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Highest-paid screenwriters

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[edit] Notes

The price given in trade papers for the sale of a screenplay reflects the overall total that the screenwriter could make from the deal rather than the amount he has actually been paid. The overall screenplay deal usually comprises:

  • Option: Money paid to a screenwriter (or novelist) reserving the right to purchase the screenplay during a set period of time: For example a producer pays a writer $100,000 and the writer cannot sell his screenplay to anyone else but the producer for 12 months. At the end of those 12 months, the producer can either let the option expire or pay an additional sum, say another $100,000 to reserve the rights for another 12 months. The price usually rises for the third year. The first sum is taken out of the purchase price, but subsequent payments are in addition to the purchase price. Usually, the full value of the option is paid once the screenplay goes into development. WGA minimum for options is 10% of the purchase price for 18 months. (So $6,000 to $10,000 based on WGA minimum purchase price.). Some producers will ask for a free option, but most writer's agents and managers will reject any offer less than $10,000. The value of the option reflects the “hotness” of the screenplay and the producer's eagerness to put it into development.
  • Guarantee: The minimum the writer will receive if the screenplay is produced. Usually includes price of rewrites, polishes and a producion bonus. Typically, a writer will be paid 40% of the guarantee for the first draft, 40% for the rewrite (second draft) and 20% for the polish (third draft). Alternatively, the writer may be paid 20% for an outline or treatment, then 40% each for the first two drafts. There are many variations. The guarantee reflects the value of the screenwriter's services as writer. An established writer working on an A-picture might receive a guarantee of $500,000, but the most valuable writers like Ron Bass can receive $2 million.
  • Bonus/Bonuses: The remainder of the deal is paid out only if certain conditions are met: if - and when - the screenplay is produced; if the original writer is still the only credited screenwriter; the film's budget exceeds a specified amount; the film's gross exceeds a specified amount, etc. The bonus makes up for any shortfall in the price of the screenplay if the option and guarantee are comparatively low. The bonus is normally not more than three times the value of the guarantee.

[edit] Definitions

  • Five figures/Scale: $60,000 for a screenplay without treatment, $100,000 for a screenplay with treatment. Minimum of approximately $4,000 a week.
  • Low-six figures: Approx: $250,000.
  • Mid-six figures: Approx: $500,000.
  • High-six figures: Approx: $750,000.
  • Low-seven figures: Approx $1 million.
  • Seven figures: Over $1 million.
  • Low-six figures against mid-six figures: Approx. $250,000 option/guarantee with a further $250,000 contingent, for a total of approx. $500,000.
  • Spec/Speculative screenplay: The conception of the screenplay, development of the story and writing and polishing of the first draft are done by the writer in his own time and at his own expense. First draft is shown to interested parties (agents, managers, producers) who may then option the screenplay while other elements such as a director and/or stars are sought. Once into development, the writer will be paid for any subsequent rewrites.
  • Pitch: Writer conceives idea for screenplay and partially develops story so that he can make a three- to eight-minute pitch to interested parties who may then option the story. If the story goes into development, writer will be paid to write the first draft and any subsequent rewrites.
  • Assignment: Writer - based on his work - is hired to write or rewrite a project he or she has not conceived but which has been assigned to them by producer. However a writer may still have to pitch his own original take on the project: For example, around 30 writers and writer teams were interviewed for the sequel to Romancing the Stone.

[edit] History of Screenwriters' Pay

  • 1900: The world's first screenwriter, New York journalist Roy McCardell, is hired to write ten scenarios (each about 90 seconds long) for $15 each (about $332 today[1]).
  • 1947: At the insitence of the star, Katherine Hepburn, the original screenplay Woman of the Year is bought by MGM for $100, 000 (about $950, 000 today).
  • 1949: Ben Hecht is paid $10, 000 a week[2] (about $77, 000 today). Claims David O. Selznick paid him $3, 500 a day (about $27, 000 today).
  • 1967: William Goldman's original screenplay Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is bought for $400, 000 (about $2.25 million today). Goldman originally intended to write it as a novel.
  • 1972: Leonard and Paul Schrader's spec script The Yakuza is sold for $350, 000 (about $1.6 million today). Paul Schrader and his agent receive 40% each; novelist Leonard Schrader, who conceived the idea for the story, is persuaded to take just 20% and a story credit.
  • 1985: Ex-fireman Gregory Widen sells his university thesis screenplay Highlander for $500, 000. It is heavily rewritten.
  • 1990: Kathy McWorter - a 28 year-old experienced screenwriter promoted by her agent as a 21 year-old wunderkind - sells her sex comedy The Cheese Stands Alone for $1 million. This was followed by nuclear-terrorist technothriller The Ultimatum by Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool and WWII action comedy Hell Bent... and Back! by Doug Richardson, both of which sold for a million dollars.
  • 1990: Brian Helgeland and Manny Coto sell their nuclear-armed robot spec The Ticking Man for $1.2 million when their agent placed an alarm clock in the envelope designed to go off during script meetings (a tactic that, post 9/11, would probably land you in jail).
  • 1990: Shane Black - who had sold the screenplay to Lethal Weapon for $250, 000 - is paid $1.75 million for The Last Boy Scout.
  • 1990: Joe Eszterhas sells erotic thriller Basic Instinct to Carolco for $3 million, but is replaced by Total Recall scribe Gary Goldman when he argues with director Paul Verhoeven over explicit content. Later brought back in but wanted to change main character's gender amidst accusations of homophobia.
  • 1994: After a bidding war, Shane Black is paid $4.5 million by New Line for the Bourne Identity-esque actioner The Long Kiss Goodnight.
  • 1999: M. Night Shyamalan - who received $2.5 million for breakout script The Sixth Sense - is paid $5 million for Unbreakable, plus another $5 million to produce and direct. Later receives same sum for Signs.
  • 2003: M. Night Shyamalan is paid $7.5 million for The Woods (The Village), but with a reduced fee of $3.21 million for producing and directing.
  • 2004: Peter Jackson is paid $20 million (or 20% of the gross, whichever is higher) to write, produce and direct King Kong. Jackson wrote the screenplay with his wife, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens.

