Is it too early to declare that The Office is revolutionary? On more than one occasion have I listened to industry professionals declare emphatically that the sitcom is dead. Yet, here’s a show that has reinvented the art form, first in the British series, and now in the (I’m officially willing to say) even better American version.

The last several installments have been consistently excellent (I still laugh when I think of Michael putting an ‘X’ on his date’s arm), and tonight’s episode managed to move several characters and many of the relationships in fantastic new directions. I am in awe.

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I was out this weekend with a small group.  One of our number is a producer for a straight-to-DVD production company.  Upon learning that I am a writer, he enthusiastically invited me to give him a call some time, as his group needed writers, and they had several projects they wanted to make happen.

OK, I thought.  Finally a break from knowing someone who knows someone.  To prepare myself for a meeting with this fellow, I consulted with some friends who had written or been offered similar deals: non-union writing on assignment for a project that producers never intend for screen distribution.  The consensus was that if the movie budget is about $1 million, the writer could expect about $20K.

This is not an amazing amount of money for writing a quality screenplay, but neither is it pocket change.  In my head, I was already imagining paying some bills, and finally buying a car in which my friends aren’t embarrassed and/or scared to ride.

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