The screen writer (June 1946-May 1947)

A N AMERICAN AUTHORS AUTHORITY boast is: “We don’t care what you writ¬ ers do. With what we got, we can hold out for twenty years, and if you can, that’s O.K. After that, we’ll have some collective bargaining.” In the long run this victory will be gained by the elimi¬ nation of outright sale of any material whatsoever. And there is also the imme¬ diate possibility to be explored that the present holdings of the studios can be made subject to the Authority through united action of the screen writers. This might take the form of announcing that, as of a certain date, they will not work on any material except that vyhose copy¬ right is owned by the Authority. Then, since to get a script done on one of these old properties, even a modernized re¬ write of a previous script, they have to employ a member of the guild, and to get him they have to get the copyright assigned, they are not sitting as pretty as they thought. 3. The Dramatists’ and the Authors’ Guilds, on new material, can offer their members the prospect of vigorous en¬ forcement of their rights, and the aboli¬ tion of vicious trade practices outlined in the main body of this article. On old material, as indicated above, the pos¬ sibilities for virtual recapture of long-lost properties are in no way remote. 4. The Radio Writers’ Guild, in a new, wild-cat field, can look forward to the creation of properties, by use of the copyright, that now go to the four winds or in wastebaskets. Also, by use of the copyrights, writers will own material now claimed by corporations for no reason except that they have lawyers. WHAT THE WRITER WILL GAIN: If it were only to keep track of his properties in an orderly way, and clear his deals on the basis of his records, the Authority would more than justify the writer in supporting it. For to the average writer producing novels, plays, skits, or whatever it is that he writes, his files are a jumble which even he can rarely be sure he is accurate about. His book Wine, Women, and Weehawken has been published and reprinted three times; it has been translated into Danish and Portuguese; it has been made the basis of a picture and has run serially in three newspapers. Does he own the radio rights? The French rights, or were these sold as part of the “foreign rights”? Were any of the reprint rights exclusive for a limited time? Does he still own the first serial rights? He doesn’t know, and would have to search ten contracts to find out. And the worst of it is that some of his reprint authorizations were given in the form of a letter, filed sep¬ arately, and he has to depend on his memory to be sure he has accounted for these various documents. To have all this data in orderly shape, to have it kept by experts who know ex¬ actly how to put their fingers on things, may mean thousands to his widow when he dies, for his estate will consist in the executor’s knowing whether he has the right to dispose of this or that property or not. But in addition to this service, the Authority will be fighting his battles for him, will relieve him of that vague, secret, but just the same sickening con¬ viction that he is a sap, that he is doing nothing on his own behalf, that he de¬ serves about what he gets. Once the Authority gets going, it may not win all its fights, but the writer will know, whether he is in pictures, radio, maga¬ zines, or on his own as novelist or play¬ wright, that the best fight that can be made is actually being made. WHAT THE AGENTS WILL GAIN: There is nothing in the plan, as con¬ sidered now, that in any way opposes the agents, unless fraud is involved, in which case no honest agent can object to vig¬ orous action on behalf of the victimized writer. Indeed, most of what is contemplated makes the agent’s work much easier, and 17