Thread by @krudell

Quick 🧵 about free work, which is a WGA issue with studios but *also* with our reps. Here’s a very typical example: my (former) agents once asked me to meet with a performer who was attached to a studio reboot of a high profile show. He needed to partner with a showrunner.

“It’s basically already sold,” my agents assured me. “A few weeks to develop it, then take it out. Apple and Netflix are already asking for it.”

But it wasn’t a few weeks. The performer kept getting schedule conflicts, which kept pushing our window to take out a pitch. They also became increasingly problematic, pulling their romantic partner into our meetings as a “creative muse.” “Don’t worry,” my agents kept saying.

“It’s basically already sold. Apple just asked about it today! Once you set it up the performer will be too busy to be a pain in the ass and their partner will be out of your way.”

I ended up doing six months of development. Broke two seasons’ of stories. The morning we finally practice pitched to the studio the performer told me they’d been going over the pitch with their partner, and the two of them decided the partner should lead off instead of me.

I told them that wasn’t going to happen. So we went in, I started us off…then disassociated as the performer and their partner (not a performer) improv’d scenes from our proposed pilot to some awkward chuckles and confused questions from the studio president.

After we’d finished, a few of the execs asked to take me to lunch and said “If it’s any consolation, we all see what’s happening and we’re sorry.” Then they told me:

“You’re the second writer who’s tried to develop this. The last one quit.”

A week later, the studio fired the performer from the project. Because all my work had been done with them, it was unusable. So I was done, too. Six months of work, chasing an “already sold” project.

I asked my agents what compensation they could get me from the studio, since I’d done all that work and—significantly, to me—had never been told their history with the performer. Some kind of “Thanks for the effort, sorry we wasted your time” check.

“Mm, they’re not going to pay you anything. I mean, unless you’re on a deal development is free, right? But they said they’d love to hear a pitch from you anytime.”

My wasted time hadn’t cost my agents anything, so they’d been happy to loan it out.

Look, some spec work is part of our business, but it’s grown into a larger part because our representatives offer it up and/or push us into it. It makes agents’ and managers’ jobs easier while devaluing their clients. #WGAStrong

Addendum: I later signed with a manager and told him this story. He was appalled: “I would’ve gotten you paid for that.” Then he encouraged me to do months of free work on a book adaptation for an author who then decided they didn’t want to adapt that book yet.