Another strike? Ugggggh.

Well, seems we’re back in a familiar place. Another looming strike. Now, it’s the actor’s turn. I can tell you from a screenwriter’s perspective that most everything (assignments, rewrites, etc) have slowed to a crawl.

Sad thing is, I don’t know much about the actors struggle. I’m not sure what they want in addition to what we’ve already been given. Truth is, I just don’t have the heart for it. The WGA strike sapped me of all my strength. I don’t have any desire to read Nikki Finke’s blog 10 times a day, nor all the trades. I can’t walk in another picket line or watch people attack each other on message boards.

I’m done.

I will support the actors as best I can, but man…I sure hope they don’t strike. Not even for my sake – for the rest of the town. I read somewhere that the WGA strike cost the city 2 billion dollars. 2 billion? I don’t know about you – but I don’t have that much dough lying around.

Here’s hoping that everyone comes to their senses before it’s too late.

Selling a TV show

I thought I’d slip in an extra blog this week after getting the following:

“Would be great if you could a blog item on how you sold your pilot … What changes were … Assume they’re bringing on someone else as show-runner… ? Details, details … my writing partners and I are about embark on same process, and would sure appreciate knowing what you experienced. Thanks.”

Sure…the way it worked for me was that I came into the pitching season with a small head of steam on the feature side. My agents would talk up my feature accomplishments, and then have the studio/TV exec read one of my features scripts. Once they dug the writing, my agent would then hammer them with, “Hey, my guy’s gotta TV show he wants to pitch you.” That’s what basically got me into the room.

The normal process of pitching is kinda like the feature side in that you will pitch a producer and then take the project into the TV networks.

But here’s where things get a little strange — sometime the studios will act like a producer. In all honesty, I myself am still a little confused by the whole thing. But you might actually pitch someone at a studio (Sony, Universal, etc.) and if they like it, you’d THEN go in with them and pitch it to a network — that THE STUDIOS OWN.

Soooo…there are regular producers and then there are studios that act like a producing entity. Both pitch to the actual TV network.

With the project that I sold, I got into things really late and was up against the strike. So, we by-passed the producer and went directly to the TV networks. One of the last places I went into was the Sci-fi channel. They agreed to buy it and then – the strike hit.

Fast-forward, the strike ends and they still want it. Soooo…they THEN put me with a group from NBC/Universal to act as a producing entity. They will be the middle men between me and the Sci-fi network. This seems so backwards to me because NBC/Universal OWNS the Sci-fi Channel. Yet in my case, my NBC/Universal gang ultimately ANSWERS to the Sci-fi Channel as would any other producer.

So that was basically it. Because of the looming strike, I didn’t really pitch that many places. While Sci-fi ultimately bought it, I pitched to about 8 places and 3 of them wanted the project — the rest passed.

But the process can be much longer. You may have to go through a WHOLE round of pitching producers first. Once you do that and have your producers attached, then you have to go pitch all the networks.

You could be talking about 20+ pitches. OR, again, it might go much quicker than that. It’s all so much more nebulous than the feature world to me.

As far as a show-runner, no one has been discussed. I’m not sure who it will be. As I by-passed hooking up with any show-runners or producers when I went to pitch, I’m not connected to anyone in particular. Sci-Fi is waiting to see if they like the pilot script I turn in. If they like it and plan on shooting the pilot, they’ll assign someone then.

In terms of any changes to my project, I’m going through a little bit of that now. I’ve turned in my outline and received my first set of notes. They were a little challenging and hyper-specific (which makes things tough), but I’m working with my NBC/Universal gang to decipher them and figure out how best to proceed. As it always is – it’s about the “note behind the note.” As I wrote about in and earlier blog.

I’m trying to please Sci-fi while keeping the integrity of the project. Keeping my voice is even more important in TV because if the show runs for any length of time, I’ll be in charge of keeping the shows consistency and vision. So I have to make sure I address their issues, but make sure the ol’ ship is pointed in the right direction when we launch.

