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Unless you are one hundred percent attached to the project and involved in the set up of the deal and you're working daily with the producers and talking to them daily, there is the risk that you will be out of the loop when the deal is cut.
Just as you know if your girlfriend or wife is cheating on you, you know if your producer is cheating on you. Suddenly the phone calls stop. And you aren't invited to the daily meetings. While he used to call you five times a day, now he doesn't call at all. And when you call him he's vague or evasive or not there or tells that things are moving along.
Assume that if you're being excluded you're (at the moment) off the project. You may be brought back. In fact, you may be brought back on without even knowing you were off the project. If you are off the project, knowingly or otherwise, it may have nothing to do with the merit of your work. A new director wants his writer. Or one of the other producers wants his favorite writer on. Or they've lost faith in your freshness despite the fact that you've done eleven drafts in which you addressed all their "idea" good, bad, stupid or whatever.
It goes back to the fair haired boy theory. Somebody mew and fresh is always more appealing than somebody who's been around, despite the fact that the person has delivered the goods.
Bottom line: get everything in writing. If you have an agent she'll take care of that. If you don't, get a letter of agreement or contract of some sort spelling things out. They might be able to take your script away from you, but don't let them screw you out of a credit or money. And with the way Hollywood works, a credit is everything. Even a credit on a movie whose finished product isn't entirely yours or even all that good.
Everybody connected with the project will take credit for all the good stuff you did anyway. And if it tanks, they'll all blame you.
There's a good book protecting yourself called "The Writer Got Screwed But Didn't Have To."
Check it out. |
