Minimum buy-out price?

[MacG]

Does anyone know if the WGA has a minimum "buy-out" price for work completed on a script on which the writer's haven't been paid yet?

The saga surrounding this is too long to go into, so I'm hoping one of y'all might be able to provide an answer based on the above.

Much appreciated....

-M

[boski62]

The WGA site has a detailed schedule of minimums (the MBA) for various steps in the development process from outline to treatment through final draft and polish.

You can check there and guage which step your writing services to date best approximate, i.e. outline/treatment/first draft etc.

However, if the parties you're working with/for are not signatories, they're not beholden to observe those minimums. But the WGA minimums still might offer a reasonable reference point for negotiating payment.

Show me the money!!!

Good luck

[Minibrain]

You question, on the face of it, doesn't make sense to me.

If you have a contract, the "minimum buyout price" is the money you were guaranteed to get under the terms of the contract.

That is, is you were contracted to do an outline, a script and a rewrite, for, say, 30K for the outline, 100 for the script, and 50 for the rewrite -- and all those steps were guaranteed --

Then even if they want to get rid of you at the outline stage, they owe you 180K.

If you had agreed to a contract that permits them to cut you off at any of those steps, then they have to pay you for the step at which they cut you off. That is, if they have the option of cutting you off after the outline, they only owe you for the outline.

The WGA doesn't have a "minimum buyout price" for a project on which the writer hasn't been paid yet because you're not supposed to be working without a contract and without being paid.

If you're talking about a spec script -- the "buyout" is the WGA minimum to purchase a script.

If some producer is trying to tell you there's some "minimum" he can pay you to just have you walk away, and that minimum is different from what your guaranteed under your contract, then that producer is trying to pull one over on you.