Thursday, March 15, 2007

Writing: Arbitration Letters

One of the contributing factors to the brown-out here, other than meeting with producers to talk about casting, and selling the house and realizing oh sweet holy mother of God I don't ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO DIRECT -- is that I'm working on the arbitration letter for TRANSFORMERS.

For you Spec-Monkeys and the generally curious, the process of figuring out who exactly gets the blame/credit for a movie is actually pretty convoluted, particularly when a.) there are multiple writers and b.) there are massive amounts of money to be made. The main reason people want credit on a movie is not for bragging rights or employment; everybody in Hollywood knows what kind of writer you are based on your scripts circulating through the studio system. Which is the answer, by the way, to the question I get on an almost weekly basis in my e-mail: "How the hell are you still working?" Nobody in Hollywood blames me for CATWOMAN, because they all like the other scripts I've written. Particularly the unmade ones. Hell, I've gotten hired on stuff because of my early, unmade version* of the CATWOMAN script. So there you go. Welcome to Oddsville.

Credits determine residuals. And residuals, my friends, are the only candy we get in the studio system. We are way, way far down the line from box-office bonuses and gross points. The simple truth is that the massive studio films generate so much lucre in their wake
that even our shitty flotsam and jetsam residual deal, on a halfway successful film, is life-changing. To be blunt, after reading the shooting script of CATWOMAN, I was pretty dubious about having my name on it. (Full Disclosure: My name was one of the ones the studio submitted in the tentative writing credits. There was arbitration on the movie, but I didn't initiate it) But then -- and I am being brutally honest here, folks, you may lose a chunk of respect for me, if you had any, er, ever-- I thought about the two odd years of shitty, shitty development, weekly meetings with ungodly notes until finally they asked me to leave because I'd gotten too truculent with my insistence that if we made the movie the way they wanted, it would suck ... and I considered any possible residuals the bonus pay for that experience.

After all, how bad could it be? The shooting script was odd and kind of boring, but was it really that bad?

Talk about an object lesson.

On the other hand, said residuals are one of the things that allow me to match your donations to military charities. So, there you go.

What's the process? This is really more Craig's territory, but here's how I understand it. Shortly after the picture locks, the studio determines what they consider to be the final shooting script. Sometimes this document's provenance is pretty oblique, as pages are being rewritten on the fly, there are improvs -- basically, it's the text version of what you finally see on screen, using the pages that were the basis for what was actually shot. (In TV we called this the "As Broadcast", or "As Broad" for short). Then the studio looks at all the writers on the movie, balances creative inputs from various drafts with whatever internal office politics they have -- people will protest, but hey, we're not children here -- and they notify the Writer's Guild of the Tentative Writing Credits for the movie.

The Guild then forwards this notice to all writers of record, to see if anyone disagrees with the credits. If you do, you can ask for arbitration. The arbitration process is also automatically triggered under certain circumstances, as when one of the Producers is given a writer's credit. This is not always a Bad or Undeserved Thing, but it is a Suspect Thing, and so it's better to be safe than sorry.

At this point, the studio determines what it considers to be the documents of record for the shooting script's evolution. Submitted drafts, treatments, etc. and when there's original material, that's included. These materials are given to three Guild screenwriters, chosen randomly from an approved list that's, well, umpteen pages long. These screenwriters -- always anonymous -- read all the materials (poor bastards), compare them to the shooting script, and rule on what the credits should be.

If that form of judgment seems terrifyingly subjective, humans who run the Guild would agree with you. As a result, there are actually decades-old guidelines for not only how this process runs, but they also define various credits in extremely specific forms. That is, "Written by", "Story by", "Screen story by", and "Screenplay by", when you see those whip past on the big black screen, are all finely attenuated objective terms with completely different meanings. There's even a limit --recently added -- as to how many different people can share each of these credits.

Now the insane ugly truth here is that trying to turn the difference between "Story by" and "Screenplay by" and "Written by" into solid, actionable guidelines for the arbitrating readers is, well ... insane. Despite the best efforts of the Guild folk -- and I do honestly believe that they've done a pretty good job of trying to bang these rules out given the weird nature of their assignment -- the guidelines somehow manage to be both authoritative and vague. In some conditions a "significant contribution" is considered enough. In other places actual percentages of screenplay are mentioned, but the reader is then chastised about using too literal an analytical framework to come up with said percentage.

Ugh. And now it gets ugh-ier. Because this is where the arbitration letter comes in.

