A discussion should occur in which these and many other questions are discussed and clear agreements reached about their answers. Marketing requires significant effort and will involve expenses. All of these questions must be thoroughly explored and answered. Writing credit should reflect who writes what, and breaks down into story and screenplay. The Basic Agreement sets out pay scales and schedules for literary works for the screen, which specify the minimums a signatory Producer must pay writers for their wares.
Feature material is organized separately from material written for radio or television.
A principal distinction is made between writing credits for story and for screenplay such that a screenplay's writing credits can be broken down into two sets of credits, one for story and one for the screenplay. If there is more than one writer in either category on a particular work, they split the share in accordance with an agreement they make. Writers who collaborate on a screenplay must decide in advance how they will share the writing credit. To do this, they must decide on a writing plan for the project that describes who is going to write what, for credit derives directly from who writes what. This is necessary to avoid conflicts that can arise when there is no plan or agreement.