Reactions to my FSR post "An Aggregated Oral History of 2009 Films Ruined By the Last WGA Strike"

With two weeks to go on the WGA's contract with the AMPTP, I've got an already hot new post on Film School Rejects taking a look back at the consequences of the last Writers Guild strike:

Hollywood is facing the threat of another Writers’ Guild Strike, one which would immediately stop all writing and rewriting on guild signatory productions — essentially everything from the major studios. So far, negotiations have been contentious, with the WGA arguing that though the business has seen record profits, the average writer’s income has declined in this boom period. And yet, at the bargaining table, the AMPTP — who represent the producers — came offering not gains, but rollbacks. They basically asked the writers to accept less than their current contracts.

The total cost of what the writers are asking for is not particularly excessive. For instance, the cost to Disney would be $21.2 million a year — barely more than half of Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger’s $43.9 million salary last year. I don’t want to get too far into the weeds on this, but if you’re interested in the particulars, this post from TV writer Ken Levine lays it all out pretty well.

So if the writers demands aren’t that excessive, is it wise for the AMPTP to force a strike by playing hardball? A long strike would have the result of impairing production in television and film. In TV, the fall season would be delayed and on the feature side, the major tentpoles set for 2019 might have to begin production without complete scripts. And under Guild rules, no writing or rewriting can be done on those scripts for the duration of a strike. This would include Marvel’s Captain Marvel and the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War, the ninth Fast and the Furious film, the next Spider-Man film, Transformers 6, and at least one or two yet-to-be announced Warner/DC films.

In looking back at the old strike, I aggregated an "oral history" of sorts, compiling the quotes of what writers, actors and directors had to say about how the strike affected the production of several 2009 releases: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Star Trek, and Quantum of Solace. Just about all of those were critically panned (save for Star Trek, which I actually think is a fantastic film) and the strike was frequently cited as a factor in their quality.

There was a little blowback on Twitter about the title of the article, "An Aggregated Oral History of 2009 Films Ruined By the Last WGA Strike." It was accused of being anti-writer propaganda, which I strongly dispute. The writers don't WANT to have to strike, but they are left with no choice if the AMPTP won't make a fair offer rather than instead coming to the table with rollbacks. So if you as viewers don't want your anticipated tentpoles of the next two years to be terrible, support the writers so that they can get a fair deal from the AMPTP.

I also faced some snark on Twitter from people saying "these movies were going to suck anyway." Frankly, I think that sentiment is far more anti-writer than what my headline was accused of being. As noted, Star Trek actually turned out pretty good, Wolverine had two sequels that were very good, The Bond films immediately before and after Quantum were also great, and even Transformers was considered pretty decent until the sequel. It's not impossible that more of these films could have been good.

Let's not forget how much we scoffed at sure-fired duds like 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie before we saw them. Ergo, saying these films were going to "suck anyway" is assuming facts not in evidence.

Anyway, take a look at how things went down on those films in the post here.

A few questions with a WGA arbiter

Continuing from yesterday's post, I managed to get an email interview with a screenwriter who has served as an arbiter on multiple WGA arbitrations.  I agree to grant him anonymity, but he has written several produced feature films that were released theatrically, so you can trust the guy knows what he's talking about.

1. First off, how are arbiters chosen? Is there any attempt to match arbiters to the sorts of projects they work on as writers, or is it completely random?

I don't know how arbiters are chosen. However, I believe you have to have been through an arbitration yourself to be eligible. Writers are often too busy to do arbitrations, so if you pick up the phone and volunteer, I have no doubt there would be a stack of scripts at your door within a day. It's a thankless and much needed job. And yes, I don't think there's an official rule on it or anything, but I do think they try and match project with arbiter as the three I've done have been in the genre I've worked in most often.

[Bitter Note: I looked up the official rules on selection in the Screen Credits Manual and this is the official word on how they are chosen: "The Screen Arbiters List includes writers who have been current members for at least five years or who have received three screen credits. At least two of the three arbiters on any Arbitration Committee shall have served on no less than two previous Arbitration Committees."]

