By Neville L. Johnson & Douglas L. Johnson[*]

Writing credits are vitally important to what the participating writer[1] is entitled to, both in terms of financial compensation and reputation in the industry at large. It is therefore necessary to understand and demystify the writing credit system for an attorney’s general practice and to instruct clients on what their options are. Further, attorneys must know what happens when a dispute arises and goes to arbitration, which is completely managed by the Writer’s Guild of America (“WGA”).[2]

Credits: Meaning and Compensation

Credits indicate what a writer’s contribution is to film or television productions. Credits serve to identify both creative inputs and financial compensation. Additionally, certain credits indicate what intellectual property rights or “separated rights” are still held by the contributing writer.[3]

Credit definitions for screen and television are stated in the Screen Credits Manual and the Television Credits Manual respectively.[4] Both manuals describe how a writer is subject to the WGA’s jurisdiction and the rules for credit determinations. In order for the WGA to assist in the crediting process, the guild requires that work be done by both a company which is a signatory to the Minimum Basic Agreement (“MBA”), and a “professional writer.” The writer must work for a WGA co-signatory company, or their work is optioned to a co-signatory company. However, not all guild members are deemed professional writers. This is where a savvy lawyer can negotiate a deal for the client so that a writer’s contract treats and compensates him or her as though they were a professional writer under the MBA. The effect of this is, of course, that the writer will be covered by the MBA and have access to the WGA’s arbitration process, should the need arise. An issue may arise in a case where a writer, not a member of the WGA, contracts with a non-signatory entity, that provides for a WGA credit arbitration if there is a subsequent need for a determination. In such case, lawyers for both sides need be mindful of the potential repercussion.

If a writer did work outside a WGA-covered agreement (e.g., a non-Guild writer brought in by a non-signatory producer), his/her contribution may be considered in terms of the arbiters’ evaluation of the script’s evolution — but the writer cannot be awarded onscreen credit through WGA arbitration.[5]

The critical determination is what credit the writer should receive. The questions that guide credit determination are how and when the writer contributed to the final shooting script. Two important distinctions are who wrote the “Story” and who wrote the “Screenplay” or “Teleplay,” depending on whether the project is for film or television. “Story,” as defined by the manuals, is the credit attributed to the writer for a contribution “distinct from screenplay and consisting of basic narrative, idea, theme or outline indicating character development and action,”[6] whereas, the “Screenplay” or “Teleplay” are the scenes, dialogue, continuity, scenario, and represent the substantial contributions to the final script. In sum, the “Story” comprises the main elements and themes, and the Screenplay or Teleplay is what is used during production. 

This paradigm works neatly when the material created is an original work, but if the inspiration is source material or other literary works this can complicate credit allocation. Usually, the credits will reflect this fact with a “Screen Story by” or “Television Story by” designation. A further complication occurs when there is collaboration with a team of writers and translating that collaboration into credit allocation. The difference between “&” and “and” is more complex than it might appear. The inclusion of “&” designates team collaboration, whereas use of the word “and” means that the writers did their work separately where one rewrote the other’s work. Percentage requirements are unique to theatrical releases where, as provided in the Screen Credits Manual for the Screenplay credit, the original writer has to contribute at least 33% towards the final shooting script, and subsequent writers thereafter have to contribute at least 50% to be considered for the Screenplay credit.[7]

Finally, should a writer create an original work, there is an opportunity for him/her to keep the separated rights for future works down the road. However, the separated rights can only be assigned when the work was created under the jurisdiction of the WGA, and the writer was granted the requisite credit that denotes an original work. Separated rights and their implications are covered extensively by the guild in their “Understanding Separated Rights” manual.[8] Separated rights in television productions are granted when the writer receives the “Created by” credit. “Created by” means that the writer was given the “Story by” or “Written by” credit for the pilot episode of the television series. Relatedly, the “Developed by” credit does not grant separated rights but can indicate either the writer’s eligibility for the “Created by” credit, receipt of “Teleplay by” on the pilot, or significant contribution in distinctiveness and viability of the series. As with any credit allocation, a timely objection will trigger arbitration to sort through any potential issues.  Credits are not only indicators of effort and ownership; they represent compensation markers as well. The WGA lists the Schedule of Minimums, updated in 2023, that covers the basic minimums a writer can receive on a project as outlined by the MBA.[9] The schedule details the set minimums for original versus non-original screenplays and treatments. Unsurprisingly, the higher the budget for production, the larger the compensation. Television presents further complexities, but generally higher compensation is granted to original teleplays and stories, creation of series bibles, along with rewrites and polishes.

