Writers Strike

[uncle_al]

Al speaks the truth!
You have to sell before you can join. And it is based on points or units. 24 is the magic number. A feature is 24 points and they go down from there. For example, 1/2 hr television is 6 units or each week employed under Guild guidelines by a sig production counts as 2 units. Then of course, you need $2500 for dues also.

I didn't remember what the exact number was, but I knew that one feature was it.

BUT might be a good time to hit up agents.  They got nothing to do right now beside donut curb service! haha!

Agents might have, by and large, picked this time to go on long, incommunicado vacations...

Non union production companies are still fair game and they are shopping right now.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

That's the thing... the non-signatory companies will still be rolling, and a WGA member wouldn't risk arousing their union brothers' ire by doing that.  Kind of makes roofing in a hurricane look safe...

And, if you've got enough credits from non-sig companies under your belt, it might make an agent look a little more closely at you.  Stranger things have happened.

Al B.

[FLM]

Al speaks the truth!
You have to sell before you can join. And it is based on points or units. 24 is the magic number. A feature is 24 points and they go down from there. For example, 1/2 hr television is 6 units or each week employed under Guild guidelines by a sig production counts as 2 units. Then of course, you need $2500 for dues also.
Writing your story is only half the battle.
As for writing during the strike, it won't happen. It would be a bad idea from a WGA standpoint and a real long shot for a producer to take on an unknown writer. Not worth the trouble in long run. Besides, nearly all signatory producers only look at agent or lawyer repped writers. BUT might be a good time to hit up agents.
They got nothing to do right now beside donut curb service! haha!
Non union production companies are still fair game and they are shopping right now.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[uncle_al]

Do you really need to be a member of the WGA in order to get a script sold? Doesn't it cost a fortune to join the guild? I was kind of hoping this would give non-members a chance to break in.

No, you don't need to be a member to sell your first script.  In fact, you aren't eligible to join the WGA until after you've made a specified level of sale - as I understand it, they assign different levels of points to different sales, so much for a feature, another amount for a one-hour show, another amount for a half-hour...

The thing is, that no signatory company will risk the ire of the Guild by hiring a non-union (read "scab") writer during a strike, because they need the goodwill of the Guild to function again once settlements are made.  And no scab will ever be forgotten by members of the Guild; as a (former) union member, son of a union member, and survivor of the Detroit Newspaper Strike of recent memory, I know this to be, if not absolute fact, then at least an article of faith.

Strikers have L-O-O-N-G memories.

File this one under "Sad, but True", I suppose.

Al B.

[rnbrewer]

Do you really need to be a member of the WGA in order to get a script sold? Doesn't it cost a fortune to join the guild? I was kind of hoping this would give non-members a chance to break in.

[FLM]

HA! That's nothing...
The AMPTP proposed demands are downright scary. Have a read.
The part about raising show high budgets 80% but keeping writers at the old scale rate kinda spooked me. (You get paid based on show budget)
From Oct. 25/'07
http://www.amptp.org/files/comprehensive102507.pdf

And for the online content bit that they claim "they don't know how they will make money", let's go back two years.
This will open your eyes. They don't make $11 billion in 12 months by being slow.

http://slate.com/id/2129003

One more thing.
The WGA East CBS writers have gone without a contract for the last 2 1/2 years. Everybody wonders why they walked away.

[Write Or Wrong]

Hey FLM,

is it true AMPTP really proposed "monkey points" as the basis for all future renumeration remuneration for writers?  I find that ludicrous in the extreme.

Mike

Edit: Gads!  Just when you think you've proofread your post...

[FLM]

This is going change the landscape for sure.
Be grateful because what happens today will help you tomorrow. Or hurt depending how long AMPTP digs in.
I was over at Universal yesterday doing my part. Any of you can join the line if you want if you are in L.A or N.Y.C.
If you need any info or something is unclear about what's going on, ask me. I don't know everything but I do have a good grip on the history of all this.
I've been working inside the Hollywood "machine" for a long time but just broke the into the writers room.

[rnbrewer]

I felt, given the nature of this forum, it would be good to discuss the current events. Namely, the strike within the WGA. I'm curious as to how this is going to affect all of us who are aspiring screenwriters. I'd like to hear some opinions, complaints, idea's, anything. Thanks.