Or Tricks

The big news down here is that the city of Los Angeles has imposed an income tax on home businesses, going as far as making the tax retroactive three years. From Variety: "Home business owners have to pay a $25 registration fee and a minimum tax of between $50 and $118. In subsequent years, businesses must pay an additional tax per $1,000 of gross receipts."

It comes out to another 0.6%. On top of federal taxes (31%) and state taxes (9%) and a sales tax (7+%). If you're a successful screenwriter, you're already incorporated and paying corporation tax. Plus 10% of gross to your agent, 10-15% of gross to your manager, 5% to your lawyer, and 1.5% to the Guild. On a sale of $1,000,000 this would leave a screenwriter with about $1.50.

This is nuts.

This is a penalty tax. You work at home? You don't commute? Fine, we're going to charge you a fee.

What's going to happen is, screenwriters hit by this are going to move to areas incorporated outside the city of Los Angeles (Santa Monica, Burbank, Culver City...) and if they live in LA are going to deduct everything as a business expense, just the way real businesses do.

This is probably not what the city intended. Again from Variety: "According to Gary Mendoza, deputy mayor for economic development, the issue is reflective of a city tax code which hasn't kept pace with an economy dominated by the entertainment industry."

Anyhow, I'm calling my councilperson in the morning. And Mayor Richard "I'm good for business" Riordan.

The other day at school it was announced that as part of the Graduate Screenwriting Program, students returning for the second year would have to show a completed full-length script at the end of summer, before they'd be allowed to begin classes in the fall.

I told Darin I was very annoyed by this.

"Don't you want to get a script done?" he asked.

"Of course I do," I said. I'd even like to get a bad rough first draft done in time for the contests coming up. "But why are they announcing it on April 15?" Evidently, some students knew back in January, but no official announcement was made until this week.

"Yes, but you're going to have a screenplay done, so what does it matter?"

"That's not the point."

On all of the literature we got about the Graduate Screenwriting Program, it says that we are required to complete one (1) feature-length screenplay as part of this program. If they're going to change the rules, could they inform all of us at the same time, please? I don't mind having more than one script, the more scripts the better (except where the City of Los Angeles figures in)...I'd just like to know more than 3 months ahead of time when they're due.