FJ and G
A book I'm reading by Syd Field says that agents typically get 10%. The book was published in 1995. Is this still true? And if so, is there a way to bypass these agents?
Frankly, I'm suspicious of your #2. Only 100 movies and TV shows made each year? Most hour dramas do 22 to 24 episodes a year - that number (100) would be reached with only 5 or 6 shows. Where did you find this number? It seem really low to me.OK, I'm new to all of this screenwriting business so here's what I've found out in the last couple of days.
1. # of scripts registered w/WGA on an avg year: 18,000
2. # of scripts made into a movie or TV show per year: 100
3. Say you make 3% of the proceeds of a $100,000 film, that's $3,000
4. Agent's cut is 10% so that leaves you $2,700.
5. Taxes, of course: $1,800
6. Misc expenses like registering it, copy fees, postage, etc are $100 so $1,700
7. If you produce 2 or 3 of these "hit" screenplays a year, I'm guess that you'd be eligible for food stamps