Anyway, hopefully that answers your questions. If you want to ask more specific things, I’ll try and hit those as best I can in the message section below. Thanks for reading!

Credit, anyone?

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the body that determines who becomes a credited writer on a feature film. If this were simply left up to the studios, producers and directors – chances are, the writers would not fare well.

The general idea is that if you were the sole writer who worked on the film, you’d you get “Written by” credit. If another writer worked on the movie — who got credit would need to be determined by some person or some governing body.

Credit can end up being dividing up “Story by” and “Screenplay by” credit. You might take “Story by” while sharing the “Screenplay by” credit with the other writer, etc, etc. It’s all sort of vague and nebulous, but ultimately the process can end in arbitration. The Guild recruits three members (writers in the WGA) to read all relevant drafts and determine who should get what credit.

Anyway, this week, the joint credits review committee of the WGAw and WGAE has put forth three proposed rule changes to this wacky process. The letter from this committee is reprinted below if anyone is interested…

Fellow Writers:

Credit for authorship goes to the very heart of what we do. It is an emotional topic, and at times the debates over credits have created schisms where unity is desperately needed. The Credits Review Committee comprises writers like you, who are keenly aware that our system needs improving. How to improve it has always been the difficult question. In the past, some Credits Review Committees struggled to find common ground between disparate groups of writers.

This Credits Review Committee is different. Composed of WGAW and WGAE members, the Committee is a philosophically diverse group appointed to fairly represent all theatrical film writers with differing viewpoints on credits, the role of the first writer, the role of subsequent writers, the role of “production executives,” and the manner in which credit arbiters perform their duties.
We are happy to announce three proposed changes to our Screen Credits Manual. This Committee has approved each of these proposed changes unanimously. Final approval rests with you. These proposals certainly don’t solve all our credits issues, but we believe them to be a strong first step, and we’re resolved that with your counsel and participation there will be more improvements to come.

The first proposal requires arbiters to consult with each other via teleconference in all cases where a decision is not unanimous. Currently, arbiters are not allowed to discuss their views with each other or communicate in any way. The Committee feels that by talking over their decisions in an anonymous, Guild-hosted teleconference, the arbiters will have an opportunity to give the reasons for their decisions to their peers and consider other interpretations of the material and the rules.
The Committee believes this proposal will go a long way toward improving the quality of our arbitrations and decreasing the number of split decisions.

The second and third proposals may appear to deal solely with “production executives” (writers who are also directors or producers), but in many ways, these proposals are designed to fix rules that are, in practice, hurting the very writers they were intended to help.

Currently, if you are a first writer on an original screenplay, our guidelines afford you certain protections. You are entitled to an “irreducible shared story credit.” In addition, you are only required to demonstrate a contribution of more than 33% to the final screenplay to earn screenplay credit, whereas subsequent writers must reach a threshold of 50% in order to receive screenplay credit.

Unless…If, as the first writer, you also direct or produce your own original screenplay, you lose much of your first writer protection. In such a case, according to a rule most members have never heard of, subsequent writers no longer have to reach a 50% threshold or even a 33% threshold. Rather, the Arbitration Committee may accord any other writer screenplay credit for “any substantial contribution” to the final screenplay.

The Committee is proposing that we eliminate the “any substantial contribution” rule. Instead, we propose that writers receive screenplay credit only if they can show a contribution of more than 33% as a first writer or a writer of an adaptation, or 50% if they are a subsequent writer on an original screenplay. In this way, first writers—including those who take on an additional role on their project—will not lose their protection.

Similarly, we have a rule that states that where a subsequent writer is a production executive team (where one or more members of the team is a hyphenate), the team must meet a threshold of “substantially more than 60%” for screenplay credit—even if one of the writers isn’t a production executive at all. We propose changing this threshold for production executive teams to more than 50%. The Committee strongly feels that if any writer or team proves they contributed more than half of a final screenplay, they deserve credit.

