And, of course, nobody sleeps with them. It's different in TV drama and sitcom writing, where writers are often on staff, work as a team, are treated with more respect, and have more input into the dramatic tale or comedic sketches that are ultimately shown on TV or cable. Because the WGA must represent both TV and film writers at the same time, it has tended to fail them both. That's a lot of money to those of us who don't rub elbows with the rich and famous. But writers do more than rub elbows.
Writers give the stars and directors the stories.
Without scripts, TV shows would have to be reality-based. Save us from that awful fate. It was a backhanded compliment to the terrifying job that faces the writer, who sits down to a blank screen to create a world from scratch that is later enjoyed by filmgoers, novel readers or TV audiences. A woman I know, Elizabeth Cosin, is a fine storyteller who wrote a novel that launched her out of poverty and into television writing. Yet she shares the anger that's grown since the 1988 strike, when the disorganized writers demanded dozens of concessions and made a lot of enemies.