Writers in general have a hard time getting their fare share for what they do. This is especially true in the movie business. People that write screenplays are often forgotten because people mostly concentrate on the person that brings that story to life; the director.
As we all know, without director, movies would never be made. What a lot of people keep forgetting is that without writers, movies couldn't get made either. I still find it hard to believe that writers aren't getting enough recognition.
Movie bosses buy the scripts. They buy the scripts pretty cheap too. I remember that writer Shane Black, who wrote movies like the lethal weapon series, sold his scripts for the last Boy Scout for 1.75 million dollar back in 1990. That movie made over 150 million dollars at the box office. When it comes to famous directors, they can make as much as 10-20 million per picture not including box office percentages.
When I see a director win an academy award for best picture, I assume that the writer will win best screen play no? It doesn't seem to be like that. I don't understand how a director who made a movie out of a screenplay can get more honours than the writer himself.
One question that deserves an answer is does directing a story deserve more credit than writing one? When I write a story I can already see images of what is happening as I write. I am pretty sure that it is the same way for other writers too. Directors on the other hand, already have the story in hand. They just need to shoot it. Often this happens without the director consulting with the writer to see how he envisioned the story. When no consulting is done, when the movies comes out you usually hear the writer saying that this wasn't his vision or certain scenes he didn't like and so on.
In closing, writers deserve our respect as much as directors or actors. Utopia will come when I will see a writer being on the same pedestal as others in the movie business.