[edit] Current records

The highest amounts paid for screenplays:

High but undisclosed:

  • Star Wars by George Lucas
    • Although he was only paid $50, 000 to write the screenplay, Lucas' 40% net profits as producer - including merchandising - made him hundreds of millions.
  • King Kong: by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, based on the story by Edgar Wallace
    • Peter Jackson was $20 million (or 20% of the gross, whichever is higher) to write, produce and direct King Kong.
  • Spider-Man: by David Koepp, based on the comic books
    • In addition to his usual guarantee and bonus, David Koepp was one of the 32 original writers who signed a deal with Sony offering them 2% of gross profits after the production budget and prints and advertising budget but before the distributor takes their cut. Given Spider-Man 's combined $189 million cost and its $821.7 million worldwide gross, Koepp would have made an estimated $12.7 million bonus. Other writers like John August (Big Fish) have had similar deals but none would have been as lucrative as Koepp's.

$7.5 million

  • The Woods (The Village) by M. Night Shyamalan
    • $7.2 million for story rights plus $300, 000 for '“all writer's services”; also $3 million producers fee, $221, 000 (DGA scale) for “all director's services” and percentage of gross[3].

$5.75 million:

  • Steinbeck's Point of View (unproduced) by Brandon Camp & Mike Thompson
    • $750,000 up front, plus $2 million after A-list stars became interested, and a $3 million production bonus. The story of a man trying to find a cure for his cancer, internet script critic “Darwin Mayflower” described it as “annoying and maudlin and outlandish and occasionally bizarre”[4].

$5 million:

  • Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan
  • Deja Vu by Terry Rossio & Bill Marsilii
    • $2 million guarantee plus $3 million bonus. Note: Highest price for a produced screenplay where writers do not also direct).
  • Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan
    • $4.7 million for story rights plus $300, 000 for '“all writer's services”; also $5 million for producing and directing and percentage of gross[5].
  • Foreplay (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas
    • $1 million up front, $4 million production bonus, 2.5% of box office sales and 1% of soundtrack sales) (biggest overall deal in Hollywood history.
  • Trapped (unproduced) by Joe Eszterhas
    • Potential deal.
  • The Unbound Captives (unproduced) by O.C. Humphrey (aka Madeline Stowe & Brian Benben)
  • Signs by M. Night Shyamalan
    • $4.7 million for story rights plus $300, 000 for '“all writer's services”; also $5 million for producing and directing and percentage of gross[7].

$4.5 million:

$4 million:

$3 million:

  • Basic Instinct by Joe Eszterhas
  • Medicine Man by Tom Schulman
    • Screenplay was rewritten by Tom Stoppard who shared screenplay credit.
  • The Ugly Americans (Eurotrip) by Alec Berg, David Mandel & Jeff Schaffer
    • This original screenplay was rewritten as a sequel to the 2000 movie Roadtrip. Three writers were still the only ones credited, though. The script price was about 12% of the $25 million production budget, one of the highest script/budget ratios.
  • Bad Dog (unproduced) by Dale Launer
    • Dale Launer alleges that Dreamworks bought this werewolf comedy for $3 million shortly before they produced their first film in order to show Hollywood that they were in business.
  • Married in the Morning (unproduced) by Harry Elfont & Deborah Kaplan
    • A romantic comedy.
  • The Pink Panther: by Steve Martin, based on screenplays by Michael Saltzman and Len Blum.
    • In addition to his $25 million acting fee, Martin asked for and received $3 million to rewrite the script, the highest ever for a rewrite.

$2.5 million:

$2.25 million:

  • Untitled Disney Family Comedy (unproduced) by Kevin Bisch
  • They Came From Upstairs (unproduced) by Mark Burton
    • Originally taken out as a pitch, writer wrote screenplay speculatively and sold it.
  • You, Me and Dupree by Mike LeSieur
  • The Break-Up by Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Garelick & Jay Lavender
    • Vince Vaughn was also paid $12.5 million to star.
  • The Gemini Man (unproduced) by Jonathan Hensleigh, based on the screenplay by Darren Lempke
    • Hensleigh was paid $2.25 million to do a page-one rewrite of Darren Lempke high-concept spy-fi thriller about an ageing assassin being stalked by his younger clone. Project has yet to be produced due to high cost of special effects.

$2 million:

$1.8 million:

  • RPM (unproduced) by J.H. Wyman
  • Stay by David Benioff

Unspecificed:

  • Untitled Western Script by Bruce McKenna
    • Writer has been offered “high-seven figures”. Ridley Scott is attached to direct.

Source: hollywoodlitsales.com [9]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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