ICYMI: TV Weekly Pay Calculator

TV writer-producers, use this tool to negotiate better deal terms.

Are you being compensated fairly for your experience? As writing and production schedules extend over long periods of time, driving episodic fees toward Guild minimum, it can be difficult for TV writer-producers to be sure.

Last month, the Guild launched the TV Weekly Pay Calculator, an interactive tool that allows you to convert your episodic fee into a weekly rate and compare pay with and without the protection of the MBA’s span provision. If you know how many weeks you are expected to work, you can see what your weekly rate will be if you are covered by the MBA’s span provision—and if you aren’t. You can also see what your total compensation will be if you are protected by span—and if you aren’t. Read more >>

Based on a True Story

In a discussion of non-fiction adaptations, screenwriters weigh fidelity to the facts against creative license.

In 2014, 17-year-old Michelle Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after her boyfriend committed suicide, and texts from Carter were found on his phone, seemingly urging him to go through with the act.

Journalist Jesse Barron wrote about the “texting suicide” case for Esquire in an October 2017 article called “The Girl from Plainville.” When screenwriter Liz Hannah (The Post, Long Shot) adapted Barron’s journalism into the upcoming Hulu limited series The Girl from Plainville, the journalist sat in with the writers. Read more >>

Ask a Mentor: Transitioning From TV to Feature Writing

Oscar nominee and former TV staffer Virgil Williams has advice for TV writers who want to cross over.

Virgil Williams was working as a staffer on Criminal Minds when his agency sent him a stack of books to consider adapting into a feature screenplay. Although he had a successful TV career, Williams came to LA to write movies and was looking for the chance to cross over. One of the books he received was a Hillary Jordan novel about two families struggling for survival in the Mississippi Delta near the end of World War II. Years later, Williams (with co-writer/director Dee Rees) received Writers Guild and Academy Award nominations for his work on Mudbound. How did he do it? Williams shares what it took to make the move to the big screen and offers advice for those who wish to follow a similar path. Read more >>

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