The benefit of writing, and therefore receiving credit for, an original screenplay can be seen in how much a writer is entitled to in the minimums. To illustrate, a writer can expect at least $171,485 for an original screenplay and treatment in a high-budget theatrical production. Compare this to a writer receiving $45,691 for just the story or treatment in the same high-budget bracket. Furthermore, writers who only contribute to narration are subject to less, depending on whether there is existing material. All of this comes with the caveat that the higher the production budget, the higher the potential residual payments will be. Higher residuals on top of the gold standard for credits—receiving “story by”—means that a writer could end up earning a considerable compensation, but only if they receive the requisite credit.[10]

Further complications arise in television. Compensation scales vary with the length of the program, the budget, and the writer’s contribution. Additionally, compensation can vary depending on the type of production, where a high-budget ninety minute prime time television series will earn a writer significantly more ($66,108) than a comedy-variety program where the writer only contributed ninety minutes of material ($27,789).  This all assumes that the writer is creating the story and teleplay; writers who only contribute to narration are at the low end of compensation where they can expect numbers in the four-digit range and at best five digits depending on the length of the program. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out what the writer is being asked to do and whether this is a long-term commitment or a one-off, particularly in television.

Arbitration: Procedure and Pitfalls

Arbitration over the writing credits is triggered when a writer protests, or triggers automatically when the credit is shared between a production executive and a non-executive participating writer, when there is a team of three or more writers, or when “Screen/Television Story by” “Adapted by” or “Developed by” is proposed.

The Screen Credits Manual and the Television Credits Manual outline the arbitration process, timeline, and procedure. Regardless of the project, arbitration can be triggered when the Company sends out the Notice of Tentative Writing Credit, which they are obliged to do under the MBA. Normally, a writer can agree with the credit listed on the notice by doing nothing, or they can protest the writing credit, which starts the arbitration process. When the notice is sent out, the guild follows a strict timeline under their duty of fair representation. A writer has 12 business days, or 7 business days in an emergency, (7 business days, or 3 business days for television) to file a protest with the Company and the guild. Due to the strict timeline, it is important to make sure that your client’s address is up to date, or if you receive any notices for a writer, that you have an internal process in place to timely inform your client. The entire arbitration process lasts for 21 business days, so timing is crucial.

After the protest is filed and received, the WGA will form an arbitration committee that is made up of three members of the guild who are on the Screen/Television Arbiters List. Participating writers can see the list and can challenge the election of a “reasonable” number of the names to eventually serve on the committee. Once finalized, the committee members remain anonymous during the proceedings.

Literary materials, such as drafts, stories, or treatments, must be submitted to the arbitration staff so the committee can consider the participating writer’s contribution to the final shooting script, otherwise the committee will use what the Company provides. Additionally, the writer may submit a statement to the committee that gives the writer the chance to voice their opinion. This is their best opportunity, so the guild strongly recommends that this statement comes directly from the writer and avoid using third parties to prepare the statement. Further details and guidelines can be found in the manuals themselves,[11] and guild staff members will review the statements to ensure they comply with the guidelines as stated.

If there is a dispute as to the authenticity, identification, sequence, authorship or completeness of the literary materials considered for arbitration, the guild will form a special committee and hold a pre-arbitration hearing. This hearing is an opportunity for the writer to present testimony and other documentary evidence, and the special committee makes determinations on the literary materials before they are submitted to the arbitration committee.

