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Comment by meredydd barker on December 13, 2011 at 0:20

http://www.myjobsearch.com/careers/playwright.html

There's nothing in the above that doesn't chime. Also the photograph is of Fin Kennedy who, as much as any playwright, understands the current climate.

http://www.finkennedy.co.uk

Comment by meredydd barker on December 12, 2011 at 9:38

Nobody does, not from playwrighting alone. That's my guess. You might have a good year, but that's not the same as making a living.

Comment by Sam Burns on December 12, 2011 at 9:38

Having recently submitted one commission and being in a state of limbo regarding another (first draft in; awaiting the brush off/go ahead to write a second), all my current projects are on spec - one redraft (third draft, as it goes) of a full length play for a theatre that wants to consider the piece in question for a future season (but no commission and no promise of anything concrete) and some short film scripts for a director who may or may not have a use for them. I'm at a 'must get my name out there' stage and I don't feel I can say no if I ever want to get beyond that ... and where's the money anyway? But it can't go on forever ... I'm financially dependent on my parents again in my early thirties, having lost my job earlier this year, and I've only a few months' grace before I have to pack in this attempt to make playwriting work as a career and return to the job centre. Though obviously I'm going to stretch those months as far as I possibly can.

Comment by Roger Williams on December 12, 2011 at 2:22

The issue of membership subs is a perennial one at meetings of the Guild's EC.  It would be fair to say we'd all like the cost of joining to be lower, but with a membership of under 2,000 it's extremely difficult to balance the books if we drop the price.  Students pay £30, candidate members pay £100 and full members pay a minimum of £180.  Members with an income above £15,000 from writing are meant to pay 1.2% of their total income, but we know that many don't declare it.

Our total income last year was just over £300,000.  From this money we pay four members of staff, run an office in London which is literally one room in Clerkenwell, pay the utility bills, council tax, travelling expenses for members attending committees from outside London, affiliations to writers organisations around the world, legal fees for members who need a contract to be vetted, run a website, produce a magazine etc etc.  It's really tough, and some years we wonder whether we can keep going.

Dropping the membership fee would in theory encourage more members to join, but the gamble of course is that we wouldn't encourage enough to keep going with our core activities.  After all, there are many writers who don't want to join a trade union and many others who are told by their agents not to.  We try therefore to keep the membership as low as possible and the membership rates are approved by members at the AGM every year.

I personally feel £180 is a good deal.  This isn't a biased view because I'm an officer of the organisation, but a realistic one.  Membership gives you access to free services that - unfortunately - many writers need.  If you haven't got an agent (or even if you have in some cases) and want free legal advice on a contract, you can pick up the phone and get it.  If you want to start an arbitration with a film producer over a credit or the rewriting of your work, you can get it at no cost to yourself.  For writers who use such services, you can be saved thousands of pounds.

Personally, I'm a member of the Guild's pension scheme which was negotiated to ensure broadcasters make employers' contributions to the writers who work for them.  It's an extremely valuable - and fundamental - scheme for those who work in TV and join it.  It was the Guild who put me in touch with an agent when I was worried I was being screwed over by a producer.  The agent went on to rewrite my contract and get me a fair deal.  It led the fight when Lee Hall felt he was being censored by Opera North and has worked hard to fight the BBC's new licence fee settlement.  Issues that all are very close to my heart personally and  I'm proud to say I'm a member of an organisation that's made a stand in these areas.

On a final note, your membership fee, whether it be £100 , £180 or £800 for the high earning writers, is a tax deductible expense.  Compared to membership of Bafta etc. I think it's not a bad deal at all.  We're not perfect, but we exist to fight the corner for writers in the area of industrial relations and I can't think of another organisation that does that.

Comment by Gary Owen on December 12, 2011 at 1:24

Med - I think you're right.  Working with funded theatres, the contract is either a TMA one or an ITC one, depending on the size of the theatre, I believe.  The terms are more or less set by agreement between those bodies and the WGGB/PMA.  If you want to check you're getting what you should, the terms are set out on the WGGB website.  

Comment by meredydd barker on December 12, 2011 at 0:59

ta Tim

Comment by Tim Price on December 12, 2011 at 0:51

Here's how they did it in Scotland:

http://www.scottishsocietyofplaywrights.co.uk/history.html

Comment by meredydd barker on December 12, 2011 at 0:18

I think the comparison between Equity and The WG is to some extent erroneous. I can only talk from experience but there seems to be a belligerent edge to Equity that can at times be rather disturbing. This is probably down to the weight of numbers; there are more actors than there are writers so there's a greater potential for militancy; and I think there's more than one collective noun for actors. I can't think of one for playwrights. There's a very well known Welsh actor who has been pilloried rather nastily by his acting colleagues throughout his career for not being a member of Equity. That's wrong. I just wonder if Equity is the right model. Writers have more in common with piano tuners. Their association has no idea how many there are in Britain. As Tim says

Only writers would want an organisation to represent them but not be a member.

I'm afraid that's the way we are. I wish it were different.

If as a playwright you've been commissioned by a theatre the contract is invariably the TMA agreement. Am I the only one to wonder why I've paid my agent a percentage to look over what is to all intents and purposes a generic document? Yes, that's a TMA agreement that'll be £350 (sic) please. Another major lump to The WG and I'm way down there in the dumps. I'm grateful to The WG for negotiating that for me, but £190 is a lot of money.

Comment by Gary Owen on December 11, 2011 at 23:53

Regarding the Writers' Guild America strike - my understanding is that in the States, almost all professional writers are members of the guild, and that when the guild says strike, people do.  Suddenly massive corporations face having no content to sell advertising space with - because that's what it boils down to, for them.  In the unlikely event that WGGB called a strike, and the even more unlikely evet that its members obeyed the call (and effectively fired themselves from their jobs by failing to deliver on time), the only result would be non-unionised writers suddenly getting a lot more work. 

Something else worth remembering - American writers struck over DVD residuals.  UK writers already enjoy better terms on DVD residuals than our American colleagues thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of WGGB and the PMA. 

All writers benefit from the efforts of the WGGB, as all writers enjoy the protection of minimum terms it negotiates, whether they are WGGB members or not.  There is some irony, I think, in writers who haven't joined their own union complaining about the poor conditions they have to put up with. 

Having said that, WGGB membership isn't cheap - I wince every March when renewal comes up.  I don't know exactly what the terms of candidate membership, but I wonder if there's a case for having a very cheap membership - say £50 a year - for writers who earn less than some figure, say £10,000 a year, from writing.  It seems a bit harsh to expect writers who are not fully professional - in the sense that they don't earn a living from their writing - to pay the full fee.

Comment by Lisa Parry on December 9, 2011 at 9:33

Hi Roger, can you add me as a friend on here so I can message you or email me at lisa@lisaparry.com so I can email you some questions re the Guild? Really want a detailed chat about a few things Guild-related but it's quite specific, so probably not worth boring everyone with! Cheers. 

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