Need Writer

[CallaghanFilms]

Hiring someone to write a script from scratch, for $500 -- not likely. But I bet there are many, many, many people out there who have spec scripts that are collecting dust on their shelves, who would be thrilled to get $500 for them.

 

[Eric Boellner]

Agreed. Which is why I said that many folks would probably be glad to get $500 for one of their scripts. I just don't think there will be too many people falling all over themselves to commit a couple of months of their life to cranking out a script for $500, but hey, they certainly may.


Hey, I actually applaud Andrew for getting to the point of being willing to pay some money for a collaborator's script. I had nothing against the original post at all other than trying to guide the discussion towards an area that would probably be far more productive. Again, while it's possible that he'll find a volunteer willing to work for a long time for (on an hourly basis) pretty much nothing, I think it's far more likely that we have some members here who wrote up some scripts on spec and to whom $500 would look downright tasty right now.


Agreed. And I hope you didn't see me in that vein. I was trying to point out a route that would hopefully work for both the director and the writer.

Hahaha, you weren't at all in that vein. I think your suggestion was probably the most helpful post in this thread, and you're right; hopefully someone with a spec pops over and sees this thread and emails Andrew.

 

[Eric Boellner]

The problem "collaboration-wise" is this:
No matter how under-valued or under-compensated a director/actor/DP/editor/soundguy/etc. is (separate argument),
he will have something tangible to show for his labor.
If the production never happens, no sweat off his creative ass.

A solid* feature screenplay, on the other hand, takes a minimum of two months to draft.
*I repeat, solid
I would say three months is a more accurate average.
Add another 4 - 8 weeks for revisions.
Factor in (as Popcorn suggested):...and you are offering lower wages than any 3rd world sweat shop (less than a buck an hour by my count.)
I stand corrected, this Andrew cat said ...so I read he'd rather pay less.

Now consider this:
Not only is the writer making (less than) a dollar an hour,
there is a very high possibility the project will implode.
In which case he has nothing to show for his labor.
No calling card.
No addition to his reel.
Nothing.

Did I really have to spell that scenario out? :huh:

Honestly, if you're not sweating your proverbial ass off for a vastly underpaying gig, you're not a writer. Or at least, not a good one. Every writer worth his salt knows he'll never be paid what he's worth. For a non-WGA, non-professional (as in not-regularly-working-well-paying-gigs) writer, this is what you do. This is the kind of job you take. Whether it pays off in the end is entirely irrelevant: not only will you have written more (which is a natural improver), but you'll have experience working FOR someone else instead of just writing for yourself in your closet. As a writer, these are the dues you pay until you make it. Refining your One Good Script for years and years isn't really the kind of work that gets you anywhere, and neither is waiting around for someone to offer you $50k to write their script that has just as much (or as little) chance of being made as the script you write for the guy paying you $500.

I'm still personally very interested in this project, I just don't think I have the talent to write the kind of story McCarrick is looking for, and I'm too busy working a full-time job and producing a film to get it done in time. Even as a writing assignment (as opposed to a spec sale), I think this project isn't a bad idea for beginning writers, or even just writers who have a little extra time on their hands right now.

"I could go down the list of my movies, dissecting the reasons I did them. The reasons have varied from needing the money to being involved with every particle of my being, as I was with Q & A. The whole process of moviemaking is magical, so magical, in fact, that it often serves as sufficient justification for one to go to work. Just making the movie is enough."

- Sidney Lumet, "Making Movies"

 

[Eric Boellner]

As an ironic endtail, if you think about a spec script being sold for $500, the hourly wage on that drops to probably 1/3 of the hourly wage on the 5-month writing assignment Callaghan proposed. <grin>

BTW, Callaghan, I hope you understand I mean no offense and there are no hard feelings on my part for this thread. I understand the argument that $500 for a feature-length script that, statistically speaking, will probably never see the light of a projection bulb is ludicrous - I just think it's the same kind of ludicrous that writers will have to put up with when they're being paid $500k to write a script for Paramount that ultimately has a director bring his own writer on board, who then rewrites the script into a steaming pile of horse s..t, which then either gets made and you get "story by" or never gets made because the director decides to do something else and Paramount, for whatever reason, just keeps rolling with the Horse S..t script instead of your perfectly good version... like I said, writers never really get their due. In fact, it's far more common for writers to be happy about indie films they did for very little money than for the massive studio paychecks that resulted in years of development hell and then having your name scrubbed clean off any legible version of the credits. :beer:

 

[CallaghanFilms]

Other than the "snark" bit, we're cool.