Each screenwriter then gets to write a letter, substituting in the anonymizing terms "Writer A", "Writer B" for our identities, in which we argue out how we interpret these objectively/subjective guidelines applying to the scripts in question, supporting the credits we think are fair. These letters can range from "I agree to the credits as submitted" to inch-thick legalistic opuses. The real thriller is that you have no idea what other writers are claiming. Some guys come on hard on arbitration because they got fucked on their last project, and now it's time for the hate to run downhill. So while you're docilely tooling along with "I think these credits are fine,", Writer F is crafting a footnoted fifty page on how you contributed Jack subShit to the script, and need to be kicked off the credits toute suite.

These letters tend to have a lot of attention focused on them, not particularly because they're so effective (at least in my belief) but because, irrationally, it's the one part of the process where you feel any sort of control. Some people treat it as a way to finally vent the various frustrations they've felt at the film development process. I've read arbitration letters that come off like debate team scripts, and I've read some that you wouldn't be surprised to discover were pages torn from a heartbroken stalker's hidden wishbook. This creates a horrible spiral, where even if you don't want to parse through nine goddam drafts of the project, you have to in order at least bang out enough paragraphs to lodge yourself in the readers' minds, to pre-empt some nuke assault another writer might be launching. And while the results from the arbitration process are generally pretty reasonable , every now and then some infamously bizarre decision will come down the pipe that's so disturbingly arbitrary, it reinforces the sense of panic and helplessness most writers feel ... well, every day-ish.

There are always desultory attempts at fixing the credits system. To be blunt, it's a complicated situation in an age of corporate film-making, with years-long multi-draft development. If I remember correctly, there were something like ten -odd writers vying for the credit slots on CATWOMAN. I don't know the answer, and I doubt I'll still be in the business when they come up with one.

Frankly, it's just fucking grubby. I mean, every screenwriter's felt like a whore at some point in his career. Arbitration is where we scrawl on the lipstick, tug on the stained minidress and entertain Uncle Billy's gentlemen friends from Russia.








*
the version where the final fight scene of the summer tentpole movie is NOT Halle Berry beating up a fifty year old cosmetics executive in an empty penthouse. For. Fucking. Example.

75 comments:

Anonymous said...

So "I wrote all the parts that don't suck, if any" won't cut it?

Anonymous said...

Also, why do studios seem to prefer horrible rewrites of genre scripts over perfectly fine versions that already exist? The Alien franchise seems to be a particularly egregious example of this.

wcdixon said...

Great post...entertaining yet informative, as always.

Unknown said...

So "I wrote all the parts that don't suck, if any" won't cut it?

I wish. And that's not even useful. Even of you did write all the parts that don't suck, if there's not a lot of those parts in the movie, you won't get credit.

Daniel McCabe said...

Hi. I edit McGill University's alumni magazine and I enjoy your blog. I wonder if you might be interested in writing something for your alma mater? We don't pay much, but we pay Canadian (which makes it even less, come to think of it...) Feel free to contact me at daniel.mccabe@mcgill.ca

Beckylooo said...

I've got an aspiring screenwriter/director friend who arbitration letters for folks. She's incredibly good at it (a blessing and a curse) and has won more than she's lost. Sadly, she dissappears for long stretches of time as she combs through draft after draft and when she reappears, she tends to have less hair. She gets paid quite well and the gig certainly beats assistant land (where I make my home. But having heard her horror stories, I know I'll whore myself on hollywood blvd to afford to hire someone like her before I'd ever attmept to write one of those myself.

Anonymous said...

It is a horribly sucky process as everyone, right or wrong, scrambles to preserve (or steal) their piece of the pie, and that kind of money brings out just the darkest, darkest thuggery. Makes you want to leave the business and get into an industry that's less morally decadent. You know, like "tobacco lawyer" or "claims adjuster."

It gets so heinous that I've even heard stories of one particularly successful screenwriting team who's been known to call up the writers they've (SOP) replaced and actually try to bully them away with threats of grim retribution should they dare participate in the arbitration process. Yes, it's hard to believe that, even by Hollywood standards, such astounding douchebaggery exists, and if I ever meet these guys at a cocktail party or industry function, it's an absolute given that I will be in jail the next day, but there you go.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Thanks Mr. Rogers. You've made my next month's existence of constantly preparing numerous Tax Returns for other people seem bearable.

Actually, the funny thing is that this is my favorite part of the year. The stuff I work on the at other times are longer accounting projects like Reviewed Statements. The sense of accomplishment of turning out severly billabe products per day can keep you going even through the insane hours.

