• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 11, 2008

Write this question: Is 2% of the gross for some Internet video better than $125,000 of a TV pilot that goes nowhere?

Right now, writers are hoping that the Internet will be big -- because producers will be looking at cutting back on the other part of a long-time gravy train: the pilots.

If writers approve the tentative deal to end the strike, TV producers will give up something they said they never would -- a percentage of their new-media/digital revenues -- 2% of all new-media revenues three years from now.  

That would come three years into a proposed deal the TV and film producers make with the writers. Is this fair, a pittance, or extraordinarily good? Previously TV and film producers offered a flat rate deal -- something that was almost instantly nixed by the writers.  One doesn't know exactly where digital video is headed --but a percentage of anything is probably good news.

A percentage is what writers have always wanted when it comes to digitally distributed video and TV series. Two percent of $2,000 is one thing; 2% of $200,000, quite another. The writers-producers deal is seemingly similar to the directors' agreement -- $1,334 a year the first couple of years, and, according to some reports, a percentage afterward.

In theory, writers will get a better deal -- around $1,400 a year for each segment for the first two years, and 2% after that.

On the surface the writers' union gave up two growing pieces of business to their percentage deal -- jurisdiction over animation and reality shows. So when you see those high-rated digital video episodes of "American Idol" or "The Simpsons" on Fox, or "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC, on the networks' respective Web sites, you'll know that not one dime goes to any writers.

But writers should hold off on victory celebrations:  The TV networks no longer want to shell out $150 million for 25 to 30 or so pilots, of which just a few are turned into series. For each pilot a TV writer could get $75,000 to $125,000. That, in itself, was enough to make a living.
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All that now changes, as writers are betting the odds are with them. They would tell you the percentages say so.