ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 8 months ago - Dan Selakovich

I know nothing about the UK industry, and if this is accurate, it's really sad. For the most part, television writers here are union. That means there are minimums.

Studios here also have to hire WGA members, so again minimums, BUT typically a writer will get AT LEAST 2.5% of the total production budget. If a writer has a track record of success, pay can be much higher on features.

But instead of focusing on pay right now, focus on getting produced. Even if that means a paltry offer for your work. Having a produced film opens many doors that will otherwise be closed.

Here are union minimums for writers in the U.S.:

http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/min2014.pdf

9 years, 8 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

The problem faced is that there are more 'writers' than production budgets. Being produced is far more important than worrying about rates, as that's the only way you can get to those rates. Even if you're unionised, you still have to be chosen, and worth it. If the union basic rate gets you the choice between someone with 10 credits and a newbie, the 10 credits guy is more likely to get the work as you cannot undercut him. Good or bad, market protectionism throws up this kind of anomaly.

Someone like Moffat, Davies or Gaitiss is going to be making great money because they have proved themselves and become well enough known in themselves for their name alone to attract eyeballs. But it was far from overnight for any of them, they all had to start lowly!

9 years, 8 months ago - Ed Griffiths

Unless you have an extraordinary gift for both writing and making yourself pleasant while ferociously networking for jobs, a life similar to that of Ed Reardon probably awaits you. Episode 2 of Series 10 is on this very evening (Tuesday 16 February) from 18:30...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Reardon%27s_Week

9 years, 8 months ago - Ed Griffiths

...sadly, I'M almost a fifty-something irascible loser watching the hope of any residuals slip away. More constructively maybe, one thing that I can recommend from limited personal experience is casting your net wide. Contact lots of people with short, professionally-drafted treatments and the like and keep doing it. 99% disappear forever into the silent entropy of the cyberspatial void. However, surprisingly, now and then people will contact you back if they like your stuff. And this may be a very long time after you've forgotten you contacted them in the first place. This happened without any prompting on my part last year from such a contact that had happened years previously. After trading some emails with the guy and deciding he was genuine I wrote, entirely on spec, a full feature based on a short story idea he liked to prove I could do it. I'm now working on a condensed short version. If it comes off and goes to option the short script version may shoot this year as a promo to attract financing for a feature. So; problematic but progressive. It does come down somewhat to persistence and your dedication to the craft. Keep writing, because you will keep improving, and keep sending because you will, sooner or later, find someone out there like-minded. Sorry if I seemed to counsel despair before, it wasn't quite meant that way. Best of luck!