recognition for writers - financial and other.

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  • recognition for writers - financial and other.

    Hello to all , I'm new so apologies if this topic was done to death in the past !

    A few queries:-

    1) Someone mentioned fees for the script and 2.5 percent etc for video sales.Another thread suggested that writers virtually never get a percent of gross box office.Those two dont seem to reconcile.

    I understand there are minimum percents for TVshowings etc , but what do writers get in practice?

    Joanne ( "JK") Rowling( Harry Potter) got a percent of merchandising too.
    Does anyone know what the likely percentages of box office
    takings and merchandising would be on a run of mill , good and outstanding script.( if any).

    2)The consensus on here seems to be that writers dont get enough.If Tom Cruise gets 15m a go ( and hes got his fair share of critics!) what do the REAL A list writers get?
    ( and the B's!)

    OK a poor script can be glossed up with good direction , acting and budget but surely the start point is the story?

    Are the big studios fixated with developing stars and leveraging big budget scripts against upcomers who have superior story craft?

    Rowling spent something like 6 years , earning zero money to write the Potter books , hoping to then sell them.
    For the small chance of a couple of hundred k ( I know she got much more eventually!) how many people would really risk putting all that work in?

    Thanks and regards to all.

  • #2
    I can only address a few things. First of all, Tom Cruise may get 15 to 20 mil for a picture. An A-list director can get as much. However, the TOP writers will get paid less than five million. And even then, I am adding a bit on top of published amounts just to give a buffer. Remember, Writers were jumping up and down when Ezterhaus got 3 mil. At the same time, A-list actors and directors would have turned down such an "insulting" amount.

    As for TV, the WGA sets minimums, and that is what you are paid. There is always the possibility of negotiating above minimum, but, for episodic, it's practically unheard of. TV writers also get residuals on reruns and DVD/Tape sales. However, with the vertical integration of studios, the rerun residual structure has crumbled (except for major networks, but reruns are dwindling there) and I can tell you that those DVD/Tape residuals are a true joke. They are based on a percentage of net sales, and once the word "net" comes into it... well, in studio parlance, "Net" means "Nyet".

    As far as film is concerned, there is no set amount for merchandising and the such. That is negotiated by the Writer and, once again, usually gets that lovely "net" word slapped onto it.

    And, of course, these deals are all subject to the Studio Accounting Process. Did you know that Forest Gump never showed a profit? It was a surprise to the man who wrote the book, as he had profit participation.

    As far as your pointing out the idea that nothing happens without the story, and nothing good happens without a good story, well that is a much debated subject, both here on the boards and in the industry as well. We all know it doesn't make sense. But logic and fairness isn't what motivates this industry.

    ZODITCH

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    • #3
      getting paid for a script, and getting paid for video rights and getting gross points are all different things. A writer almost never gets first dollar gross (that's reserved for superstar actors and to a lesser degree superstar directors). A writer can get 'net points' but that's not money that you ever really see...the best thing you should do is look at a book like 'clause by clause' which outlines the generalities of a writer's deal.

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      • #4
        Actually, video rights are covered with the WGA MBA, as is the basic pay for film writing. However, the video pay structure is subject to Studio Accounting Practices. Points are negotiated.

        For example (using TV), the residual structure for resale of product is based on a percentage of the licensing fee paid for the resale. In other words, if CBS runs a series, that series is sold to TNT for rebroadcast, the writer's deal is a percentage of the fee paid by TNT to CBS for the rebroadcast. So if TNT buys if for, say, $600,000 and ep, it's a percentage of that $600,000

        But what if the original company OWNS the company it "sells" the product to? What if USA produces something, then "sells" it to Sci-Fi channel? And what if the license fee is... nothing? Or if FOX bypasses normal syndication competition and sells one of it's shows to FX for practically nothing?

        And if this sounds far fetched, it isn't. It's happening now. X-FILES, SWAMP THING, XENA, M*A*S*H, and others have fallen prey to this practice.

        And for those who thing this can't happen because it violates the Sherman Anti-Trust laws... you're half right. It does violate them and it still happens.

        ZODITCH

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