I am pleased to be joined this week by screenwriter Colby Day to discuss all the unapid work that goes into getting paid work. I loved reading Colby’s diaries of annual pitch meetings and the such for 2021 and 2022, and thought I might share them, and him, with you as a way to help you understand some of the frustrations that writers have with the current state of Hollywood. How many pitches does a writer have to make to land one paying gig? Why does it take an endless amount of time to get paid after drafts have been submitted? How could the strike help alleviate some of these problems? All that and more on this week’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please share with a friend!
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I am increasingly astounded at the many ways that the PROCESSES of Hollywood have become tangled and completely disengaged from the OUTPUT. No other business can function that way. And I think COVID/streaming created a disruption that shined a great big bright light. There are all sorts of reasons that “creativity” is not like engineering. But a business that depends on creativity still has to figure out how to be a business AND welcome/support their creative inputs. If they don’t there’s nothing’ - at least nothin’ for anyone over 8!
Listening to this earlier, I feel like the 'drafting' process that writers are doing for free for months and years is analogous to an R&D department at a tech company. Like, Agile sprints, but over a longer time period. Now that I think about it from that perspective, it's crazy crazy pants that they aren't getting paid for that process, even if their final product is not the one that is selected.
Hey kids, it's not just the writers. Show me Honest Work.
Support the writers & other creatives!