Screenwriting : Question for Screenwriters... by Daniel Cummings

Yes, I've done all kinds of paid screenplay work, and the answer is it depends.

What are the starting materials? Outline? Treatment? An idea? How much work will this take? What's the genre? What kind of budget are you looking for and when's the deadline? How many people will be giving notes, and are you looking for a partial, total, or no buy out?

Nominally, a Writer gets 1% of the budget if he sells a screenplay to an indie (and he's lucky if he actually gets it), but hiring a Writer to write your vision is a whole other league. It's a lot harder to write for someone else than one's self.

An honest buyer? Rare.

Start at 3% and pay upfront. The worst is when an Employer asks for a free treatment before any talk about payment of a first draft.

https://youtu.be/Z5xEVBmZE40

3-5% of budget pre P&A. . No backend. Completely BTL and all encompassing with a single polish ahead of production. Day to day production services will be nominal or included.

Yes, I've written several features and treatments for a range of producers and directors. My up-front fees are based on the Australian Writers' Guild's rates, which vary depending on your budget. All the other details would be worked out in an agreed-upon contract between us. Feel free to direct message me if you'd like further details. Best of luck!

Some of it depends on your strength & reputation/history too. I would say 2% right up front, 2% on the first day of shooting, then maybe 1 or 2% of the door.

$12,500 is WGA minimum for script, but good luck with getting that! https://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/LBA-Filings18.pdf

hi daniel, thanks for posting this question.

Kay- Isn't it 2-5% of the total budget of the film? Obviously, where in that range a writer falls, depends on experience and other things. But isn't that the case anymore? OR am I mistaken? I would appreciate if you can clarify that. Best. k

Kiana, what Kay has pointed out is the minimum for a WGA member writer. I haven't been a member of the Guild for many years and I seriously doubt that there are many/any S32 forimites who are. The OP's question is aimed at the Indie market where all things are negotiable. A lot depends on the strength of the Producer/Director in this case. Obviously any writer needs to pay the rent so there has to be some up-front cash while the work is in progress (I say 2% of the Line Producer's budget estimate). The script has to be finished, polished and delivered so I thing that another 2% is a fair price. If the film flops, the writer has at least covered the expenses; adding a percent or two to the back end may/may not be worthwhile.

As a side note: I was dating a woman in San Francisco in the '70s who took a job at Industrial Light & Magic. They asked me to join in on some weird Sci Fi flick they had going on at the time for a pittance but they offered me 1% of the franchise - I couldn't be bothered for that, so I turned them down. The project was called Star Wars. Last I heard, Linda owned .5% of the franchise - I got nothin'.

Kiana Kleemm -- The minimum on a big budget with Treatment is around $125,000. That would be less than half a percent of a $30 million picture. Realistically, you could expect $300,000 of that 30 million. 1%.

Doug - wow, that is quite something. Reminds me of how my Dad used to sometimes mention that he had a 1913 Liberty Head nickel in his coin collection as a kid but his mother used it in a parking meter. :o

Ditto with ya Derek on Doug... wow! I remember hearing on AFI that George Lucas offered people a small percentage of his percentage of Star Wars merchandising to get them on board with his vision.

Give people a piece of the pie and they'll work twice as hard for you because they have skin in the game. If Corporate America did that on the $1.3 billion dollar satellite contract I helped an LA aerospace firm win in 1995, I might still be an engineer.

No regrets. I got my freedom to be creative on a daily basis = happiness

Hi Kay, Thanks for explaining. It helps..... and that was an interesting thing to know about Star WAr thing- thanks for sharing..

I write for indie directors and producers all day, everyday. As mentioned, the rate depends on the amount of work and also how much of the story still has to be worked out and how much research is needed.

I typically charge by step so it’s not a huge outlay off the bat. So a fee for research and outline in advance then a fee for each draft.