As reported by just about every site in my blawglines (Pulp 2.0, for instance), Marvel Studios is apparently going to start up a writing program – a one year deal to develop new talent for Marvel movies. But check out the quote about the terms:
“Among other things, the contract gives Marvel ownership over everything the writers create during the one year term of [the] deal, plus a first look and last refusal to any and all projects the writers have previously written or will write for 24 months in the future.”
I’ve heard this complaint coming out of the Marvel factory – about their draconian terms on artists who create and maintain their domination in the comic book world. Maybe getting a real start is worth this kind of deal. I guess if the money they pay for that year allows you to live somewhat comfortably, it could be. On the other hand – you have to come to them with EVERYTHING for the next two years? Couldn’t they control their competition to an extent that way? And thereby arbitrarily wreck you? Would other studios want to deal with you if they knew Marvel had this control over your work? I wonder.
What do you think?
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Yeah, yeah, Marvel and blah, blah, but, dude, were you gonna approve my spit on the Watchmen, or was it the D word that kept that one from getting spit out?
I think I done smelt doody like this before…and it done stink!
Sweet movies! Lawdy lawd almighty!
I think in the Variety article it compared the salary to that of Disney’s writer program, which pays $50k a year, but said that Marvel’s could go up to as high as $100k.
I think the language of those terms is probably more severe sounding than it actually is. All they’re saying is that get first look of your previous work, which is actually kind of great if you’ve got a drawer full of scripts lying around that nobody else has been willing to take a look at. The future work for 24 months is a little ridiculous, but I think the bottom line here is that this is Marvel – unless you’re coming up with ideas on the side for non-Marvel superhero movies they’re probably not going to care. Ideally, they would keep you busy enough during the year that you’d spend all your time developing their projects anyway and if it’s got their characters in it then obviously they own it.
If it’s $50k a year it seems really lowball to me, unless they’re giving you at least three/four times that in a production bonus if your script gets made. If it’s $100k guaranteed then that could be a pretty fun year with a solid steady check.
Yeah, $100k would be good… and even $50k if you were a kid, that wouldn’t be so bad. And I suppose the idea is that you go to work for them when the year is up. But it just seems like you’d have a cloud over you for two years after that. I’ll be interested to see what comes out of it though…