Nita said...

found your blog because of "Leroy Jenkins", started reading it because I didn't realize what the hell it is you do. I like what you do. You've got another stalker...

Wil Wheaton said...

Hey, if you want an actor's perspective on what makes a director awesome and what makes a director suck, and various ways to communicate with us, e-mail me.

NBarnes said...

I can only imagine the horror and degradation that was the arbitration for Alien3. Almost certainly scarier than the movie itself.

Shan said...

If it's so convoluted and subjective, how do you decide what to take credit for? Do you look at individual sentences in the script and pick out which ones were yours? Do you use these as quotes when writing the letter? Such as, "I came up with the protoforms... even though it coincidentally was already used in Beast Wars, which I learned afterwards". Or is it more macroscopic, like separating the specific story events from the plot and from the premise?

In either case, good luck, hope you receive due compensation.

Anonymous said...

Good luck!

What's up with WGA? Members getting hot to strike yet or what?

Anonymous said...

Reading your comments, I think, Rogers is a writer, a producer, a comic book writer, a comic, and now a lawyer, Wow... at least I don't have to put on a stained black mini for professional reasons.

Yeah, watching Clerks II begin with a buzz about the live action Transformers movie... this made me know you are a success.

Bon arbitration!

coltrane said...

Congrats! Catwoman made the worst 100 reviewed movies of all time list.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/special/2007/wotw/

Unknown said...

See, that's sloppy titling -- were the reviews negative, or poorly written? Sister Vera would have words with you on that structure.

:P

The Minstrel Boy said...

this harkens back to the early days of rock and roll when dj's like alan freed, cousin brucie and that rat bastard imus would insist on getting composer or co-production credits from guys like chuck berry to ensure airplay. chuck, little richard, willie dixon, and whole lot of guys never got their props. at least you can settle for the money. this ol' jingle whore recomends the purple eyeshadow, the bright blue leather miniskirt, lucite platforms and a blonde wig. drives them rooshins nuts it does.

Anonymous said...

now that is what I call putting it all into a nutshell... well done

Jason said...

So, I'm a little confused, exactly where were we supposed to lose respect for you? I actually gained some more after reading that.

As an aside, the Catwoman review over at DVDVerdict has a nice little (and that's a non-sarcastic 'nice little') anecdote, the second paragraph in the Rebuttal Witness section, about the reviewer's experience in the theatre. The rest of the review is what you'd expect, but that particular paragraph might just give you a smile.

Anonymous said...

Wherein I fess up to reading this just now...

>>>and now it's time for the hate to run downhill.

>>>you contributed Jack subShit to

You should win just based on *that* brilliance!

Anonymous said...

If it's so convoluted and subjective, how do you decide what to take credit for? Do you look at individual sentences in the script and pick out which ones were yours?

On a rewrite job, that's actually harder than it sounds (at least, it is for me). Especially since the tentative credits can arrive several months and (if you're lucky) several jobs later.

On my first film (for which I did receive credit, much to my surprise) I was brought in to do a page 1 rewrite two weeks before shooting started, and ground out subsequent drafts with my laptop literally in my lap as I sat on the bench in a three-holer. The first time the director summoned me to the set (actually a camera barge on a frigid lake), I watched several takes, thinking, "this is the first time I'm hearing professional actors speaking my dialogue." Unfortunately, after working on the thing 14 hours a day for a month, I wasn't even sure they were speaking English, let alone which lines I'd written.

Anonymous said...

that was a real interesting post, John, thanks.

I've always wondered about that stuff.

Mark

Anonymous said...

HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV
HDTV

Unknown said...

人権問題
募金
障害者
治験
香川県 不動産
高松 不動産
広島 不動産
チューリッヒ
派遣
スニーカー
ゼネラリ
アメリカンホームダイレクト
フランチャイズ

Unknown said...

人材派遣
派遣会社
派遣会社
不動産投資
不動産
不動産 広島
広島 不動産
セルライト
国際協力
お見合いパーティー
浮気調査
賃貸
">ソニー損保

Unknown said...

水虫
募金
自動車保険
自動車保険 比較
チューリッヒ
自動車 保険 見積
盲導犬
国際協力
出会い
出会い系
出会い系サイト
出会いサイト
不動産
成長ホルモン
ショッピングカート
東京 ホームページ制作
不動産投資
三井ダイレクト
知多半島 ホテル
知多半島 温泉
知多半島 旅館
カーボンオフセット

Unknown said...

婚約指輪
結婚指輪
浮気調査
賃貸
群馬 不動産
治験
出産祝い
アクサダイレクト
障害者
24そんぽ24
アメリカンホームダイレクト

Unknown said...

