A compelling pitch is key to selling a show, which is why screenwriters put so much effort into preparing one. Now they want to get paid for it—and increasingly they are. In a trend that began after the pandemic and continued after the strike, many screenwriters are earning between $5,000 and $25,000 to develop a pitch for a series.

Traditionally, production companies and studios sign “if come” contracts with writers on a project, which guarantee them a script fee, usually in the low six figures, paid only if the project sells. Writers spend time preparing what they call “development material” that they use during pitch meetings to better present their vision for the series and find a buyer. If that doesn’t happen, they don’t get paid.

This wasn’t a big problem during the golden age of television, when the five networks together ordered 100 pilots a year and bought scripts many times that amount, nor during the subsequent era of Peak TV, when 500 to 600 scripts were being produced at any one time. There were always buyers looking for content, giving writers and studios plenty of options.

That changed after the pandemic. And as Hollywood’s downturn accelerated after the strike, it has become extremely difficult to sell a show, making preparing a pitch a risky endeavor.

“Everyone is feeling so depressed about the situation right now; I’ve never seen anything like it,” said a veteran TV executive turned producer about the current state of the TV business. “Other than Netflix doing its thing, nobody is really buying much.”

Fewer scripts sold have led writers to put more work into their pitches to make them stand out and increase their chances of success. And with fewer contracts overall and harder to find staff, while the number of original series produced in the U.S. declines post-Peak TV, there are many writers who have to make a living with a house, car, and private school tuition and are no longer willing to invest a lot of time for free developing pitches. So their agents started charging development fees.

“Pitches sometimes require as much work as writing an outline for a screenplay or writing a full screenplay. If a writer takes the time and puts in the work, they should have something to show for it,” said one agent. “We call it jewelry insurance.”

The problem is further exacerbated by the proliferation of so-called “bake-offs,” where sometimes three or more writers develop proposals for a series based on the same idea/intellectual property before settling on one of them.

“Writers still work for free, and it gets boring,” said one executive. While free rewrites and other unpaid work are more common on feature films – something the WGA resists in contract negotiations – free work is widely frowned upon on television, which is probably why the demand for development fees has gained so much traction.

Smaller production companies and independent studios such as Fifth Season, Skydance TV, A24 and A+E Studios have been among the early adopters, as they have fewer opportunities to attract renowned writers while at the same time having more flexibility in creative contracting.

The major studios, which have more leverage as sellers and rely on large volumes where development fees add up, are less receptive to the trend. Such payments for developing pitches are considered rare exceptions. Still, at least one major studio is known to have paid writers $10,000 in development fees. Observers believe others will follow suit.

Sometimes the development money a writer receives is credited toward the screenplay fee if the project is sold. There is some controversy over this, too: Agents demand that the development fee be reported separately, and studios push for it to be credited as an advance toward the screenplay fee if the project is sold. Because a production company pays writers to work on pitches, the company owns the development material that is created, even if the pitch doesn’t find a buyer.

Literary agents who can no longer charge a package fee for their sold projects also get a share. It’s not a lot, but the development fee business has created a new source of income for the agents who hire them.

One piece of good news for writers, given the lack of pitch sales and studios pulling back on their contracts overall, is that screenplay prices have been rising, with premium screenplays selling for $300,000 to $400,000. We’ve also seen the rise of what some call “super blinds”: blind script deals for high-profile writers that can bring in $400,000 to $500,000 or even more. Employed by top streamers like Netflix, they’re essentially a blank check designed to entice high-profile writers to write something new without a concrete idea behind it.

That’s still cheaper than an overall deal that pays an established showrunner $1.5 million to $2 million per year and yields 1 to 2 scripts. Traditional studios and streamers are backing away from expensive overall deals in favor of cheaper – and less restrictive for talent – first-look contracts. Premium script deals – $300,000 to $350,000 for comedies, $400,000 to $450,000 for dramas – are seen as another financially advantageous alternative to overall deals for top talent.

Ironically, the rise of overall contracts over the past decade has artificially depressed script fees for veteran writers on overall contracts to around $150,000 to $200,000, because those fees are applied to the contract amount. When the combined fees for script, episodes, and other work under a contract exceed the total amount, studios have to fork over new money, which they have previously avoided by charging less for script fees.

While the number of contracts overall is declining, the screenwriting market has now normalized and, from what I hear, experienced writers regularly receive fees of over $200,000.

Because screenplay royalties are not guaranteed in “if come” contracts, some production companies and studios will add a premium to sweeten the deal for writers rather than paying up front. If the script sells, the writers will receive that amount, regardless of the sale price.

Ultimately, development fees are one of many “innovative ways” people approach the business, but they won’t change anything, one agent stressed. “Development fees aren’t a living; they’re not a substitute for selling a script or getting a job as an employee. They’re just a placeholder.”

The fees are also a validation of the writers’ self-esteem and a way for studios to show they value the work that goes into the pitches, the person added.

Another representative said, “This way, the authors get some money in their pockets and they get an incentive so they have more of a stake in the thing.”