collusion. Ask your congresspeople how this isn't. And tell them you'd like your tv shows back.

You can easily find and email your Congressman here.

You can easily find and email your Senator here.

Here's what I wrote

Currently the AMPTP is refusing to negotiate with the Writer's Guild of America.

Why exactly is the AMPTP allowed to negotiate with the WGA at all? Why is this not collusion?

The strike would be settled already if the individual studios and networks were actually competing with each other, and negotiated with the WGA separately, the way the auto companies negotiate separately with the UAW.

I think you should investigate the AMPTP for illegal collusion.

I want my tv shows back!

You don't need to go into more detail than that. They just want to know how many people are on which side of the question.

UPDATE: Ryan asks how the WGA can negotiate 350 different deals.

They don't have to. They would agree with Worldwide Pants on a deal that gives them what they're asking for, or most of it. And then other producers can sign onto the same language.

Any producer that breaks ranks with the AMPTP will insist on a "most favored nations" clause that says that if anyone else gets a better deal, that producer's deal is improved accordingly. So there will only be one set of terms.

Also, if the WGA winds up signing with even 20 production companies, then the AMPTP will probably begin really-negotiating instead of posturing, and the strike will soon be over.

Now This Is Hopeful

Here's a rumor that David Letterman may sign a separate deal with the WGA. If his production company, Worldwide Pants, signs a deal with the WGA, giving them what they're asking for, then WGA writers can go back to work on his show. That also pulls the rug out from under the AMPTP, since Jon Stewart will follow suit. Once the WGA starts going back to work on a show by show basis, no one wants to be the network with no new content because you're waiting for Nick Counter to start negotiating in earnest.

And I don't think Letterman's network will want to refuse to air his show even if they feel he gave away the store to his writers. It's just too popular.

Let's say a prayer that this is really happening.

Animation and Reality

The WGC recently won representation of animation writers, I believe in the last round of contract negotiations. That's one area we're ahead of the WGA.

Here are two interesting blog posts from United Hollywood, on why the WGA must not give up their demand to rep animation and reality writers, and a reality writer explaining why it's a lie that reality writers have "chosen" not to belong to the WGA.

The simplest explanation why the WGA must not give up on animation writers: because more and more movies are going to be animation. Think BEOWULF. Technically that was animation -- and was written on a non-WGA contract. Personally I thought the crap animation and videogame-quality rotoscoping seriously distracted from what might have been a reasonably cool live action movie. But animation is going to get better and better, and who knows if in a decade, any fantasy movies will be shot "live action."

A big chunk of the AMPTP's effort during this strike has been to identify where the movie and TV industries are going -- CGI animation, internet distribution -- and then get a contract that excludes the future. Think of the US policy towards the Indians. Keep making deals where the Indians accept less territory, then once they're weakened, break the deal and make another deal for even less territory. The AMPTP wants us all on the rez.

But it seems clear from how united the membership is -- with support from all over the industry -- that the WGA isn't interested in the plague blankets. And at some point, the shareholders will tell the AMPTP to come to its senses and accept its creative partners as real stakeholders.

(incidentally, the Huffington Post has an interesting post asking why exactly the AMPTP gets to negotiate with the WGA at all? Isn't that industry collusion? Isn't that illegal?)

What can you do? Don't buy any DVD's this Christmas. (American ones, anyway.) Buy videogames, mp3's, Blackberries, whatever you like. Just don't buy anything from the AMPTP. The worse their bottom line, the sooner they come around.

The Future, AMPTP Style

In case you're wondering where the AMPTP would like to go in all this, MTV recently reduced health benefits for its "permalancers" -- un-unionized workers who are hired as freelancers to work permanently. They just walked out to protect the benefits cuts.

Ultimately the WGA is not only striking over residuals cuts. They are striking to protect everything they have won over the past fifty years. Current management attitude is "you'll take what we give you and you'll thank us for it." Their goal in this strike is to break the union. If they had their way, there would be no minimums and no health benefits ... just like it is for MTV.

Some members of the craft unions wish the WGA would cave so they could go back to work. "We don't get residuals" they say. Actually, they do -- 55% of their health benefits come from residuals. The truth is the AMPTP would like to dispense with both residuals and health benefits for writers and everybody else. If the WGA caves, SAG and the DGA won't be seeing much from the Internet either.

It's a short-sighted attitude. I've written before how residuals keep experienced writers like Marc Cherry and David Chase in the business during dry spells, which can go on for years. Health benefits keep them and their families from having to panic over health problems. Paying fairly, protecting workers from health disasters, and allowing employees to share in the successes helps cultivate a pool of crafted employees.

But the AMPTP is not being led by the people who hire the most WGA members. It's being led by the ones who have the fewest scripted programs. The AMPTP has set itself up so that the entity with the least to lose -- say Time Warner -- can veto a deal that the others would be willing to agree to. That's quite a bit of moral hazard, especially since a strike would leave some studios crippled enough that Time Warner can buy them up cheap afterwards.

In the old days, after a strike went on for long enough, Lew Wasserman walked into the negotiating room and told the studios to get off their high horse and cut a deal. The WGA will stand firm because it has to -- there's no future in giving in to terrorism. The AMPTP seriously needs its heads conked together by someone, or we're going to lose a season of TV and maybe even a summer of movies. That doesn't help anybody.

Who's going to conk the heads? Maybe advertisers. Here's a page of links to campaigns to let advertisers know you're sick of management's greedy attitude that's robbing you of your TV shows. Nothing will convince the AMPTP to stop posturing and start really negotiating like a bunch of advertisers asking for their money back.