Finally, the arbitration committee will review all materials and must come to a unanimous decision before announcing their decision. Writers may appeal this decision within 24 hours to the Policy Review Board. However, the Policy Review Board only determines whether there was a serious deviation from the policies and procedures of the guild. Otherwise, the decision will be final.

Arbitration is done by and for guild members and contains both benefits and challenges. The benefit is that the arbitrators are supposed experts in the evidentiary material they are assessing and understanding the impact of their decisions. The challenges are the perceived lack of due process to the arbitration system that could leave writers frustrated with the outcome. Indeed, there are a couple of cases in the Ninth Circuit where a writer brought suit against the WGA, or where the guild’s decision making was brought into question. The courts have been hesitant to question the decisions of the guild, either because the writer failed to bring up issues during the arbitration process,[12] or because the WGA had failed to commence arbitration proceedings before making a determination.[13] In Jacobs v. CBS Broadcasting Inc, the court overturned the WGA’s credit determination due to the informality of their investigation and determination. The plaintiffs, the producers and the writer, sued CBS over the rights to Final Edition where credit would be given to the plaintiffs if CBS used the literary work for a future project. However, when CBS developed Early Edition, a project sharing a similar premise to Final Edition, credit was not given to the original writer nor the producers. The WGA, instead of initiating arbitration, conducted an “informal” investigation where both sides merely provided the WGA with information in a clearly opaque proceeding. The court chastised the guild for the lack of due process in their “investigation” and reminded the guild that they should have conducted an extensive investigation and arbitration process in order to determine the correct credit, instead of the “insufficiently formal” proceeding which provided too few procedural safeguards.[14]

However, barring some glaring procedural defect, the courts will side with the guild’s procedure as long as those procedures follow their own policies of due process and procedural safeguards that align with its duty of fair representation.      

Make sure that your client holds onto drafts and diligently documents when those drafts were made. The best case to make to the committee members is the exact timeline of when and how your client contributed to the final shooting script, which will determine what credit they will receive. For example, there were  issues with The Last Samurai, where writers tried but failed to receive credit for their contributions. In Eddy v. Radar Pictures, the court sided with the WGA over the plaintiff by deferring to the WGA’s own process over whether the plaintiff’s script was the same as the one the eventually became The Last Samurai,despite the plaintiff’s concerns that the co-arbitrators were unfairly swayed.[15] Even when a plaintiff wrote a screenplay titled The Last Samurai,as in Benay v. Warner Bros, the court still sided with Warner Bros in part, as while the final shooting script was not attributed to the plaintiff, there were still remaining issues surrounding a breach of contract for the plaintiff’s work.[16] Critically, the plaintiff’s only remedy in Benay was the breach of contract since they otherwise failed in the arbitration process for writing credit.

In sum, know the rules and procedures of the WGA.

[*] Neville L. Johnson and Douglas L. Johnson are partners at Johnson & Johnson LLP in Beverly Hills, CA, specializing in media, entertainment, business and class action litigation. Felicia Grable, a third-year law student at the University of Southern California contributed to this article.

[1]The WGA Creen Credit Manual (2018) provides:  III.A – Definition of “Participating Writer: ”A “participating writer” is defined as a professional writer who has been employed by a Company on the story and/or screenplay, or who has sold or licensed literary material subject to the Minimum Basic Agreement (“MBA”). Credit arbitration is governed by the WGA’s Screen Credits Manual and the MBA.  Writers who have not been employed under the MBA or who have not sold or licensed literary material to a signatory Company under the MBA are not considered participating writers and are not entitled to participate in the determination of writing credits.

[2] WGA West: Based in Los Angeles, it primarily represents writers working in Hollywood (film, television, streaming, and digital media centered in California). WGA East: Based in New York, it represents writers working in New York and other eastern states. It also has a broader footprint in news, broadcast journalism, and digital media outlets (like HuffPost, Vox, Vice, etc.), which WGA West does not focus on as much.