徳島 不動産
結婚相談所 横浜
高松 不動産
高知 不動産
ソニー損保
お見合いパーティー
広島 不動産
岡山 不動産

Unknown said...

浮気調査
募金
ゼネラリ
群馬 ハウスメーカー
埼玉 ハウスメーカー
盲導犬
治験
出産祝い
クレジットカード決済
24そんぽ24
アメリカンホームダイレクト
出会い
出会い系

Unknown said...

埼玉 不動産
三井ダイレクト
カラーコンタクト
カーボンオフセット
コンタクトレンズ
知多半島 温泉
知多半島 旅館
プリンセスルーム
アクサダイレクト

Anonymous said...

зеленый лазер
электрошокер
товары мини камеры
товары народного потребления

Obat Raja Singa Ampuh said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Obat Klamidia Untuk Pria said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Obat Herpes Ampuh Untuk Pria said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Cara Menyembuhkan Sariawan Dengan Cepat dan Alami said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Jamu Obat Kondiloma Akuminata said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Ramuan Tradisional Obat Wasir Ambeien said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Prediksi Capres Calon Presiden Tahun 2014 said...

This was a fantastic article. Really loved reading your we blog post. The information was very informative and helpful...

Unknown said...

Wasir atau ambeien adalah penyakit yang terjadi pada bagian anus, jenis wasir atau ambeien sendiri ada dua yaitu wasir atau ambeien dalam dan wasir atau ambeien luar. Dalam penangananya sendiri wasir atau ambeien dapat disembuhkan dengan dua jalan yaitu pengobatan medis dan pengobatan non medis atau pengobatan alternatif. Pengobatan alternatif disini salah satu pilihanya adalah dengan menggunakan tanaman herbal atau dengan ramuan tradisional. Ambeclear dan Salep Salwa adalah hasil pengolahan tanaman herbal daun ungu, kunyit putih, dan mahkota dewa yang telah terbukti ampuh mengatasi wasir atau ambeien baik wasir stadium satu, stadium dua, stadium tiga maupun stadium akhir atau stadium empat. Wasir berdarah, wasir yang telah kronis, semua dapat diatasi dengan menggunakan obat ini selain ampuh obat ini juga aman dan tidak menimbulkan efek samping apapun bagi penggunanya sehingga obat ambeclear ini aman dikonsumsi oleh penderita wasir yang sedang hamil maupun menyusui.

teguh wibowo said...

pengobatan wasir yang bagus
obat wasir
cara ampuh obati wasir
obat wasir tradisional
obat wasir wasir alami yang ampuh
harga obat wasir de nature
obat wasir dan ambeien ampuh
obat ambeien atau wasir
obat wasir ambeien stadium 4
obat wasir ambeien stadium 4
obat wasir
obat ambeien
pengobatan wasir
obat kutil kelamin
cara mengobati kutil kelamin
pengobatan kutil kelamin
obat kutil kelamin de nature

Unknown said...

Penderita Penyakit kondiloma atau Kutil Kelamin yang telah terinveksi disarankan untuk segera melakukan pengobatan secepat mungkin sebelum Virus HPV penyebab kutil kelamin makin banyak berkembang biak di dalam sel darah makin lama dibiarkan akan memperparah kondisi organ vital karena kutil kelamin akan terus membesar sehingga terlihat seperti jengger ayam untuk penderita yang baru tertular kurang dari satu bulan biasanya akan lebih cepat ditanggulangi obat kutil kelamin Paling ampuh dari De Nature dan terbaik ada hanya di http://obatkutildikemaluan.blogdetik.com/ untuk mendapatkan informasi yang lebih jelas mengenai pengobatan kutil pada kelamin silahkan kontak langsung di nomer 0852 808 77 999 atau 0859 7373 5656 Bagaimana mengobati Ambeien itu sendiri. pengobatan yang terbaik untuk Ambeien adalah dari luar dan dalam sehingga Ambeien benar benar tuntas dan tidak akan kambuh lagi. obat Ambeien terbaik "Ambeclear dari De Nature" AlamiAdalah obat Ambeien herbal yang memang terbaik untuk mengobati Ambeien, dan sudah terdaftar di badan obat dan makanan (BPOM) dengan nomer registrasi POM TR: 133 374 041. terbuat dari bahan alami antara lain terdiri Daung Ungu, Mahkota Dewa dan Kunyit Putih.

