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The Reality of Becoming a Screenwriter

There are a variety of approaches to becoming a screenwriter. First, erase the idea from your mind that simply by becoming a screenwriter, you will experience fortune and fame. The reality of becoming a screenwriter means that you must accept the fact that there are only about 500 films made a year that reach the big screen. If you check with the Writer’s Guild of America, you will discover that there are thousands of new screenwriters each year who register their scripts with the Guild. So, the competition is great. Simply becoming a screenwriter is simply, that, nothing more, nothing less.

Film School Provides the Aspiring Screenwriter Opportunities

Many people who desire to become a screenwriter study film in college. New York University, UCLA, and the University of Southern California, as well as numerous other colleges, offer film study programs. The upside of learning film is that you take a number of courses that cover various elements of filmmaking. Screenwriting is one, of many elements of film. Others classes include directing, shooting film, editing film, sound, lighting, and host of other classes. Perhaps, surprisingly, what film school offers as well is networking. Networking, in Hollywood, is many times more vital than most other film activities. People connected to the film industry teach film in colleges and universities. By working and studying hard, you can get referrals, etc. from some of your instructors. Film schools, for the most part, are expensive. And, required classes are such that learning screenwriting only skims the surface of what screenwriting really is. A focus on the technical aspect of filmmaking is more prevalent. There is very little learning with respect to how filmmaking is, in the trenches.

Numerous Other Avenues to Becoming a Screenwriter are Available

If you have a day job, are unable to afford film school, and desire to become a screenwriter, be sure and look inside of yourself as to why you want to do this, before you embark on this journey. Screenwriting classes, seminars, workshops, screenwriting competitions, etc. are readily available via the Internet. You can find that there is usually one, or more of these taking place close to where you live. You can also study how to become a screenwriter through a variety of books. Vicki King’s, “How To Write a Movie in 21 Days”, Syd Field’s, “Screenplay” and “The Screenwriter’s Workbook”, Michael Hague’s “Writing Screenplays That Sell”, Robert McKee’s “Story”, everything John Truby writes, records, lectures, etc. and Linda Segar’s, “How to Make a Good Script Great” are a few.

Be Realistic

The fine point of becoming a screenwriter resides in your ability to watch movies and learn from them. Also, you can obtain screenplays via the Internet. By studying screenplays, you can get an idea about how screenplays are written. The lucrative aspect of screenwriting resides in a combination of events. You must learn how to write screenplays. You must write screenplays. You must market your screenplays. You must be willing to “put yourself out there” and network. Connecting yourself with people in the film industry will give you opportunities to becoming a screenwriter. The fine point of becoming a screenwriter is to understand and accept the fact that just because you are becoming a screenwriter, there are no guarantees that it will become lucrative for you. The best you can do is to keep your day job until becoming a screenwriter provides you with an income with which you can live.

Have you ever wondered, how to get
your script read by producers, agents,
studios and production companies in Hollywood?
You need to draft a query letter. I can
send you my article about how to write
a persuasive query letter, or you can see
it in “How To Sell Your Screenplay” by
Joan and Lydia Wilen.

Also, draft up a phone script. Get a
copy of “The Hollywood Creative Directory.”
Then, select markets from the directory that
fit your premise. In other words, contact
producers who have produced programs and/or
movies similar to yours. Send the query letter
and make cold calls.

Utilize the script for the cold calls. Keep
it basic. From the directory, select the Director
of Development, for the calls and for the query
letters. Always address your query letter to
someone with a name and a title. The Director
of Development is in the position to put projects,
such as yours, into development. Apply the
same approach with your phone calls.

The person you first talk with on the
phone will be a “gatekeeper”, so to
speak. So, that’s the first person you
will pitch to over the phone. So,
think in terms of selling your idea
to that person. How do you do that?

Think about how that person would
benefit by passing you through the
gate to the next person. This person
will benefit by having the opportunity
to “discover” you! So, keep that in
mind.

Donald L. Vasicek
On Writing and Screenwriting
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net