Good on you. This at least will indicate to them you mean business and should be good motivation to get cracking with the real stuff. Shortchanging writers should be an exception, not the norm.
Even my manager warned me that I was risking being labeled as "hard to work with" and burning a few bridges, and I told my manager that I hope we don't live in a world where asking for a totally reasonable amount of compensation means being hard to work with. The director called me, asking if I was committed to the project. I was. Of course I was, but that still doesn't mean my time isn't valuable. I stuck to $1,000. Yesterday the producer agreed to it.
Is it enough? Hell no. They should be paying me $5000 at least. But it's literally 1,000 times more than their initial offer.
MORAL OF THE STORY: If we, as writers, respect and value our time, so will others.
Well done!!!! Many producers have become huge wimps because the multi-national corps that own the studios have beat them into submission. House-keeping deals are rare, and the only time producers get paid is when a project gets a greenlight, so the producers try to put the screws to the writers because the corporations decided to no longer pay for R&D. If producers are willing to bend over, that's their deal.
Grumpy, drop me a line the next time you're in LA, and I'll gladly buy you drink and/or lunch so long as you're willing to tell the whole tale, warts and all.
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