2. As an arbiter, it's your job to determine the appropriate screen credit, so does this mean you have to read every single draft ever written for that project, even drafts that were completely abandoned by their producers?

If writer A wrote 10 drafts for the project, and writer B wrote 6 drafts, the arbiter does not read 16 drafts. Each participating writer picks one draft they feel best represents their work, in terms of how much of it is reflected in the final shooting script. So, in that case, the arbiter is reading 2 drafts. But if there was a writer hired for that project, and the producer "abandoned" the draft as you say, the arbiter would still read it. All participating writers are included in the arbitration, whether the producer "used" their draft or not. It is up to the Guild to determine who gets credit, not producers, not the studio, etc.

3. There are some notorious examples of films with an excessive number of writers. THE FLINTSTONES, for instance, had about 60 writers. In a case like that, does it mean the arbiter had to read at least 60 drafts? How does one keep straight what came from which writer and then somehow decide which three writers deserve the credit? And what is the largest number of drafts you personally have read for an arbitration?

In that case, then the arbiter would read 60 drafts. Each writer is assigned a letter, based on the order in which they were hired for the project. Once I read 12 screenplays for an arbitration. They arrived on my doorstep in a very large box :)

4. As I understand it, the writers' names are not put on each draft, but in most cases, I have to imagine it's impossible for the film itself to be anonymous. If I flip open the script to page 60 and see "IRON MAN pile-drives HULK while BLACK WIDOW takes aim at alien warriors," it's a pretty safe bet I'm reading AVENGERS 2.

In a fortunate coincidence, suppose I'm best friends with Joss Whedon. In fact, let's say Joss not only gave me my first job, but he saved my life with a kidney donation, performed my wedding, co-signed my first lease, and is godfather to my children. Let's also assume that some of the other writers on this project are ones whose shared contributions to a project that started with my spec led to me getting merely "Story by" credit. Is there any kind of ethics policy in place that would require me to recuse myself?

Arbiters are expected to act ethically and not give anyone preferential treatment. Anyone who has gone through an arbitration knows how important they are in the life of a writer and would act accordingly. In that case, the arbiter would probably recuse himself if he or she didn't think they could be impartial.

5. Are there administrative processes to protect the integrity of the process against the sort of cronyism I posit above?

Yes. For instance, when you enter into an arbitration as a writer, you can cross off' names of potential arbiters. So what that means is... you get a large list of potential arbiters, and you see the name of someone you don't think would be fair to you? You can alert the Guild, and that person will never be an arbiter on your scripts. The Guild takes many such steps to ensure as fair a system as possible.

6. You're arbitrating a Steven Spielberg film that originated as a spec script. Let's say it's about a bus driver on Mars. Original Writer is replaced after doing his draft. Second Writer comes in and since Tom Cruise has gone off to make COLLATERAL 2, the lead role is rewritten for Jennifer Lawrence and she's now a courier on Venus. That goes through three more writers - each bigger than the last - until finally Spielberg's "Closer" comes on and restores some order. The final draft centers on a female garbage collector on Mars. In a case like that, how likely is the assumption that the bigger names deserve the greater balance of the credit?

That assumption is unlikely. In the credits manual, there are a number of rules that take great pains to protect the writers of the original screenplay, such as in the case that you outline above.

7. It's my understanding that the process tries to protect the first writers on a project. We can look at The Descendants and see that even though it was an adaptation and that Alexander Payne threw out Nat Faxon & Jim Rash's draft and started fresh, they all eventually shared credit and an Oscar.

Yet on Edge of Tomorrow, it was Dante Harper who first adapted the project from a graphic novel. He was rewritten by subsequent writers and did not get any screen credit on the project.

With the understanding that you aren't speaking about these specific arbitrations, can you shed some light on what it falls upon the arbiters to weigh in cases like these, where there is pre-existing material?

It's hard to comment here as I don't know the specifics of the case you cite. However, when you adapt existing material, there are a different set of rules, different thresholds for credit. And if you are adapting something you don't control, things can get very tricky.