Both guilds negotiate together under the same collective bargaining agreement with the studios and networks: the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). The MBA sets out minimum compensation, residuals, working conditions, pension & health contributions, etc. It applies equally to members of both WGAW and WGAE. The two guilds form the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for purposes of negotiation, and they jointly bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). WGAW has a stronger focus on Hollywood feature films and TV shows. WGAE: In addition to TV and film, it has expanded into organizing digital media and journalism outlets—so it represents a lot of writers outside traditional entertainment.

[3] Separated rights are derived from copyright that have been “separated” and conveyed to the writer. These rights differ between television and theatrical motion pictures. For theatrical separated rights, the writer receives rights for publication and dramatic stage works. “Publication” refers to the writer’s ability to publish the script or a book based on the script. “Dramatic stage rights” refers to a writer’s ability to produce a stage version of the material after two years following the general release of the motion picture. The writer is entitled to receive sequel payments, and the option for first rewrite. In television, the writer can receive either television rights or reserved rights. Television rights are split between the company and the writer, where the Company has a period of time to develop the material, and the writer shares a non-exclusive right to develop future works. Reserved rights include dramatic stage, theatrical, publication, merchandising, radio, live television, interactive, and all other rights. The company may negotiate with the writer to acquire some or all reserved rights. This is a complicated area and is explained at Understanding Separate Rights https://www.wga.org/contracts/know-your-rights/understanding-separated-rights (March 31, 2021).

[4] Writer’s Guild of America, Screen Credit Manual (2021), https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/credits/manuals/screenscredits_manual21.pdf; Writer’s Guild of America, Television Credit Manual (2010), https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/credits/manuals/tvcredits_manual20.pdf.

[5] The practical effect is that the arbiters can recognize that material from a non-WGA writer exists in the drafts. But if they conclude the non-WGA writer made the dominant contribution, the result may be that no credited WGA writer is found eligible — in that case, the company (not the WGA) decides how to handle it, and the non-WGA writer may end up with a non-WGA credit outside the arbitration (e.g., “Additional Writing by” or a negotiated acknowledgment), but not a WGA-recognized credit.

 In Lee Goldberg v. Boomtown Media Partners LLC, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. 22STCV23086, this scenario happened with the production company hiring a non-signatory writer, and subsequently hiring a WGA writer, and the first writer sought a WGA arbitration. The production company filed an action for the court to rule on credit allocation, which caused the WGA to intervene asserting it was the proper forum to make the determination, not the court. The production company argued that the subsequent writer worked off a source, a book, and did not utilize the original writer’s script. The matter ultimately settled with a WGA credit arbitration. The lesson: consider this eventuality when deal-making for a non-WGA writer, including contracting that there must be a WGA credit arbitration anytime there is a subsequent writer who is a WGA member, and the non-WGA member be admitted to the guild so that he/she can participate in the arbitration. Otherwise, the non-WGA writer may be left without a meaningful credit.

[6] The rules are as follows from the Screen Credits Manual.

III. GUILD POLICY ON CREDITS

A. RULES FOR DETERMINING CREDIT

Credit is determined by the material contributed to the final shooing script (as represented on the screen), rather than by the Arbitration Committee’s personal preference of one script over another.

1. “Written by”

“Written by” is used when the writer(s) is entitled to both the “Story by” credit and the “Screenplay by” credit.

This credit shall not be granted where there is source material of a story nature. However, biographical, newspaper, and other factual sources may not necessarily deprive the writer of such credit.

“Written by” credit generally will not be shared by more than two writers. In unusual cases, and solely as the result of arbitration, the names of three writers or the names of writers constituting three writing teams may be used. The limitation on the number of writers applies to all featurelength photoplays except episodic pictures and revues.

2. “Story by”

The term “story” means all writing covered by the provisions of the MBA representing a contribution “distinct from screenplay and consisting of basic narrative, idea, theme or outline indicating character development and action.”

