WGA Screen Survey: Things suck!
I know it’s pretty easy for screenwriters outside the Hollywood system to fling a certain amount of negativity toward screenwriters who work inside Hollywood whenever they ‘whine’ about working conditions, but before you load up your trebuchet, you should check out the findings of this recent survey of 743 WGA members who had pitching or employment experience with major Hollywood studios or smaller studios in 2011. The picture ain’t pretty. The top findings via the LAT:
Most writers working for major studios did rewrites without being paid because they felt it necessary in order to keep their job or get hired in the future; a majority of screenwriters received only one or two guaranteed payments for drafts in their deals; and nearly a quarter believed they weren’t paid on time.
“Screenwriters believe their status in the industry has significantly deteriorated over the past several years,” according to the survey conducted in February by the research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz.
Here are some key numbers:
* 72% of the writers surveyed believe the status of screenwriters in the industry has significantly deteriorated over the past several years.
* 86% reported having to do “frequent” or “occasional” free writes for major studios.
* 78% said they had been involved in frequent or occasional “sweepstakes pitching” [which you can read about in this Business of Screenwriting post here].
* 65% said they had frequently or occasionally been forced to do “pre-writes” [see BOS link above for background on that].
* 65% said they had frequently or occasionally been subject to idea theft from a major studio.
* 54% reported they had been required by major studios to work on script projects before being paid for commencement of writing services.
* 38% reported receiving only 1-step guarantees from major studios.
* 47% reported being asked to do uncompensated rewrites at major studios, a vast majority of those cases pushed by their producer.
* 51% reported they did uncompensated rewrites at major studios because of the pressure of future work with the studio or producer, or to keep that job.
Now you know why WGA members come off, by and large, as a dissipated, disaffected, disillusioned lot, albeit many of them making six figures or more per year.
Look, I don’t post this information to bum you out, but rather because it is my policy here not to gild the lily. It is incredibly competitive to break into the business of professional screenwriting. It is incredibly difficult to maintain a career as a professional screenwriter. And it is incredibly frustrating to have to deal with some of the shit professional screenwriters have to confront on a project by project basis.
You want to become a professional screenwriter? You owe it to yourself to know the lay of the land including these dynamics of the workplace.
What is ironic is that there may well be more screenwriters today who understand the craft better than at any time in the history of Hollywood. Taking a quick survey of the film business in Hollywood, screenwriting is no longer hampered by the limitations of silent movies, no longer tied to its roots of stage plays, no longer manned largely by ex-journalists, no longer squashed creatively by the old studio system, and no longer the equivalent of the Wild Wild West of the post-Syd Field era of plot points, act breaks, and holy-crap-there-may-be-a-structural-pattern-here.
Screenwriting theory has evolved and, I believe, settled into the consciousness of writers, most of whom are huge movie enthusiasts, so they have taken the narrative form of a screenplay to new literary heights. I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that whereas previous generations of young writers aspired to pen The Great American Novel, nowadays they are more likely to aim to write The Great American Screenplay. In other words, we may be on the cusp of a revolution in the arena of screenwriting which could take what we know as a screenplay into a whole other level of storytelling.
Contrast that emergence of creativity with the dismissive attitude by at least some / most studio executives and producers toward writers as a whole in Hollywood, as suggested by the survey’s findings, and therein lies not only irony… but also major suckitude.
I know many working screenwriters read this blog. I am reaching out to you to speak out in the interest of the online screenwriting community. Does this survey reflect your experience? How do you deal with these disturbing dynamics? Are there any solutions to the situation? Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved, you may email me so I may post your comments anonymously.
And to those of you aspiring to work as a screenwriter in Hollywood, I suspect you will not see this type of information in at a screenwriting guru’s website or hear it in any of their weekend seminars. It’s much more profitable to promote the illusion that you can sell a million dollar spec script, then it’s a wondrous life of Porsches, Beverly Hills and Hollywood parties.
But the truth is, it’s a struggle to break in… and it’s a struggle to survive. Either you have the intestinal fortitude to live with that or you don’t. If you do, get your game face on and be prepared for battle.
Because as this survey’s numbers indicate, that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do.
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