Writers’ compensation, especially for TV writers, can appear to be convoluted and confusing. The simplest breakdown for television writers is to divide their work into weekly pay (weeklies) and episodic pay (episodic). Many television writers fall into both categories. TV writers’ pay is divided into two main components – a weekly fee for staff writers and story editors/ executive story editors, and an episodic fee for writers of individual episodes.

The former is naturally more stable for the duration of a TV series while the latter is less predictable especially if an episodic writer is not on staff.

The Writers Guild Of America (WGA) has set a Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA), often referred to as “scale” or more simply, a “minimum.” So, when discussing writers’ salaries, the WGA often reports the proportion of writers working “at scale” compared to those working “overscale.” The term “overscale,” as its name suggests, is a bonus system for writers’ showing exceptional writing talent and experience – a talent premium, if you will.

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Writers’ are being financially squeezed like many creatives across all levels in their careers. The WGA reported that around 50% writers of TV series are currently paid at scale – up from 33% a decade ago. This decline in real pay isn’t restricted to rank and file TV writers. The number of showrunners working at scale is up over 20% compared to a decade ago. It follows a pattern of more work for less pay.

The streaming boom has increased the number of working writers by around 30% over the last decade, but their pay is slipping behind – reportedly by as much as 23% accounting for inflation. It’s a matter of a shrinking pie needing to feed more mouths. The pie allocated to writers’ salaries is shrinking in the face of record profits.

During the heady days of near exclusive broadcast television, a TV writer would be hired to write 20 – 24 episodes per season and therefore be consistently employed for up to ten months a year in a writers’ room with a consistent weekly pay check. Streamers are increasingly favoring “limited series” which comprise 6 – 10 episodes, so pay checks are organically shrinking in size and frequency. Some TV writers may only be paid for a few months a year and expected to survive on that for the whole year.

TV writers on a streaming series theoretically work for 24 weeks on a 10 episode series according to the 2.4 weeks per episode rule. This number is reduced to 14 weeks if there is a mini-room or if the showrunners start working on a series before it’s formally greenlit – the insidious pre-greenlit room which doesn’t actually guarantee a season order. Writers in such pre-greenlit mini-rooms are often paid at scale. Moreover, studios egregiously argue that fewer writers are subsequently required in the writers’ room after a series order since a substantial amount of work has already been completed.

These factors, along with reduced residual payment models, has made it more difficult for writers to have a viable creative career. The WGA has sought to address this issue via span protection.

Span Protection As A Remedy

Th pay dilution has been of particular concern to the WGA and its members in light of the streaming boom. In 2017, the WGA set a limit of 2.4 hours work per episode of television via its MBA. The qualifying threshold for span protection is calculated by multiplying the total number of episodes by 2.4. Any work above that must be compensated by dividing the weekly episodic rate by 2.4 and adding it to the weekly pay.

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“Writing work” has become a contentious label of late, since discussions, research, pitching, brainstorming, and other ancillary writing activities have been increasingly dismissed by employers as “non-writing activities.” Writers, and especially showrunners, are increasingly asked to perform non-core writing tasks without fair (if any) compensation as writers’ room durations shrink and production schedules fluctuate.

To further exacerbate matters, there are caps and exceptions to span protections.

The 2017 MBA negotiated the following terms to qualify for span protection:

• Writer/ producer (at least at co-producer level)
• Writer working on a season of up to 12 episodes or fewer on broadcast television or 14 episodes or fewer on basic or premium cable/ streaming

Writers of closed end TV shows, specials, non-season comedies, and one-off variety shows don’t have span protection. Writers who don’t qualify for span protection must try to negotiate higher weekly fees themselves.

There are also earnings caps which determine eligibility for span protection. Currently, they’re set at $450k for premium cable and broadcast TV writers and $375k for basic cable. These caps only apply to episodic fees, not weeklies. The WGA is seeking to raise these thresholds during its current negotiations with the Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The WGA is pushing for a minimum of one writer per episode for series up to six episodes and one writer per two episodes thereafter, up to twelve episodes up to a maximum of twelve writers. They are also pushing for “development room” pay to counter pre-greenlit and mini-room abuse and extend span protections for all television writers. Time will tell how these negotiations with the AMPTP will play out.