Screenwriters find work is dwindling. While screen writers conferences are still
enthusiastically marketed all over the country, and eagerly
reported on, the working reality for screenwriters these days, is that work is growing ever more scarce. 'This week the Writers Guild of America, West reported that while earnings for screenwriters have bounced back to pre-strike levels' (
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike), 'there is a lot less work going around: employment has fallen 11% in the last three years, with 226 fewer screenwriters working in 2009 than 2006, the year before the 100-day walkout and the lowest level in at least six years.' '"Except for current A-list writers, the picture is as bleak as I've ever seen it," said former Writers Guild President Dan Petrie Jr.'
'Indeed, the recession has given the movie studios a reason — or an excuse, depending on the perspective — to adjust in their favor how they employ screenwriters.
When screenwriters do get a shot at work, they are increasingly subject to "sweepstakes pitching," in which as many as a dozen are pitted against one another, with producers picking the one they like best.
Or writers are often paid only for the first draft of the script in "one-step deals," and no longer offered a fee for subsequent drafts, as in the past. Writers also are expected to produce elaborate outlines of the script before they are hired for the project, losing valuable time if they are not selected.'
'Writers think the crimp in what the studios are willing to pay puts a cramp on creativity since it doesn't encourage risk-taking.
"When a writer is working on a one-step deal, he's going to be risk-averse because if he takes a flier on a wildly creative or inventive way of telling the story, he might wind up getting fired," said Billy Ray, writer of the thrillers "Flightplan" and "Color of Night," whose last four projects have all been one-step deals. "He won't have another draft or two to make it work, so he's going to write it down the middle."'
'To cut expenses further, studios have slashed spending on development — the industry's equivalent of R&D — while scaling back the number of movies they release each year: the guild bestowed writers' credits on 237 films last year, down from 299 in 2008.
With the closing of several independent distribution labels, studios have been purchasing fewer scripts in favor or adaptations of comic books, graphic novels, remakes and TV shows.
All of which has meant fewer jobs for rank-and-file writers, especially those who are trying to sell original scripts.'
With the strike coinciding with the recession, it's much harder to separate out which has resulted in what.
posted by -harlequin- at 6:44 PM on July 2, 2010 [1 favorite]