Unit 24 Assignment 1 - Prep Script

1. HOW DO YOU BECOME A WRITER & WHATS IT LIKE TO WORK AS ONE?

A career as a writer doesn’t have to mean an entirely solitary life. Instead of sitting alone at a desk, drinking mass amounts of coffee, and scraping your mind for material, you could choose to huddle in a conference room with other writers in an effort to burst the boundaries of one human brain. And also drink mass amounts of coffee.

• Take classes.
• Enroll in a degree-granting program. 
• Invest in some reference books.
• Read other scripts/Actively watch TV from a writer’s perspective. If you’re lucky or skilled enough to dig up an actual script of your favorite show on the Internet, dive in and study it. If not, when you’re watching your favorite shows, ask questions: What is happening? How is it being conveyed?

2. WHAT IS A STAFF WRITER?

• Work in tandem with the lead editors and writers on the blog
•  Research and write quality posts on a daily basis
• Edit content as needed
• Establish connections with industry leaders for research, interviews, and quotes

3. WHAT IS THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS, HOW DO YOU GET AN IDEA 'COMMISSIONED'?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/how-we-work/how-we-commission.shtml


4. WHY DO YOU NEED AN AGENT AND WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF SOME SCRIPTWRITER AGENTS?

An agent is needed to find you work, a good agent should be able to hook you up with some bigger names that you probably wouldn't be able to get in touch with by yourself. Cynthia Whitcomb is quite a respected script writer agent and even holds her own classes.

5. HOW DOES A SCRIPT GET CHOSEN?

When a script is chosen there is a time that happens where errors can be addressed. This so called the option period. During this the option agreement is written giving rights to the written script to the production company that invested into the said script. Then a purchase price is made in the form of a contract or document.

6. HOW DOES A SCRIPT WRITER GET PAID?

A script writer gets paid weekly contracted for a certain number of episodes. The writers guild association that makes minimum payments the writer MUST be given.

7. WHAT LEGAL ISSUES DO YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT AS A WRITER? (PLAGIARISM/LIBEL?)

Plagiarism is a big legal issue which basically means taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own. And copyright, writers have to beware they don't accidentally steal other people's ideas and claim they came up with it when there could be a similar idea knocking around by someone else that could have it copyrighted. People could also mistake your work and you could have them done form copyright 

8. WHAT EXAMPLES ARE THERE OF LEGAL ACTION INVOLVING SCRIPTWRITERS OF TV AND FILM?

The show new girl is notoriously in the limelight at the moment. A woman is suing the writers of new girl for stealing the idea from their own show script. The case says that the writer of new girl Holly Harter looked at the script and told the writers it'd work better as a film. 

9.WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE SOME OF THE HIGH POINTS AND LOW POINTS OF WORKING AS A 
WRITER FOR TV OR FILM?

The positives Andy negatives working as a to writer are so vast. Positives are obviously seeing your ideas and thoughts come to life. You'd get to meet allot of respected figures and celebrities, the pay is obviously good for a job you enjoy. And I really can't think of many negatives apart from maybe spending allot of time on a project and getting it rejected! That must be a real motivation killer.