Let's say I write a script about BATMAN, a character I don't own. Let's say Warner Bros even buys the project from me. Three years later, they make a BATMAN movie sort of similar to what I wrote, but pretty far off. Should I be considered the first writer on that project? Even a participating one? It can get messy. And since you wrote something based on materials you don't control, you don't necessarily have the same kinds of protection under the Guild.

As a rule, you don't want to spec something based on materials you don't control without a contract with those who do control it beforehand. You want the Guild involved, they're protecting you as a writer. For instance, many writers do not realize that Animated movies are not covered under the WGA. That means, on animated movies, the Guild doesn't determine the credits. If you do not have specific protections within your contract, the studio can decide the final screenplay credits without any arbitration at all.

8. How does the arbitration process handle drafts done by directors? Are they treated like any other writer?

They are not. Directors are treated as production executives, and have an even HIGHER threshold in which to receive credit. Many directors feel this an unfair bias against them.

9. Do all the arbiters get together and meet to decide the credits? Is it a totally blind process? Is there any chance that younger writers on the arbitration panel might find themselves too intimidated to oppose the findings of more veteran writers on the same panel?

It is a blind process. There are three arbiters, and each determines credit independent of the other two. You write up your findings then turn it into the Guild. If the decision is not unanimous, I have heard that the Guild will get a conference call going where the arbiters can talk to each other about why they made their decisions, and hopefully come to a resolution. However, I've never experienced this. All the arbitrations I've been involved with have been unanimous at the outset. Hopefully, that means we made the right call :)

An introduction to the WGA arbitration process for determining screen credit

In seeking out new topics for this blog, it occurred to me that we haven't really covered the issue of WGA arbitration.  This is the process by which screen credit is determined.  The names you see credited at the start of each film and TV show weren't just placed there at the whim of the director or producers. Since many projects have multiple writers and may even have a pretty complicated development history, there needs to be a mechanism for determining who gets the screen credit.  This is significant because screen credit is tied to royalties.  The more significant credit you get, the more money you get.

It's an unfortunate truth that writers are often replaced on projects.  Sometimes this is the result of a studio, director or producer being unsatisfied with a writer's latest draft, sometimes it's a case of a writer stepping out after declining to rewrite, and sometimes it happens when a director wants "his guy" to finish out the project.

In some studio films, an entire army of writers will be hired in succession.  The Flintstones movie supposedly had 60 writers who worked on it at one point or another.  Catwoman had over a dozen writers on it at one time or another.  The Writers Guild of America doesn't allow for all of them to be credited.  In fact, "Story by" credit may only be shared among two writers and the same goes for "Screenplay by." (For the purposes of credits, a screenwriting team is considered "one writer." As an example, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci were an official writing team, so they count as one writer and may share screen credit with one further writer or team.)

For those of you who don't know, a writing team is always denoted by an ampersand.  (Blogger really likes to screw up ampersands, by the way.  Many apologies if that happens here.) So if you see a credit like "Written by William Goldman and Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman," you can understand that to mean that Goldman wrote the first draft alone and was rewritten by the team of Orci & Kurtzman.

In some instances, the writers may work out the screen credits among themselves.  The Guild rules give them the right to do so as long as its unanimous.  This can happen when a writer comes on and is perfectly upfront about not wanting credit.  He or she may be happy with their standard fee and merely getting the project to production.  This isn't uncommon, by the way. A really good rewriter will call up the previous writer on the project and say "Look, I'm the new guy here.  Why don't you fill me in on what's led to this and we'll see if I can't bring this home in a way that'll satisfy everyone.  I'm not here to steal your credit. I'm just here to get this into production."  If you're lucky, it's one of these guys rewriting your script.

If you're not lucky, you've got a credit-grabber who's also seeking credit. I know plenty of writers with stories about credit-grabbers who came on a project after them and couldn't wait to change character names, move action scenes from uptown to midtown, and re-christen certain settings and locations.  Their hope was that some of those changes would last until the end and then their draft would be see as the one that originated enough of those elements to retain screen credit.