Today, many writers are becoming increasingly entrepreneurial in order to gain greater control over their material. Nevertheless, the Committee believes in continuing to protect writers who are not hyphenates. Hyphenates (and teams that include a hyphenate) will still need to meet a more than 50% standard as subsequent writers on adaptations and originals. Similarly, hyphenates will continue to trigger automatic arbitrations so that independent arbiters can ensure that the final writing credit is fair and accurate. In short, these proposals still hold hyphenates to a higher standard while preserving the special privileges that recognize the unique efforts of the first writer.

We know you’ll have questions. Please come join us at one of the upcoming information meetings to discuss these proposals. The meetings will also be an excellent opportunity to pass along any and all suggestions for the future. Our committee’s work never stops. Your input is both welcome and necessary to bring about the credit system we all deserve.

Best,
Robert King, co-chair, WGAW Craig Mazin, co-chair, WGAW Stephen Schiff, co-chair, WGAE Peter Atkins Neil Cohen Gloria Katz-Huyck Brian Koppelman Eddie Pomerantz Phil Alden Robinson Bob Schneider Garner Simmons

Crazy Times!

Crazy times.

The old Wild West ain’t got nothin’ on Hollywood these days. With things finally starting to settle in after the extremely tough WGA strike, now the SAG contract needs to be settled.

And while I do feel the need to stand by SAG (they were great during our strike), I just worry that there’s not much left to strike for. And frankly, I’m not sure the town can take another shutdown.

Also adding to the craziness is the fact that places like Warner Indie and Picture House are closing and New Line (the studio that picked up my first spec) has downsized considerably.

Studios downsizing, contract disputes, producers losing their deals, all sorts of random outsider money swirling in and out of town – it’s like a freakin’ tornado out here.

I wish I had a definitive idea as to how this is all going to shake out. I would love to share it with you. Maybe there’s a greater good in all this, but right now, it’s a tad depressing. There are fewer buyers, fewer outlets for edgy material, and tons of really great people that are out of jobs.

I have several friends that were let go or left their jobs before the strike that are still sitting at home — throwing cards into a hat! These are ridiculously smart, creative people that I really hate seeing sit on the sidelines.

As I say all this — things for me (ironically) have never been better. But I think part of the reason that I’ve dodged a lot of the above mentioned bullets stems is that I have a lot of heat in my career now AND maybe more importantly – I write big, fun action-y, high-concept scripts. These, for the most part, are bulletproof.

But, the carnage among the rest of my friends has been hard to watch. Writers, execs, and producers are all trying to find their way in this new version of Hollywood.

It’s really, Really, REALLY hard to keep up.

The Note BEHIND the Note

“Note behind the note.” This is the most dreaded phrase in Hollywood for a writer. It means you’ve just received a really crazy note from someone in power that you are being forced to implement.

So what do you do? Me — I run to my manager and bitch. But, after and hour or two — it ultimately comes down to him saying, “Yes, that’s a bad note, but don’t take it so literally. “What is the note behind the note?”

What he means is — the chances are that most execs and producers have never written a script before. Nor even taken a screenwriting class. So they don’t always know how to articulate what they are trying to say.

This goes for the best execs and producers. The smartest ones too. So it’s your job as the writer to interpret what they really mean.

But it’s hard. Because as soon as you hear the note, your emotions get a hold of you and you’re feel like, “That’s the worst #$%#$ note I’ve ever heard!” And you shut down for a moment. You get indignant and petulant. And every thing inside of your DOESN’T want to do that note.

But part of being a professional writer is addressing problems in a way that pleases you as the writer AND also makes the exec/producer feel like they’ve been heard. Because, as they say, this is a collaborative medium. If you don’t want someone else’s input — go write a novel.

Till next time…

** Again, just wanna throw this out there – if anyone has any questions, I’d be glad to answer any and all. **