Writing Film

Olivia Hetreed introduces new Draft Screenwriters' Guidelines from the Writers' Guild.

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has produced Draft Guidelines for screenwriters and anyone who works with them, to be discussed at the third Screenwriting Festival July 1st-3rd 2008.

The WGGB Film Committee has been working on the guidelines for the last year and consulting widely in the industry to produce a document which both reflects the reality of working as a screenwriter in the UK and also aspires to a better situation.

The Guidelines set out in straightforward language the functions, obligations and rights of all involved in getting a script from idea through to feature film.

After the first section on good working practice, the second part outlines the various contracts in use and the meaning of all those mystifying legal terms.

The Film Committee believes that the writer should be acknowledged as central to the film throughout the process. They also believe that writers are better off not moaning about their hard lot in the bar but rolling up their sleeves and engaging with the tough practicalities of making a film.

The proposed Joint Venture Agreement puts this equality into concrete contractual form. As the guidelines explain, a Joint Venture is a way for writer, producer and director to work together to bring off a project, sharing in the risks and rewards, rather than falling into employer/employee roles, which do not reflect the creative or economic situation.

The Guild often receives complaints from members that they have been encouraged to sign contracts for no money; have inadvertently given away all their rights; have been unjustly denied credit, or that a so-called producer has no idea or intention of actually producing their screenplay. Meanwhile hard-pressed producers wring their hands in despair at the money spent on development with writers who are unable to take notes or keep to schedules.

Confusion, naivety and optimism can lead writers to take on trust what they should put in contracts and to promise what they cannot deliver: the end result, mutual frustration and unhappiness. The solution: WGGB Guidelines.

There will be a session on Behaving Well at the Screenwriting Festival and the Draft Guidelines will be freely circulated throughout the Festival for comment by attendees.

The Guild will then take on any feedback and incorporate it into a booklet, to be published later in the year and on the Writers Guild website.

Olivia Hetreed is Chair of the Guild's Film Committee

Article published: 30.06.08