Anonymous said...

cara yang alami menyembuhkan penyakit wasir ambeien secara alami dengan menggunakan daun ungu serta mahkotadewa aman untuk ibu hamil tanpa operasi cukup dengan menggunakan obat wasir herbal ambeclear terbuat

Anonymous said...

wasir ambeien bisa sembuh tanpa harus di operasi maupun injeksi cukup dengan obat wasir ambeien herbal ambeclear herbal de nature dari daun ungu serta mahkotadewa aman untuk ibu hamil

Unknown said...

Penyakit kencing nanah bisa disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor seperti seks bebas, penularan, virus hpv, lingkungan, gaya hidup dan lainnya, Maka dari itu kita harus waspada dengan penyakit kencing nanah ini, karena penyakit kencing nanah sangatlah berbahaya, Namun untuk anda yang menderita penyakit kencing nanah, maka anda tidak perlu khawatir,

Unknown said...

Berapa Harga untuk Obat Wasir Ambeien alami daun ungu AmbeclearAmbeien adalah gangguan atau penyakit yang terjadi pada saluran pencernaan manusia

Unknown said...

Bukan hanya pengobatan medis saja tapi ada juga pengobatan rumah alami yang dapat digunakan untuk menyingkirkan penyakit kutil kelamin ini. Intinya, karena kutil ini muncul di daerah yang sensitif, maka anda harus mencari pengobatan yang terbaik pada kulit Anda dan jika diperlukan juga dibantu dengan tenaga medis yang professional. Sebab dokter akan menjadi sumber informasi yang baik untuk mengobati penyakit ini.

Pengobatan Ambeien Wasir said...

facebook

ekstrakalam said...

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

pengobatan herbal

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Pengobatan Ambeien Wasir said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***

obar herbal manjur alami said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *******

Unknown said...

MANTAB * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **********

Unknown said...

Cara yang sering di lakukan untuk menghilangkan kutil kelamin adalah dengan cara pembedahah atau operasi, cara ini tentu memerlukan dana yang tidak sedikit. metode Pilihan pembedahan yang dapat Anda lakukan

Unknown said...

Kenali penyebab penyakit kencing bernanah sehingga cara mengobati
penyakit kencing nanah dan infeksi saluran kencing nanah dapat dilakukan
dengan benar.

Cara Mengobati Wasir Ambeien said...

MANTAB *

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillaahirrohmaanirrokhiim ???????????????????????????????????

Unknown said...

Kadang disertai
dengan sakit saat kencing, perih, organ intim terasa panas menyiksa,
gatal,..

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... *********************************

Unknown said...

Sekitar Vagina Tumbuh Daging, Berbahayakah? Kutil Pada Kepala Penis mirip bunga kol atau jengger ayam, Merupakan Penyakit Yang diakibatkan Oleh Virus.Kutil kelamin, atau disebut juga condyloma acuminata, adalah kutil atau daging berwarna kulit atau keabuan yang tumbuh di sekitar alat kelamin dan

obar herbal manjur alami said...

Bismillahirrohmannirrokhim ........................

Unknown said...

penyakit yang ditularkan melalui hubungan seks : vaginal, oral dan anal. Juga dapat menular melalui persentuhan kulit dengan daerah yang terinfeksi.

Unknown said...

Obat Ambeien Resep Dokter Ambeclear dari De Nature Ampuh Tuntaskan Ambeien Sampai Tuntas

Unknown said...

Ambeien bisa mengeluarkan darah(seperti invander salim yang terkena ambeien dan mengeluarkan darah)

Unknown said...

obat wasir, Adalah  Obat alami berkhasiat dalam bentuk kapsul yang berasal dari tanaman herbal seperti daun ungu, mahkota dewa dan kunyit putih, diberikan pada penderita jika penyakit masih dalam tingkatan stadium ringan

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... ***************************

obar herbal manjur alami said...

Bismillahhirrohmaanirrokhim.... ************************************

obar herbal manjur alami said...

???????????????????????????????????????

Unknown said...

???????????????????????????????

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

1111111111111111111111111

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

111111111111111111111

Obat Keputihan Herbal Alami said...

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Unknown said...

manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur manjur

kLINIK oBAT mANJUR said...

obat ambeien wasir paling manjur mengobati penyakit wasir ambeien tanpa efek samping terbuat dari bahan alami herbal seperti daun ungu mahkota dewa kunyit putih

wick geo said...

This was a fantastic article. BookMyEssay offers reliable Programming Assignment Help services, delivering expert assistance to students worldwide. They ensure high-quality solutions, timely delivery, and 24/7 customer support for programming assignments.