I was reading Newsweek today and came upon a 527 article discussing who is funding these shadow groups.
One of the people funding Moveon.org was Daniel O’Keefe, listed as a “onetime Seinfeld writer and Kerry fundraiser.” He contributed $100,000 within three days of an “emergency” call by Moveon.org.
Now, the article is unclear as to whether he personally wrote the check or acted as a “bundler”, collecting many individual checks.
IMDb lists only a writing credit for Married With Children for O’Keefe ,but it raised the question in my mind as to how much a sitcom writer makes.
If he is a fundraiser, he likely has some funds of his own.
How much would a writer be paid writing for a show like Sienfeld. I have always heard that sitcom writers make far less than one would imagine, even on a superstar show like Seinfeld.
Any ideas? What are the royalty rights for when the show goes into syndication?
Could a sitcom writer of a hit show have that kind of money?
What would a Seinfeld writer (not Larry David, just a guy who wrote an episode or two) make per episode?
Well, there was that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George were offered $13,000 (total, not each) to write the “Jerry” sitcom. Considering how realistic (at least by television’s standards) the show was, I’d say that’s probably a general ballpark. WAG, though.
Here’s a link to a more complete overview of O’Keefe’s work. He was a producer (all sorts of producer) on the “The Drew Carey Show” from 1998-2004, a job which I imagine pays well, at least on top of the writing money. He’s written a lot for Carey’s show, more than for “Seinfeld” or any of the other shows he’s worked on.
Look at the last table. In 2002, the highest 25% of writers reported more than $217,000. The highest 5% reported more than $567,000.
O’Keefe would certainly be in the top 25% and probably in the top 5%.
He’s not just a writer, avccording to ZeroGyro’s link, but also a high level producer, which would probably give him a five-figure weekly salary.
Just as a writer, however, he would earn additional money for each episode he wrote, plus residuals.
Obviously, experienced writers make more than beginners and I don’t know what O’Keefe got. However, the Minimum Business Agreement of the Writers Guild lists $19,603 as the minimum payment for Story and Treatment for a Network Prime Time show.