The average TV writer is doing good to sell 2-3 scripts per year; a lot
don't get that many. Some get more. But even there you run the risk of
selling only the outline (about half the money), or being rewritten, which --
if the other writer adds his or her name to your own, usually a staff person --
you lose 50% of your residuals in perpetuity. Which is why on B5 you'll
never see more than one writer's name on a script; we don't arbitrate, don't
jump credits. Ditto for when I was on Murder, She Wrote, and (pardon the
expression) Jake. I've accepted shared credit on freelance scripts by other
people maybe a total of six times out of over 350 scripts that I've story
edited or produced. I don't think it's appropriate to dip into a freelancer's
money, and have only done so under *extremely* unusual or specific
circumstances.

To answer your question about my situation, yes, I get both writing and
producing fees, which under WGA rules are separate and distinct entities. I
get a script fee, same amount as any freelancer, and a per-episode salary.
(And btw, to further illustrate the differences between network and
syndication, my salary as executive producer of the B5 series is LESS than
what I was earning as a basic producer on Murder, She Wrote.) Having created
the series, I get a small creator's royalty as well on each episode. Over the
last nine years, I have had an average of 13 TV scripts produced each year, a
little over one per month, for a total of roughly 120 or so produced scripts.
(This doesn't count the scripts written but not produced.) And, obviously,
this varies depending on the season; in some cases, such as recently, I wrote
4 scripts in just a tick over four weeks; but during the spring hiatus, when
we're obviously not in production on the series, that drops (though I did
write one two hour pilot over the last break).

It's been a fairly interesting career so far....

jms