Hey Folks,

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but here are the basics.
Keeping in mind that dealing with a very small Independent film is a whole other animal.

The WGA (Writer's Guild of America--either East or West)has set down these guidelines for major motion pictures.

The writer's take on films depends on the film's budget. Films are broken down into 2 categories.

Small...5 Million and under....Writers $ starts at 50K.

Big.....Over 5 Mil....Writers start at 90K

All of this is upwardly negotiable.

If a screenplay gets 'optioned', and most produced screenplays start out this way, then the 'option' is 10%...

As in songwriting, there are Sharks....The most common these days is the $1.00 Option...I think it speaks for itself that a Producer will spend a lot more energy trying to get a film made that he's paid $5,000 to option than one she's paid only a buck for.

The other horror stories I've heard about options, is the 'renewable' clause...Options generally go for 18 months & are then renewed...The trouble comes, when the 'Optioner' is the one with the right of renewal, not You, the 'Optionee'.....Sure, getting $10,000 up front for your blockbuster sounds pretty Kewl, and I wouldn't turn it down because 'Options' are the way things are done....The horror part comes when an, oh, let's say an Actor, a Star, simply loves your script and options it...Then they get caught up in other projects...18 months later, They renew their option...Another $10,000 for you...Another 18 months of waiting....This can go on perpetually to the point where the film never gets made because the Star has become too old for the part(this is based on a true story of a 15 year Option, names withheld).

But then, there are a lot of writers in Hollywood who make a very decent living and have never had a film produced. But again, they live in L.A. & write a bunch!!!...Whereas WE, don't.

It's along period of time between writing FADE OUT & seeing the $$, so I wouldn't advise giving up the day job...But the $$ IS out there, waiting for the next big Hit.

Well, enough rambling for a start, but those are the basics.

Midnite

Satchel was right. Something is gaining on me.

The Shoebox & Dinner at Eight trailers available at:

http://www.twometer.com/Two_Meter_Studios/HOME.html