Screenwriters Writing Their Own Ticket
Several of Hollywood's top screenwriters are banding together as "collectives" to negotiate deals with studios under which they accept lower upfront fees for their scripts but receive a percentage of the movie's gross plus greater control over their material, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Wednesday). The latest deal, the newspaper observed, was signed with Fox and a group called Writing Partners, who include the writers of such films as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Little Miss Sunshine, Collateral, Scary Movie 3, and Big Fish. Each writer receives a $300,000 fee for his script, 2.5 percent of the gross, and will have a say over which notes from studio brass he's willing to accept and whether to allow another writer to come on board to work on his script.