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THE STORY MARKET
There have been many rumors that the story market has gone to pieces. The facts would seem to bear this out. From July 1st 1947 to July 1st 1948, 94 pieces of unpublished material were purchased— -52^2 % of the total; and 85 pieces of published material — 47>4%, making 179 stories purchased in all. In the two and a half year period from January 1st 1945 to July 1st 1947, 147 pieces of unpublished material were bought — 33.4% of the total, as against 283 published pieces — 66.6% of the total.
On the surface this would appear to indicate that there is a larger interest in stories written directly for the screen. It must be pointed out, in all honesty, that the real trend is that the number of story purchases has gone down considerably, that the originals that have been bought are at lower prices and for budget pictures.
For your information there is printed in this issue an article from the Publishers' Weekly which has bearing on these facts.
THE CASE AGAINST THE STUDIOS
Thurman Arnold reports that the case will be heard in the New York courts on September 14th, and the producers are asking that the case be dismissed. They have engaged Samuel Rosenman to represent them.
To date $12,764.00 has been contributed to the fund toward Judge Arnold's fee and an additional $1,960.00 has been pledged, including the promised contribution of the Dramatists' Guild.
TELEVISION COMMITTEE
Oscar Hammerstein II appointed a twelve-man committee on each coast, representing the four guilds (Radio Writers' Guild, Dramatists' Guild, Authors' Guild, and Screen Writers' Guild) to develop a plan for writers of television. The most important question to be determined is whether a Television Guild representing League members writing directly for television should be set up. The League has taken the position that its members should license material for television rather than sell it outright and should grant rights for only one performance, but specific conditions for writers in television, rates, etc., have not yet been agreed upon; proposal that a certain minimum against a percentage of the producers' gross be the basis of payment has been suggested. Other possibilities discussed have been a percentage of the cost of the program, or one related to air time. Guild Board has been primarily interested in protecting Guild's minimum and established conditions in relation to writers employed in the production of films which may be used for Television. (Dwight Tayor, Emmet Lavery, and Jack Roberts are Guild's representatives on A.L.A. Committee.)
ECONOMIC PROGRAM COMMITTEE
This is also called the MINIMUM BASIC AGREEMENT COMMITTEE. Ernest Pascal is Chairman. A preliminary draft of a proposed agreement has been completed by the Committee. A few special provisions are still under consideration by the Committee which is composed of twenty-six members of the Guild and which has been divided into sub-committees on the Budget Field (Matt Webster, Chairman), Licensing, (Everett Freeman, Chair
The Screen Writer, September, 1948 17