✍🏻 Writer’s quotes to live by
“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in. — Arianna Huffington
✍🏻WGA Release Projected Payouts for TV 2019 Pilot Scripts
As the war between ATA ( Association of Talent Agents ) & the WGA (Writers Guild of America) continues to wage on, writers without agents (sounds like Doctors Without Borders, lol) will go continue to negotiate deals with managers, and attorneys. The WGA has released a guide to compensation for writing and producing those pilots.
The guide is based on a 2018 survey the guild conducted of nearly 1,000 members who provided insider details about their pay; among other things.
The WGA and the ATA will return to the bargaining table on Friday in an attempt to work out an agreement.
The information is extremely imperative for writers who are heading into network development season, and need pilot deal terms to negotiate effectively.
“Adjusting that information to reflect the annual minimum increases in the minimum basic agreement, the tables below provide key compensation terms, including pilot script fees, pilot producing fees, episodic fees in the event the pilot is picked up to series, and series sales bonus terms, for all half-hour and one-hour pilot deals.” The guild stated.
Broadcast Network Pilots
As for broadcast network pilots, the guild said that writers “should be aware that the medians for pilot scripts and producing fees are higher than those reported for all markets.”
“When all agencies agree to provide the guild with member contracts and data, as Verve and agencies signed to the Code of Conduct have done, we will be able to offer even more robust and complete information on development deal terms to members on an annual basis,” the guild said.
It feels good to see actual figures next to television writing works, instead of vaguely touching the topic of “money” as a writer. I want to know specifically what is the range of the pay I’ll be making when I sell my pilot to Adult Swim Networks.
✍🏻Script Downloads:
The HBO mini-series “Chernobyl” which was written, created and produced by Craig Mazin, has wrapped-up and the buzz around it is all positive.
If you’re interested you can Craig’s scripts click the link below to download. You’re welcome!
✍🏻Dan Brown Series ‘Langdon’ written by Daniel Cerone in the Works
Teleplay writer Daniel Cerone is writing the sequel to ‘The Da Vinci Code’, this time in series form as NBC has given a production commitment to a series adaptation of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol,” which is set post “The Da Vinci Code.”
Come on, I know you remember the Da Vinci Code, the book that EVERYONE had a copy of, but never read. The book that gave the world Hanks his signature hairstyle and which he wore for the film adaptations.
Tom Hanks’ DaVinci Code Hair… business in the front… party in the back.
The NBC series is currently titled “Langdon,” and the sequel follows the early adventures of famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.
The synopsis reads as follow: After his mentor is kidnapped, Langdon finds himself pulled into a series of deadly puzzles. The CIA then forces him onto a task force, where he uncovers a chilling conspiracy.
I wonder how they can honestly translate such an epic centered story to television and do it justice.
Either Da Vinci Code Tom Hanks or we riot!
✍🏻Sammy Davis Jr Miniseries in the Works from Hanks’ and Daniels
A miniseries on legendary performer Sammy Davis Jr. is in the works from Lee Daniels Entertainment and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone Production banners.
The project, titled “Sammy,” are basing it from Wil Haygood’s 2003 book “In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.”
Expect the series to air in late 2020 or early 2021, the development process can be a long and daunting one.
✍🏻RelationSCRIPT Advice: Writing a Multiple Main Character Story
Has anyone ever been interested in writing a movie that is multi-layered, multi-faceted, but had no clue how to get started? Films that may blossom inside of your head can follow the lives of tons of characters in their own corners of the world. Well, here’s a quick breakdown summary of three keys to writing multilinear screenplays.
Think films like Magnolia, Traffic, Crash, Babel, even Syriana, in each plot there is one person whose actions directly or indirectly affect the lives of others.
These type of films follow multiple story lines and multiple characters, but in the end the story lines and characters intersect.
The genre of this type of picture has been dubbed “Hyperlink Movies”.
Screenwriter Scott Myers gave three amazing keys for handling these type of scripts and the keys from going from an idea to “THE END”.
The three keys:
Think of the lead characters in each of your subplots as being their own Protagonist.
Ask fundamental questions about each Protagonist: What do they want (their conscious External World goal)?
What do they need (their hidden Internal World goal)?
Who is trying to stop them from their goal (Nemesis)?
Who is most connected to their emotional development (Attractor)?
Who is most connected to their intellectual development (Mentor)?
Who tests them by shifting back and forth from ally to enemy (Trickster)?
Be mindful of how, where, when, and why your subplots intersect.
As the movie Crash demonstrated, those points of interconnection between disparate characters is one of the distinctive strengths of multi-linear stories.
Figure out how your characters intersect and what their corner of the world is, you'll take notes from how Magnolia placed characters, some in hospitals with dying family members, and other’s on infomercials, but when the story came full circle each piece of the pie made sense as a whole.
Brainstorm possibilities in this regard, while looking for surprising ways to cross various characters’ paths.
The best multilinear movies are those which revolve around one central theme.
Why? because that theme can pull together the contrasting characters and their respective storylines into a coherent whole. So that’s another area to work on as you prep and write your script.
You can read the blog post in it’s entirety here:
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