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Writers

An official National Theatre Wales group

Writers who want to be part of National Theatre Wales, share ideas, get feedback from each other, and hear about opportunities

Members: 481
Latest Activity: Jan 30, 2023

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Discussion Forum

Looking for Welsh Playwrights for Scratch Night in London.

Started by CHIPPY LANE PRODUCTIONS LTD. Aug 7, 2016.

Collaborators Needed! 2 Replies

Started by Camille Naylor. Last reply by sean donovan Dec 1, 2015.

Looking for a writer to collaborate on an idea. 2 Replies

Started by Caley Powell. Last reply by Catrin Fflur Huws Mar 3, 2015.

NTW Dramaturgy Project - Beginnings

Started by Richard Hurford Oct 20, 2014.

ONiiiT: The Power of Words

Started by Sophie Chei Hickson Aug 21, 2014.

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Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 23:31
I understand that there's a sliding rate for radio. It's just the fact that what works out at £2 a minute is ridiculous.
Comment by Kaite O'Reilly on December 8, 2011 at 22:54

Re-BBC radio drama: They have sliding rates for how much air time you've had - new to radio dramatists get a lower fee per minute. Follow the link to see exactly what's what

http://www.writersguild.org.uk/news-a-features/radio/196-minimum-fe...

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 22:50
What about a per minute standard rate a la radio?
Comment by Lisa Parry on December 8, 2011 at 22:46

Hi Roger, 

They don't. I was really surprised, but I went over it three or four times and I was told that would be the figure as it would be the writers' amount from the box divided and that figure should be taken as the recommended commissioning fee. It was definitely that fee we were talking about. Obviously, if it was just one play the fee would be much higher but given short plays are so prevalent now, I really do think this is an area the Guild should look at. It's really hard to argue the case with the arts council for more money without that union back-up. 

Lisa.

Comment by Roger Williams on December 8, 2011 at 22:39
Hi Lisa

If the plays already existed the £30 would be a royalty for performance of course, NOT a commissioning fee.

Roger
Comment by Lisa Parry on December 8, 2011 at 21:52

Hey - bit late to this, but thought I'd throw this into the mix.

I'm currently organising the launch show for a new theatre company. We have 14 new short plays. When I worked out the projected box turnover etc, spoke to the writer's guild etc, the recommended amount of payment to each writer was just under £30 per play (each play being about 15 minutes). Bear in mind, I'd be paying the actors/directors the ITC rate of just under £400 per week when a writer would (off an on) be working on the piece for much much longer.

We all felt this was completely unacceptable and I argued the case with ACW and we lobbied to pay the writers much much more than the union-advised rate - to put them on a par or above the directors/actors. We won the argument and the budget is obviously now proving much more difficult to manage than it otherwise would have done, but we all agreed that this was so very important. I was pretty staggered by the Guild's figure. To be honest, I've had a lot of experiences like Brad's re short plays and I think it's an area they should really look at but I didn't get the impression there was much of a will to address it. ACE advised me to just pay 'the recommended rate' too. If it wasn't for ACW support, I think they'd have questioned it.  

Comment by Roger Williams on December 8, 2011 at 14:03

MINIMUM TERMS AGREEMENTS

Theatre companies in receipt of public subsidy should all be members of either the Independent Theatre Council, the Theatre Managers' Association, the TNC (National Theatre, Royal Court, RSC), Federation of Scottish Theatres etc.

The Writers' Guild has negotiated MINIMUM TERMS AGREEMENTS with all these organisations except the Federation of Scottish Theatres.  (The recognised body in Scotland for minimum terms agreements is the Scottish Society of Playwrights and there are historic reasons for this.)  While our deals offer MINIMUM TERMS RATES, a company is free to pay whatever it wants to a playwright for a play above and beyond the minimum.  (This is the negotiation most writers enter into whether it be through an agent or not.)  In reality however, MOST writers are paid the minimum.  If you want to know what the minimum terms are you can find them all at: http://www.writersguild.org.uk/about-us/rates-agreements

While the Guild's agreement with the TNC (National Theatre/Royal Court/RSC) guarantees a minimum of £10,600 to a writer the average cost of a commission for a new full length play by other companies is about £7,600.  The Guild AND the Scottish Society have a JOINT agreement with the TMA.

As I said, it's not a straightforward situation.

The Guild fields queries DAILY from our members about their rights, and we hear horror stories about writers being ripped off by disreputable producers/companies in ALL media.  The benefit of belonging to a union like the Guild of course is that we offer free advice, legal services etc. to writers who are getting a bad deal.

Writers will often be asked to work for NOTHING.  Especially if the company has no (or little) funding.  Sometimes a writer may choose to work for nothing simply to get a platform for their work.  It's your choice to enter into an agreement.  But subsidised companies are bound by the terms of their umbrella's organisation's agreement with the Guild and should (and do in my experience) pay the going rate.

As far as I know the Scottish Society deal with the Federation of Scottish Theatres offers a minimum of £8,200.  But that deal was made in 2009.  I haven't heard any news of an uplift to £12,000 yet.  I think they also ratify new agreements at their AGM which I believe is held in the summer.

It wouldn't surprise me however if National Theatre of Scotland had increased the rate for their commissions as many national theatres pay above the going rate because of their 'national status'.  I would imagine if the Society had agreed such a deal however they'd be crowing loudly about it.  As they should.  It would be a great deal.  Higher than fees in London.

If you want to join the Writers' Guild you can do so here:

http://www.writersguild.org.uk/join-the-guild/full-membership

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 12:44
Comment by Brad Birch on December 8, 2011 at 12:33

Thanks, guys. Really helpful. I suppose I was being a bit  offhand with the blacklist comment. But there definitely feels as though there's an attitude of 'taking it on the chin'. It's a lot like the internship culture, I suppose. It would be a shame if we were getting to the point where those that are writing all the time are only those that are from backgrounds that can afford non-paid work for a long time - maybe informing what will be my comment to the politics question you posed before, John.

No doubt it's been like this for an awfully long time, but that doesn't mean it can't be addressed now. I don't expect recompense for every piece of work I make - but I think there's a gap between what my agent deals with (i.e. contracted work) and showcase nights that don't offer anything, and there's murky waters there. I can't express enough that the amount of good experiences I've had completely outweighs the bad, but I guess there's a few of us here who have experienced where showcase nights have been put on for the good of the writing and the event, and showcase nights that have been completely exploitative. The fear of mine is the idea that, in the current climate, there's the potential to see more and more exploitative events. We need organisations like the Scottish Writers' Union more than ever.

Comment by Manon Eames on December 8, 2011 at 12:06

Brad - Writers Guild have helped me enormously over contracts and fine print many many times over the years - contact Roger Williams and the Welsh Committee of WG in Wales. 

 

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