We answered 13 questions by Daniel Barkeley on yesterday’s podcast, but he wrote in asking for clarification on one issue:
We’ve established that the “written by” gets 100% of the residual, the “screenplay or teleplay by” gets 75% of the residual and “story by” gets 25% of the residual. But what happens when multiple writers are attached to a single credit?
For instance The Hangover Part 2 has three writers with the “written by” credit. How is that 100% residual divided between you three? Is it always equal, or is there some attempt made to compensate for varying levels of involvement in the project?
If two writers share a credit slot (like screenplay), that portion of residuals is split squarely between them. For example, let’s look at Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. I got sole story credit; I shared screenplay credit with The Wibberleys (a team, so they count as one writer).
My share of residuals equals 25% (story) + half of 75% (screenplay) for a total of 62.5%.
The Wibbs get half of 75% (screenplay), which gives them 37.5%.
If you add that up, 62.5 plus 37.5 equals 100 percent of residuals. Yay, math!