Re: How much do nonunion and union screenwriters make per dr
Re: How much do nonunion and union screenwriters make per dr
roja111 said:
I have just completed a treatment for a one hour tv dramady, and in the process of finding a writer to help complete my pilot. However, I am very new to the industry, and I am concerned with what rights a nonunion has when coming on board to help me as well as their salary.
Meaning, if I hire a nonunion writer for hire, all materials belong to me, right?
My main concern is that when hiring a nonunion writer, how much is the normal price to pay per draft for an experienced writer, and for a non experienced writer? (Both of which are nonunion)
Since it is your property, the rights remain with you. However, the
writing credit really should be shared if the writer you hire does a good deal of work on the script (especially since all you have is a treatment, which isn't a lot)--unless you put it in writing that only you will get writing credit, no matter how much work the other writer does.
If the other writer agrees to this arrangement (and some writers do not respect themselves and their own talent enough to agree to this), you can do anything you want, as he or she is a writer for hire. All materials belong to you, and you can write into your agreement words to that effect. But it is only fitting, if the other writer does a lot of new work on the project--or all of it, since all you're providing is a treatment--and you actually use the draft he/she produces, that you at least share the credit with him/her. It won't kill you! You can insist your name goes first in the credits, if you like. That's perfectly fine.
It would be better and fairer to have the credits look like this: Story by (you). Teleplay [or screenplay] by (writer's name), since you didn't actually write the pilot, or at least aren't planning on it. You would also get the "Created by" credit--a very important credit in television.
>>how much is the normal price to pay per draft for an experienced writer, and for a non experienced writer?
You could find an inexperienced, or barely experienced writer for a few hundred dollars, I imagine. But you get what you pay for. For an experienced non-union person? Put that figure in the thousands, especially if it's a one hour pilot, not half hour. I know I wouldn't do it for less than 8 to 10 grand.
As for union rates, those are available at the Writers Guild website:
www.wga.org.
Hope this helps.
