by
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
Writing/Filmmaking/Consulting
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
Award-Winning Writer/Filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek - Summit of Chief Mountain - Colorado
It is practical to get into screenwriting if you are offered a contract that pays Writer’s Guild of America rates, including, at the least, two rewrites. And even then, it might not be practical. Otherwise, it is practical to work at a regular job that pays you a regular paycheck, and work on your screenplays on the side.
Although screenwriting pays good (better than decent) money, a select few screenwriters earn good pay, let alone decent pay. The majority of screenwriters earn little, if any money.
Skills that you learn in a screenwriting course will be transferable to other jobs, most of which will be entry level, or below, not including journalism. If you want to go into journalism, go to school and study for a journalism degree.
The reality of becoming a successful screenwriter is extremely difficult. Adapting the skill and craft of screenwriting are extremely difficult. This includes marketing yourself and your screenplays.
I apologize if this sounds discouraging. I am unwilling to be responsible for contributing to those who run head first into the brick wall that Hollywood has up, and which can ultimately result in financial ruin, drug, alcohol, sexual abuse, and suicide. Hollywood can be a seductress. It can cause others to become star struck, and blinded to the harsh realities of trying to break into a profession that is extremely difficult to enter. Talent alone does not create a successful screenwriting career. Wisdom and a good business head are vitally important, as well as talent.
I’ve acted in movies. I’ve directed movies. I’ve written scripts for movies and television. I’ve produced movies. And just for the experience so that I could learn everything possible about moving making, I’ve also done some work as a gaffer, a camera operator, a photographer, and an editor. The fine point of saying this is that each time I do something related to making movies, I am struck with this fanaticism about it. I love it. It is like an addiction. I want to run headlong into it without thinking anything through. What I have learned is that to do this translates to near insanity. One must develop the ability to use moderation in all things. One must think clearly. One must have the awareness that there is an end to every job with respect to making movies. Once that end comes, one must take time out to contemplate, to gear down, and to make sharply thought out plans for the next movie job.
Donald L. Vasicek
The Zen of Writing
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
About Donald L. Vasicek
Award-winning writer/filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek studied producing, directing and line producing at the Hollywood Film Institute under the acclaimed Dov Simens and at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. He studied screenwriting at The Complete Screenplay, Inc., with Sally Merlin, daughter of the famed Hollywood Merlin family of screenwriters and writers, as his mentor.
Don has taught, mentored, and is a script consultant for over 300 writers, directors, producers, actors and production companies.
He has also acted in NBC’s “Mystery of Flight 1501”, ABC’s Father Dowling starring Thomas Bosley, and Red-Handed Productions’ “Summer Reunion.” These activities have resulted in his involvement in over 100 movies during the past 23 years, from major studios to independent films including MGM’s $56 million “Warriors of Virtue”, Paramount Classic’s “Racing Lucifer”, American Picture’s “The Lost Heart” and “Born To Kill” starring the Charles Bronson of Korea, Bobby Kim, and his internationally-known brother, Richard, who directed, Incline Productions, Inc.’s “Born To Win”, 20th Century Fox’s “Die Hard II” starring Bruce Willis with Rennie Harlan as director, and Joel Silver as producer, Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Haunted World” with Emmy-nominated PBS Producer Alison Hill, and Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Faces”, “Oh, The Places You Can Go” and the award-winning “The Sand Creek Massacre” documentary film.
Don also has written and published over 500 books, short stories and articles. His books include “How To Write, Sell, And Get Your Screenplays Produced” and “The Write Focus.” He has been a guest screenwriting and filmmaking columnist for Hollywood Lit. Sales, Moondance International Film Festival’s e-zine, Screenwriter’s Forum, Screenplace, Screenplayers.Net, Screenwriters.Net, Screenwriters Utopia, Spraka & Kinsla (Swedish), Inkwell Watch, and Ink On the Brain. Writing recognition includes Houston’s WorldFest International Film Festival, Chesterfield’s Writer’s Film Project, Writer’s Digest, The Sundance Institute, The Writer’s Network, and the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Guild, Inc.
Don completed producing “The Sand Creek Massacre”, a documentary film project that includes the completed and award-winning documentary short, a book, a classroom video, Interactive Media, a study guide, and a lesson plans. The film is being distributed by Films Media Group.
Don is on the board of directors of the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston. He is the founder and owner of Olympus Films+, LLC, a global writing and filmmaking company and a screenwriting volunteer on AllExperts.com.
Don’s screenwriting agent is Robin Kaver of the Robert Freedman Dramatic Agency, Inc., 1501 Broadway, Suite 2301
New York, NY 10036, 212-840-5751.
