Are all of the WGA writers rich, like the AMPTP says?
About 50% of members do not earn any money from writing in a given year. Of those writers who do make some money, one quarter earn less than $37,700 a year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary of working scriptwriters is $44,350 — a more important and revealing figure than the media’s frequent statement that the average Hollywood writer makes $200,000. (The median yearly income of all WGA writers, including those unemployed, is closer to $5,000 a year.) The Guild itself provides writers’ earning figures, and the L.A. Times ran a sidebar that shows their income in context with production costs and other earners. Most writers are middle-class, working to make their rent or mortgage, concerned about rising healthcare costs, and trying to save for their older, and likely less productive years.