Those kinds of writers are the reason WGA arbitration exists.  This process is when three current members of the WGA are assigned to a committee that receives the particular case.  Both the screenwriters and the arbiters are anonymous, and the three arbiters independently review the final shooting script as well as all submitted drafts to determine which authors (identified as "Writer A," "Writer B" and so on) deserve credit for contributing most to the final film.  Each writer may also submit a statement.  The Screen Credits Manual descibes this process as such:

Each participating writer is strongly urged to submit a written statement of his/her position to the Screen Credits Administrator to forward to the arbiters. It is suggested that the statement address the requirements to receive credit as set forth in this Manual, “Section III. Guild Policy on Cred - its.” The statement may include breakdowns and illustrative comparisons between the final shooting script and earlier work or any other information which would help the Arbitration Committee to evaluate the writer’s contribution to the final shooting script.

While I'm quoting the manual, it's probably useful to reproduce exactly how it says screen credit should be determined.

Additional Guidelines for the Arbiters in Determining Screenplay Credit

In each case, the arbiters read any source material and all literary material provided to them in connection with the development of the final screenplay in order to assess the contribution of each writer to the final shooting script.

The percentage contribution made by writers to screenplay obviously cannot be determined by counting lines or even the number of pages to which a writer has contributed. Arbiters must take into consideration the following elements in determining whether a writer is entitled to screenplay credit:

■ dramatic construction;

■ original and different scenes;

■ characterization or character relationships; and

■ dialogue.

 It is up to the arbiters to determine which of the above-listed elements are most important to the overall values of the final screenplay in each particular case. A writer may receive credit for a contribution to any or all of the above-listed elements. It is because of the need to understand contributions to the screenplay as a whole that professional expertise is required on the part of the arbiters. For example, there have been instances in which every line of dialogue has been changed and still the arbiters have found no significant change in the screenplay as a whole. On the other hand, there have been instances where far fewer changes in dialogue have made a significant contribution to the screenplay as a whole. In addition, a change in one portion of the script may be so significant that the entire screenplay is affected by it.

There's also a very important guildline listed under "Irreducible Story Minimum:" "In the case of an original screenplay, the first writer shall be entitled to no less than a shared story credit."

So if you write an original spec, take heart that at the very least, you'll get shared story credit.

That's a basic introduction to arbitration.  If you want to find out more, I really encourage you to look at the "Credits Survival Guide" on the WGA website and read through the entire Screen Credits Manual.

And if that still isn't enough, tomorrow I'll have someone who's actually served on several arbitrations answer some follow-up questions about the process.  Make sure you don't miss it.

Jeff Willis's Creative Rights advice for Screenwriters

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen me retweet quite a bit lately from Jeff Willis.  Jeff is an executive currently working at the Weinstein Company in business affairs, but he's also a screenwriter/producer who co-written a feature due to start production next year, as well has having finished two commissioned rewrite assignments.

Jeff has recently begun doing long Twitter lectures of DOs AND DON'Ts.  There's some very useful information there and I hate the thought that the ephemeral nature of Twitter means that it will quickly be difficult to find without doing much legwork.  So I reached out to Jeff and asked if he'd allow me to post his advice to writers about knowing their creative rights.  He was more than willing, so I'm reprinting them here, with the only difference being that I have reformatted them into paragraphs.

Jeff also did a fantastic Q and A over at the The Black Board forums.  It's worth a look.  Follow him on Twitter. You won't want to miss out on other great advice like this.

WGA CREATIVE RIGHTS

Writers, are you a member of the WGA? If so, know your creative rights.

Such as:

A prodco can’t distribute critiques/synopses of your script to outside companies w/out permission unless they already optioned/bought it. (Except for companies with whom they have a business relationship… first look deal, financing arrangement, etc.) Don’t waive this right lightly, and definitely don’t do it unless you’ve seen and approve of the coverage they’re sending. You have the right to restrict how much a company can shop your material around by providing the prodco with written notice.

It’s a $750 penalty for each party the prodco submits to outside of your written instructions. That said, don’t be a jerk about it. No prodco is going to deal with a writer who wants approval over every submission they make. Find the middle ground. Know that you can prevent them from blanketing the town, but also give them freedom to do their job. And once a prodco options or buys your script, they can send it to whomever they please.