“Distinct from screenplay” means that the contributions considered for story should not be applied to screenplay credit, nor should contributions considered for screenplay credit be applied to story credit.

Even though the Arbitration Committee at times receives only material in screenplay form, a screenplay document often encompasses story contributions distinct from screenplay contributions. It is up to the Arbitration Committee to examine a screenplay carefully with this in mind. A story may be written in story form or may be contained within other literary material, such as a treatment or a screenplay, for purposes of receiving “Story by” credit.

It is appropriate to award a “Story by” credit when: 1) the story was written under employment under Guild jurisdiction; 2) the story was purchased by a signatory company from a professional writer, as defined in the MBA; or 3) when the screenplay is based upon a sequel story written under the Guild’s jurisdiction. If the story is based upon source material of a story nature, see “Screen Story” below.

Story credit may not be shared by more than two writers.

Irreducible Shared Story Minimum: In the case of an original screenplay3, the first writer shall be entitled to no less than a shared story credit.

3. “Screen Story by”

If the writer is furnished source material of a story nature but takes from it only a springboard, a characterization, an incident, or some equally limited contribution, creating a substantially new and different story from the source material, the writer may receive “Screen Story by” credit, but only as the result of arbitration. In such cases, the author of the source material may be given credit that specifies the form in which such material was acquired — for instance, “From a Play by,” “From a Novel by,” “From a Saturday Evening Post Story by,” “From a Series of Articles by,” “Based on a Story by,” etc. There is no percentage requirement to receive this credit. “Screen Story” credit may not be shared by more than two writers.

4. “Screenplay by”

A screenplay consists of individual scenes and full dialogue, together with such prior treatment, basic adaptation, continuity, scenario, and dialogue as shall be used in, and represent substantial contributions to the final script.

a. Guidelines for the Arbiters in Determining Screenplay Credit

A “Screenplay by” credit is appropriate when there is source material of a story nature (with or without a “Screen Story” credit) or when the writer(s) entitled to “Story by” credit is different from the writer(s) entitled to “Screenplay by” credit.

Screen credit for screenplay will not be shared by more than two writers, except that in unusual cases, and solely as the result of arbitration, the names of three writers or the names of writers constituting three writing teams may be used. The limitation on the number of writers applies to all feature length photoplays except episodic pictures and revues.

[7] Writer’s Guild of America, Screen Credit Manual 15–16 (2021), https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/credits/manuals/screenscredits_manual21.pdf; Writer’s Guild of

[8] Writer’s Guild of America, Understanding Separated Rights (2021), https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/know_your_rights/SeparatedRights.pdf

[9] Writer’s Guild of America, Schedule of Minimums (2023), https://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/contracts/2023_Schedule_of_Minimums_Year_3.pdf

[10] See Residuals Suvival Guidehttps://www.wga.org/members/finances/residuals/residuals-survival-guide (March 2022)

[11] WGA, Screen Credit’s Manual, 8 (2021); WGA, Television Credit’s Manual, 10 (2010)

[12] Marino v. Writer’s Guild of America, 992 F.2d 1480, 1484 (9th Cir. 1993).

[13] Jacobs v. CBS Broadcasting Inc., 291 F.3d 1173, 1179 (9th Cir. 2002).

[14] Id. At 1180.  The court criticizes the “informal investigation: that did not take formal testimony from interested parties but engaged in “discussion, that there was no opportunity to cross-examine, nor was there a right to examine certain evidence, and there was a very limited judicial review.

[15] Eddy v. Radar Pictures, 215 Fed.Appx. 575, 578 (9th Cir. 2006). There was an assertion that a WGA official had falsely told an expert reader there was no “business continuity” between the two scripts. One issue in Eddy was whether there was a “business continuity” between two projects which necessitated a finding that the claimant was a participating writer. The court concluded that was one aspect to be considered in the determination, but that the two scripts had little similarity and the conclusion of the guild was not arbitrary and therefore there was no breach of the duty of fair representation.

[16] Benay v. Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc., 2012 WL 13071728 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2012)