The Writers’ Deal Hub

Span Guide: Protecting Overscale Pay for TV Writer-Producers

(Updated May 2025)

Since 2017, the MBA’s span provision has protected overscale pay for many writer-producers working on short order episodic series. The provision defends against the erosion of overscale pay that can occur as writing and production schedules extend over long periods of time, by limiting the period of time covered by a writer-producer’s episodic fee to 2.4 weeks of work. If a writer-producer works longer than 2.4 weeks, multiplied by the number of episodes (e.g., 24 weeks for a 10-episode order), additional compensation is due.

It is important to consider whether your employment qualifies for span protection. More details are given below about what’s excluded.

Writer-Producers Covered:

  • Article 14 writer-producers (co-producer level and higher)
  • A writer whose deal provides for a payment per episode (“episodic fee”)
  • A writer working on a broadcast series with a full season order of 12 or fewer episodes
  • A writer working on a basic cable, pay TV, high budget SVOD (HBSVOD), or high budget AVOD (HBAVOD) series with a full season order of 14 or fewer episodes

    Note: For contracts entered into on or after December 1, 2023, writers on a multi-part, closed end series (sometimes called a limited series) are also eligible for span protection if they meet the earnings criteria below. Under prior MBAs, writers on limited series were not entitled to span protection, regardless of income. 

Earnings Caps:

  • Initially, the earnings cap for span protection was $350,000 for contracts made on or after May 2, 2018 (in other words, writers who made that amount or more were not covered by span).
  • In the 2020 MBA, the cap increased for contracts made on or after August 2, 2020 as follows:
    • $400,000 for writer-producers working on broadcast, pay TV or HBSVOD short order series (as defined above); and
    • $375,000 for writers-producers working on basic cable short order series.
  • In the 2023 MBA, the cap increased for contracts made on or after December 1, 2023 as follows:
    • $450,000 for writer-producers working on broadcast, pay TV or HBSVOD short order series (as defined above); and
    • $375,000 for writers-producers working on basic cable or HBAVOD short order series.

If Span Applies:

If you are a writer-producer covered by span protection, your negotiated episodic fee can cover no more than 2.4 weeks of work. This means if you are working on a 10-episode season order, the total episodic fees cover 24 weeks of work. If you work longer than 24 weeks, you are owed additional compensation at a weekly rate of your episodic fee divided by 2.4. If your episodic fee is $24,000 for a 10-episode season order, you are owed $10,000 per week for each additional week worked after 24 weeks. 

Because the span provision states that each episodic fee covers 2.4 weeks of work, it can be applied to calculate your “effective weekly rate”—that is, the amount you should be paid for each week of work on the series. That rate is calculated by dividing your episodic fee by 2.4. For example, the effective weekly rate for a writer earning a per-episode fee of $30,000 is $12,500; use this handy calculator to calculate your own effective weekly rate.

*Please note that the timing of the payments under span may vary according to the language in your contract. For example, if the contract states that the fee is due when an episode is produced, the additional compensation owed under span may be paid during production rather than when the writing is done.

If Span Does Not Apply:

If you are a writer-producer working on a series with longer season orders, or you are making more than $450,000 (or $375,000 on a cable or High Budget AVOD series), the MBA’s span provision will not apply. However, you and your reps can and should negotiate for overscale span protections to ensure that you are paid appropriately for your work.

Even if the span protection doesn’t apply, try to negotiate:

  1. A fixed weekly rate that you’ll be paid for every week you work on the series, and
  2. A specified limit on the total number of weeks covered by your episodic fees, or that each episodic payment will cover only 2.4 weeks (or some other specified number of weeks) per episode.

These terms will ensure that you receive your actual overscale pay, instead of being worked for so long that you only make Guild minimum. Please use the weekly pay calculator to determine what your overscale weekly rate should be.

Please contact the Contracts Department with questions.