If you option/sell your work, you have the 1st opportunity to rewrite. DO NOT WAIVE THIS RIGHT. A. It’s money. B. Your fringes depend on it. If a prodco wants to replace you, they’re supposed to meet with you first to discuss whether you can find a way to stay on the project. If a prodco changes an element (hires a director, attaches an actor, etc.), they have to give you 1st opportunity to address script notes. In other words, a director can’t come on board the project and hire their own writer to address their notes without first giving you a shot. This right expires three years from the date you turn in your final set of revisions, unless you negotiate for longer/no expiration.

If you’re asked to pitch something, you are allowed to ask the prodco approx. how many other writers are also being asked to pitch on it. Prodcos are supposed to notify you if a writer is hired to rewrite you. Prodcos are also supposed to provide you with a list of previous writers on a project before you start your revisions.

A title page should include ALL writers on a project. Don’t take off the names of previous writers even if you’re starting from scratch. Not all companies abide by all these rules all the time. Some are inadvertent omissions and some are deliberate avoidance of responsibility. And what the guild doesn’t know, it can’t enforce.

That said, choose your battles wisely. Don’t be that inflexible/difficult writer who runs to the guild every time there’s a problem. But don’t let a prodco walk all over you. Know your rights, know what you’re entitled to. Stand firm on things that are important to you. Remember that the threat of guild action can often be more impactful than actually taking guild action.

Everything I’ve posted  is free and  available on the WGA website: http://www.wga.org/subpage_writersresources.aspx?id=81 

Don’t be ignorant of your rights. If you’re a WGA writer, the guild has worked hard to negotiate an MBA that gives you certain rights. Know those rights. They give you power and they give you leverage. They keep you from being taken advantage of (more than usual).

Even if your deal is not a guild deal, understand what’s standard. If what you’re getting is not standard, ask why not. Call the WGA w/ any questions. The WGAw Contracts Department phone # is 323-782-4501. If you have questions, ASK THEM. They will help you. You don’t even have to be a member of the guild to ask questions. Anyone can call and ask them any MBA-related questions.

Don’t let ignorance prevent you from getting what’s fair. Don’t just go with the flow. If you’re uncertain about something, GET AN ANSWER. The guild isn't perfect, but it is there to help you. USE IT FOR THE RESOURCE THAT IT IS.

You don't have to be a WGA writer to start thinking about this stuff. Non-guild prodcos are mostly about the money and the fringes. There's no reason non-guild prodcos can't give you some of the basic MBA rights or use the guild MBA as a template for their deal.

Don't be afraid to ask for this stuff. Screenwriters SELL THEIR COPYRIGHT when they sell a script. You need to benefit from the deal somehow Guild, non-guild, professional, aspiring... wherever you are in your career, FIGHT FOR YOUR CREATIVE RIGHTS.

Interview with film and TV writer Jeffrey Lieber - Part 3: The early genesis of Lost

Parts 1 and 2 - How did you get an agent? and First sales and going into TV.

If you look up Jeff Lieber's credits, it will probably leap out at you that he's credited as a co-creator of Lost.  However, not only did Jeff never write for the series, he never worked with fellow co-creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. So what was Jeff's role in the genesis of the series?  What did his version of the Lost pilot contain?  Click on the video for the answers.



Find Jeff on Twitter.

Part 4 - The process of developing a show
Part 5 - Cable TV vs. Network TV
Part 6 - The Bitter Questions 

12-Step Screenwriting: Week 9 - WGA Registration vs. U.S. Copyright

It's time for another episode of the Bitter Script Reader YouTube series!

This is the ninth chapter of a 12-part series designed to guide and motivate a writer to complete a screenplay within three months.  Recognizing that I had an opportunity to reach a new audience via YouTube, I decided to start with the basics.

This week's video weighs the merits of registering your script with the Writers Guild of America vs. copyrighting it through the U.S. Copyright office.



For WGA registration, go here.

To register a copyright, go here. "You want the Form PA" PDF.



As always, it really helps me out to see some engagement with these videos, so please click through to the YouTube page, subscribe and leave a few comments there.  Feel free to embed these on your blogs, and if you find the tips useful, tweet about them or put the videos on your Facebook page.