Union chief claims writers are paid single fee of £1,000 to produce potential scripts for soaps such as EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty

The BBC is paying writers working on potential scripts for soaps such as EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty as little as the equivalent of £2 an hour, according to the head of the writers’ union.

Bernie Corbett, the general secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, has written a letter to BBC director general Tony Hall calling for scriptwriters on so-called “shadow schemes” for long-running TV series to be paid the minimum wage.

Writers working on these schemes are paid a single script fee of £1,000 and are required to produce up to three drafts of a trial script over a three-month period, according to Corbett. There is no guarantee of a commission at the end of the scheme.

Corbett said that the rate of pay works out at about £2.38 an hour; the national minimum wage is £6.70, the London living wage is £9.15.

He said that the WGGB has repeatedly raised the issue in meetings with BBC executives but there had been “no progress”.

“This is an issue of corporate citizenship,” said Corbett in the letter to the corporation. “As a public corporation the BBC has social responsibilities. Paying writers below any recognised acceptable, or indeed legal, minimums is a breach of those responsibilities.”

The WGGB is asking for the shadow scheme fee to be increased to £2,814.

“We are acutely aware of the financial pressures on the BBC,” said Corbett. “But our suggestion is only just over half the minimum fee that would be paid to the writer of a normal half-hour episode.”

A BBC spokesman disputed the figures cited by the WGGB and said the shadow schemes had been helpful for writers looking to work on BBC shows.

“We’re proud of our work training and supporting writers through these schemes which have been successful in helping writers to secure commissions on our shows,” said a BBC spokeman.



“We don’t accept the figures cited in the letter but we had already scheduled to meet the the Writers’ Guild at the end of this month for a further discussion about how these schemes operate and we will discuss the issues they raise then.”

Corbett said that the shadow scheme system has been beset by problems since it replaced the drama writers’ academy in 2013.

The academy, set up in 2005, allowed writers to undertake a 12-week training period with an “attendance fee” of about £4,000.

If a writer passed the trial period they were guaranteed a commission and paid at professional rates for the next 12 months.