Use this guide along with the power points This covers the material that was spoken and viewed in class and the author intentionally omitted the slides to the best of his ability Golden rule of work GROW Someone hires you to make their life easier 90 of your managing time is used on 10 of your workforce As an actor or writer your work is stored in data bases and as a result you only have one real chance to impress people College is the only time someone is being paid t make your work better everything else is a favor It all begins with writing Until there is something on the page there is nothing You want your name on the script four financial and other reasons Writers guild of America will always give script credit to the original writer The writer who wrote fade in and what ones after on page one get the credit Taking the money out taking a film location from a no tax credit state to a tax credit state So it costs less money Directors try to use this as justification for getting writers credit If people got hired to work then a script was successful and you will get more work as a writer When you see sign the two writers worked together When you see and it means other writers were brought in later With a film studio is buying the pages of a script not the author May buy a script to keep something off the market The pages are already there With TV the studio is buying the writer and what he might write in the future It is prospective Studios do not follow contracts when it is not in their factor like writing more than 3 drafts and will follow it when it will save them money like when they will only pay you for 1 and cancel the rest TV writing style writers are in a room and group writes Movie 2 people writing at a time may go to multiple people Studios declare the date for their blockbusters years in advance to declare they own that date Called a tent pole Types of TV shows Episodic you can watch the in any order each story stands on its own Serial like a novel you need to watch them in order You need to think out the entire season ahead of time Writer has the most power in TV The show runner is the most powerful writer the creator is usually the show runner In the US the original show runner usually does not stay with the entire series but has to approve major changes like a death of a character In the UK when the original show runner wants to stop the series ends The past few years have been marked by the firing of show runners Show runners usually have the title of Executive Producer When there are opening credits their name is last and in final credits their name is first Show Runners have the final say in Casting Writing hiring Writing seasons arcs Directing show runners notes overrides the director s Editing approves all edits Can be over ridden by studio or network Whoever is writing the check is in charge Network studio ect In TV networks are always licensing programs they are paying to have two runs of an episode This is a license fee For over 20 years the license fee is less than the production costs Why Because they own it and can put it into syndication So if a studio has a home run it could clean up But now networks own a part of the programs and when the studio sells it they get 50 So now it is best for the content creator and deliverer to be one company to be vertically integrated Notes do not if ever solve a problem Notes do however identify a problem Notes are sometimes contradictory You let the audience know you are not supposed to like a character by having that character play the audience American TV production is faster than UK TV production Accommodate actors by taking them out of scenes where they are unnecessary because the schedule is so tiring MPAA Motion Picture Association of America rates about 620 films a year Need to keep product in theaters Big studios have massive funds to make movies and TV help the make use of these funds NC17 rating will be fought against by studios they want a pg 13 or R rating When TV began a season was 39 episodes Then became 32 Series would originally get 13 episodes If you buy advertising for 10 million viewers and only got 5 mil the broadcast company owes you 5 more mil To make good on it People tend to watch 17 networks on cable Broadcast networks need fresh programming to make sure they can be competitive with other networks Copyright something as soon as you write it As soon as the us copyright office receives it the post marked date on it is when it was officially copyrighted Costs a fee with the copyright office You can get a copyright with writer s guild Mail a copy to yourself seal it and get the post marked date on it is the worst way to copyright something it opens the door to allegations of fraud tampering Warner Brothers bought life rights to the We Are Marshal people who survived the crash If some people in a major event say no to you asking to use their life story you can use a composite character combining other people and using a fictional name If you can t get an agent nobody thinks they can make money off of you If you are a new writer and get a big firm you get a baby agent Spec script speculation script for an existing show you are not paid in advance for writing these Pilot script is the script for your new show You presell the rights to a film to a producer before they make it If you have nobody to distribute it you have to go to festivals like Sun Dance to get attention buyers If the movie does not say studio name here presents film name here then the studio associated with it is just distributing it If the studios name is in there then they put the money up to make it Movie distributor must pay theaters to run their trailer at the top of movies For blockbuster films opening week 90 of money goes to distributor 10 to theater who sells concessions Amount changes as movies time in theater goes on Coverage Recommendations categories Pass they do not want it Consider good but needs rewrites probably will not be accepted Recommend they feel it is a strong script may be accepted This is usually done by freelancers and unpaid interns Free lancers get 50 100 dollars a reviewed script Then it goes to a development executive Then to it goes to whomever is net at the production company Turnaround another studio paying a studio for a script they bought and …
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