Category: Press Release

Hey, we didn’t write this – not all of it anyway

The WGA West Collected $30,000,000 in delinquent Writer Payments Last Year

deadbea2

by TVWriter™ Press Service

The WGAW wants us to know that during the past year it collected over $30 million in unpaid residuals, royalties, et al owed to TV and film writers. Lionsgate had to cough up the most – almost $400,000 in settlement money, and certain Old Media Monoliths were close behind:

  1. Lionsgate – $385,000
  2. 2oth Century Fox Films – $300,000
  3. Walt Disney – $170,000
  4. NBC Studios – $130,000
  5. ABC TV – $116,000
  6. MGM/UA – $69,000
  7. Paramount – $58,000
  8. Warner Brothers – $48,000
  9. Universal City Studios – $19,000

The rest of the mumsers consisted of over a hundred smaller production companies. And in addition to residual and royalties, much of the $30 mil came from unpaid initial compensation, unpaid pension and health plan contributions, credits violations, and interest on the whole shebang. read article

TV’s Showrunner Crisis: Many Projects Struggle to Find Experienced Writing Producers

Interesting article. So is LB’s comment at the end:

by Nellie Andreeva
via Team TVWriter™ News Service via TVBizwire via Deadline

john shibaThe search for experienced showrunners around the end of the development season is becoming “an annual tradition,” writes Nellie Andreeva at Deadline.com, with increasing numbers of newly picked-up series “in need of a seasoned showrunner every year.”

As an example, with NBC ordering four pilots to series on Wednesday, two of them — “Allegiance” and “State of Affairs” — don’t have showrunners. read article

Judd Apatow’s Ancient SIMPSONS Episode to be On in the Fall

simpsons-450by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

Judd Apatow’s episode of animated comedy “The Simpsons” will finally be broadcast 24 years after the writer/director submitted his script to TV bosses.

Apatow, the brains behind hit movies “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” wrote speculative scripts and sent them to TV production companies as he attempted to break into the industry as a writer.

He submitted a script to “The Simpsons” in 1990, during the first season of the long-running animated sitcom, which began broadcasting in December, 1989. read article

It’s WGA Minimum Basic Agreement Voting Time!

And here’s what the Guild is saying to its members:

WGA 2014 Voting Message CapturePass it on, Bruthas & Sistahs!
(Oh, and yep, LB has already voted – such a good boy!)

The 73rd Annual Peabody Awards Have Been Announced

peabodyawardsTVWriter.Net

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

And there are zillions of winners.

Well, not really. It just seems that way. But know what? We actually agree with many more of the choices than we ever thought we would. Especially BORGEN.

Cases in point: read article