Managing
Media Projects - Managing
the Idea : Industry Agreements (Writers, An Independent
Production 1)
The
industry agreement which should meet your needs is the one negotiated between
The Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and The Writers
Guild of Great Britain (WGGB).
This agreement sets out minimum fee rates for both commissioned
scripts and adaptations, and for scripts written to an already-existing format
(eg that of an established soap). It specifies the minimum that should be
paid for an outline, first and subsequent drafts, and final script, and the
stages in the script development and production process at which each proportion
of the overall fee should be paid.
It
does this for one-off television dramas, for finite television series, for
episodes of ongoing television serials (eg soaps), and for cinema films.
It specifies what copyright licences the producer acquires
(in addition to the writers time in producing the script) for the fees
set out, and the further amounts that must be paid in order to option or acquire
further rights.
It allows for different levels of fee for new writers and established writers.
In practice, though, you will find that you are negotiating with agents for
most writers with any sort of television track-record. Agents are familiar with
the structure of the PACT-WGGB Agreement,