A Modest Proposal Indeed

Anne Thompson's Variety blog has a guest piece by former 25 year agent Nancy Nigrosh, who in Swiftian fashion takes the Hollywood writing/development process to task in what she calls her "parting shot."

"Why is it so ingrained in Hollywood that one person alone cannot write a producible screenplay?

The Writer's Guild Of America's 2007-8 strike was supposed to be about a bigger piece of the pie for the future distribution of a writer's produced work… the pie in the digital sky.

But the real truth is that the actual day –to- day script development process based on writer elimination has created the real strife. Historically this practice has led to the cyclical bloodletting every time the guild’s contract with the buyer /employer gang known as the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, expires. If something doesn't fundamentally change, there will be more strikes in the future, as each contract expires, creating a negative cycle of meltdown Hollywood and its doting mama, California, can ill afford."

The rest can be found here.

Thanks, Nancy. I agree with everything you say, and I'm sorry that your piece here is your swan song from the industry. While I don't want to turn my back on "Hollywood", I am devoting more time to building my own entertainment house and reaching my readers/viewers directly.

I won't be rewritten, unless I decide otherwise.

(and in the near future I am developing a way for us to collaborate)