In 2004, an arbitrator ruled that producers are NOT agents of the studios. Thus if a producer asks a writer to make changes to a draft, the studio is under no obligation to pay for those changes unless the writer delivers the completed literary material to the person authorized to accept delivery in the writing contract. If a writer wants to be paid, he or she should deliver the draft to the executive named in the writer's contract and demand payment for the delivered material.

Free rewrites arbitration (.pdf)