Long, long ago, in a Hollywood so far, far away that you can only see it in "the Player," writers got PAID for a pitch, PAID to write a treatment, PAID to write the first draft/revision/polish, PAID to do rewrites, PAID for an option on a spec, and WGA members made an average $50,000/year, back when that sum would allow one to get married, buy a house "south of the boulevard," send kids to a good school, and get retirement. And it was really widespread through the union, as attested to by the fact that at any given time 85-90% of the membership qualified for a year of health care in a plan that really was "solid platinum," having been PAID in the previous quarter the equivalent of a 30-minute sitcom script at MBA minimum ($15,000 in those days). Oh, and payment was made within 30 days of submission, per the MBA.
That was back before the intergalactic widget-makers came to Hollywood and brought the Ivy League trust fund babies who could afford to work for free. Back when we wrote movies rather than "international audio-visual entertainment". Back before the 1988 strike that was only supposed to last a month that went for eight months.
Did I mention we had a helluva time dodging all the tyrannosaurs as we wended our way to the studio to do the pitches and turn in the material? :-)
Listening to this earlier, I feel like the 'drafting' process that writers are doing for free for months and years is analogous to an R&D department at a tech company. Like, Agile sprints, but over a longer time period. Now that I think about it from that perspective, it's crazy crazy pants that they aren't getting paid for that process, even if their final product is not the one that is selected.
I am increasingly astounded at the many ways that the PROCESSES of Hollywood have become tangled and completely disengaged from the OUTPUT. No other business can function that way. And I think COVID/streaming created a disruption that shined a great big bright light. There are all sorts of reasons that “creativity” is not like engineering. But a business that depends on creativity still has to figure out how to be a business AND welcome/support their creative inputs. If they don’t there’s nothing’ - at least nothin’ for anyone over 8!
Long, long ago, in a Hollywood so far, far away that you can only see it in "the Player," writers got PAID for a pitch, PAID to write a treatment, PAID to write the first draft/revision/polish, PAID to do rewrites, PAID for an option on a spec, and WGA members made an average $50,000/year, back when that sum would allow one to get married, buy a house "south of the boulevard," send kids to a good school, and get retirement. And it was really widespread through the union, as attested to by the fact that at any given time 85-90% of the membership qualified for a year of health care in a plan that really was "solid platinum," having been PAID in the previous quarter the equivalent of a 30-minute sitcom script at MBA minimum ($15,000 in those days). Oh, and payment was made within 30 days of submission, per the MBA.
That was back before the intergalactic widget-makers came to Hollywood and brought the Ivy League trust fund babies who could afford to work for free. Back when we wrote movies rather than "international audio-visual entertainment". Back before the 1988 strike that was only supposed to last a month that went for eight months.
Did I mention we had a helluva time dodging all the tyrannosaurs as we wended our way to the studio to do the pitches and turn in the material? :-)
Listening to this earlier, I feel like the 'drafting' process that writers are doing for free for months and years is analogous to an R&D department at a tech company. Like, Agile sprints, but over a longer time period. Now that I think about it from that perspective, it's crazy crazy pants that they aren't getting paid for that process, even if their final product is not the one that is selected.
I am increasingly astounded at the many ways that the PROCESSES of Hollywood have become tangled and completely disengaged from the OUTPUT. No other business can function that way. And I think COVID/streaming created a disruption that shined a great big bright light. There are all sorts of reasons that “creativity” is not like engineering. But a business that depends on creativity still has to figure out how to be a business AND welcome/support their creative inputs. If they don’t there’s nothing’ - at least nothin’ for anyone over 8!
Hey kids, it's not just the writers. Show me Honest Work.
Support the writers & other creatives!