What expenses do professional screenwriters have?
Well, all of us have agents. Agents take 10% right off the top, everything we make. Many of us also have lawyers and they help negotiate the contract because the devil is in the details. They take 5%. And then many of us also have managers, they take 10%. Yikes, is there anything left for me?
Many high-level writers and that is me, are incorporated. So when we take a job, we’re not working as ourselves, we’re working as our company, and this allows us certain tax advantages. So research is a legitimate write-off. Let’s say I was going to write a script about a hot dog vendor, and I wanted to know what that was like, I could write off the tickets to a football game, as long as I watch the hot dog vendor and take notes and kind of follow him around. That’s a legitimate tax write-off. Also, my cable bill and my streaming bill. That’s a legitimate tax write-off because I need to watch the shows on air and the movies. I need to know what’s going on, especially during staffing season. I need to know what’s out there so I can get work. Computers, paper, and stuff like that, always a tax write-off.
So for more on what it’s like to be a professional screenwriter, you can follow me here, subscribe, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, follow all that stuff, or on Instagram, @MichaelJaminWriter.
