Today’s lesson is on inequality. Let’s talk compensation in Hollywood.

While I have previously stated that the writer’s in Hollywood are well-paid (the ones who are actually working anyway) and I stand by that, I would now like to flip this coin to tails and inspect the other side.

As someone who writes regularly for no pay at all, other than the perk of personal gratification, I do sometimes envy the pay of Hollywood writers. Here is the schedule of WGA minimums that was ineffective prior to the current strike.

WGA rates

So, what do we know from this contract?

A screenplay sold to a WGA signatory is worth a minimum of $56,500 for the writer.

A television show of 30 minutes or less (all sitcoms) earns a writer $15,031.

A television show of 60 minutes or less (all dramas and just about everything else on TV) earns a writer $20,278.

The pay for the TV shows listed here is based on just the teleplay. It does not include coming up with the story. Then, the pay is higher.

Now, as a writer, as of yet unpaid for her genius works, these numbers look damn good. However, here is where the system fails. Badly.

The minimum pay above for the screenplay of $56,500 is for a film with a budget under 5 million dollars. 5 million dollars? And all that they can come up with to pay the writer is a little over 50 grand?

For a film with a budget over 5 million, $106,070 is the minimum pay. Wow, nice chunk of change, unless you consider the fact that this includes films with a 300 million dollar budget. On a film like this, the leading actor, the Tom Cruise, the Will Smith, the Harrison Ford, gets paid 20 million dollars. The writer could make as little as $106,070. So what?, you say. Of course, the actors get paid big money. They bring in the audience. And you are right. Except, of course, for the fact that without the writers, there would be no freakin’ movie. Without the writers, these actors would just stand on screen doing nothing.

For the television shows, same issue. In comparison to the budget, the writers’ pay is, how shall I say?, paltry. When Everybody Loves Raymond went off the air, Ray Romano was making $1.8 million dollars per episode. The writers who toiled away behind the scenes, giving Ray Romano those funny words to say, could have been making as little as $15,031.

Looking at these numbers gives a perfect indication of the writers’ role as serfs in the Hollywood system. Point being? Maybe the WGA is striking for the wrong reasons.