Need some quick advice. I'm in talks with a producer (our call got interrupted and she's calling me back later) about hiring me to rewrite another writer's treatment for a project she and her producing partner have shopped to a major studio that's very interested but wants to see a treatment. What's the protocol here? If I write a treatment the studio likes, shouldn't I be offered at least a crack at a first draft of the script? Or what about a "story by" credit. Anybody know? Paging Regina Lee.
Screenwriting : Payment for a treatment by Richard Willett
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Hey Richard, I answered your PM without first reading this post. 1) Are the producers hiring you themselves (paying out of their pockets), or asking the studio to hire you? 2) Has the studio already bought/optioned the other writer's treatment? 3) Have you already read the existing treatment? (Depending on the situation, I might tell you not to read it.) 4) Who owns the original idea - the producers or the other writer?
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Is this an "Open Writing Assignment" at the studio, or are the producers asking you to rewrite/write a Treatment that they hope they can sell to the studio?
Just got off the phone with the producer (she's an independent) and we really hit it off. If this doesn't fly she says she wants to read other scripts of mine because she definitely wants to work with me. So that's good. Yes, it's her assignment which she hopes to sell to another producer (not a studio, it turns out, though she does have a day job at Sony). She will be paying me (probably deferred) out of her own pocket, and she actually doesn't want me to read the other writer's treatment because she really didn't like it. The story is based on true events. I'm not sure the central character has officially signed over life rights, but she has met extensively with and said she definitely wants to work with this producer. Thanks again for you time, Regina. I truly appreciate it.