One of the more infuriating issues when
it comes to writers versus illustrator is the issue of writers paying
illustrators; specifically, that illustrators want to be paid right
now and writers usually want to work out a split profits deal.
Unfortunately, this is an area that will always be a bone of
contention. I foresee this problem even if we switched to a moneyless
situation a la Star Trek.
Part of the problem is that
illustrators feel, rightfully, that they deserve to be paid for
services rendered. Even at the most inexpensive, illustration is an
expensive art, especially in the digital age. A decent computer is
just a step or two below a decent gaming computer, and that can be an
expensive monster. The software isn't exactly cheap either, with
software packages running into the hundreds of dollars. This excludes
scanners and tablets on one end, and the cost for art supplies on the
other. There is also the issue of time spent, which can mean that
even a black & white comic with only two or three updates a week
can involves hours of work; multiply by huge factors if it is colored
digitally. With that huge of investment and time, it's hard not to
understand why someone would want some assurance of payment.
But...there is the writer's side as
well. Writers will always be the red-headed stepchild of the art
world; on one hand we are needed for any project to get off the
ground, but on the other we have the least respect of any profession.
Our skill is just considered too common. The problem is that people
do not understand there is a difference between being able to write,
and being able to write well, and that subtlety is generally lost on
people. There is a lot of skill required to make a decent script,
especially when it involves humor, science fiction, or a large cast
of characters, especially if it is to be done well. Because of this
almost total lack of respect for what we do it is hard not to get
some sort of Little Man Syndrome going.
It is also not allowed that writing a
script takes a lot more time than one would think. Before Word One
goes down, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of
research, character design, deciding on the plot, how the characters
will interact, so on and so forth. Attach a corporation to that
design process, and it gets worse, as you need to allow for the
corporation's needs and execs that want to put their fingerprints on
things. Putting this into perspective, a movie production lasts
fifteen months from the moment a producer orders a script made to
when the last edit has been okay; of that, writing the script alone
can take nine months. For television shows, production averages two
weeks, of which one week is just writing it. For comics, it usually
takes three or more months just to get the concepts right, and the
actual script can take another month to get right. There's a reason
most writers don't write more than two or three books a month.
However, because the writing produces so little, it's easy to argue
that it took very little time do.
The other big problem goes back to that
red-headed stepchild problem. When you start looking seriously at the
process, you start noticing some really weird things. The biggest of
these is that illustrators usually get hired; they answer an ad or
get called in, but there is an actual hiring process. That is, an
illustrator is given a project and is paid for his work on that. On
the other hand, writers most likely submitted a script, someone liked
it, and now they want to buy it, but the writer was lucky enough to
get a contract. In short, the writer had to put all of the effort
into writing a script, and THEN someone pays him IF he is lucky
enough. For the comics, movies, and book industries this is something
that works for them, and so is unlikely to change any time soon.
Put another way: Writers get used to
doing things on spec, and they have a problem seeing that others
simply don't. For even professional writers, this is just the way
things are done, mainly because it gives them the freedom to do what
they want even when they are doing something to get paid. This is
also unlikely to change any time soon; there are so many spec scripts
out there, companies know that they can get away with this process.
There are some exceptions, granted; Disney, for example, has a number
of writer programs where graduates get hired on. But...they are
exceptions, not the standard way of doing things. Crawling out of the
pit of anonymity is just the way writers make a name for themselves,
and it is unfortunately necessary to the process.
So...when a writer offers you a split
profit deal, don't get offended because you want to get paid. We get
that. We've just gotten so used to doing things on spec that it's
become second nature. So just politely refuse the script and go on
your way if it doesn't interest you. Unless it's another ship script
based on vampires; I'm not a lawyer, but I believe you can put those
people down without problem.
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