11/18/2023 0 Comments Odds of becoming a screenwriter![]() ![]() He went from being an assistant to having an assistant in less than a week.ĭana had a movie greenlit and another script under a tight deadline.Ĭhad met with Aaron Sorkin on a Tuesday morning - and got hired in the room. Rawson finally quit working for me because the movie he was directing (Dodgeball) was in preproduction. Here’s how the transition happened for my former assistants: Just try to leave on good terms, with back-of-mind awareness that at some point you may need to get a normal job again. So don’t panic when it comes time to quit. Or you’ll be hired on a TV show, which is at least two full-time jobs. on a Wednesday, and no more excuses to offer your boss. If all goes well, the needs of your career will eventually force you to give up your day job. As one writer friend says, “I always think of myself as six months away from teaching community college.” ![]() I haven’t seen numbers, but my hunch is that a substantial portion of new WGA members aren’t getting paid as screenwriters two years later. Nearly every screenwriter I speak with has a similar story - you’re never as broke as when you first start making money.īeyond the initial delay in getting paid, keep in mind that there’s no guarantee you’ll have a second writing job. I was living off of money from a novelization, but when that ran out, I had to ask my mom for help paying rent. When I was hired for my first job, 1 it took almost four months before I got a paycheck. The studio will sit on your contract as lawyers exchange pencil notes about things you can’t believe aren’t boilerplate. Don’t quit your job right away.Įven if you sell a spec for $200K, it will be months before you see a cent. After all, isn’t that the dream? Isn’t this why you came to Hollywood? Every waiter and barrista in Los Angeles considers himself a screenwriter, so quitting your day job is an important way to distinguish yourself as a True Screenwriter, the kind who gets paid actual money to push words around in 12-pt Courier.īut don’t. The natural instinct is to immediately quit your crappy day job once you’re hired to write something (or sell a spec). Don’t quit your day job - until you have to.īefore writing this post, I asked a dozen working writers for their recommendations, and this was by far the most-often made point. Screenwriting is a strange profession, and handling the money it generates is more complicated than you’d think. But for others, this may be worth a bookmark, because there are some specific, unusual things you need to know. For most of you, this won’t apply - yet, if ever. I want to offer a brief financial education for the newly-employed screenwriter. ![]() Having watched former assistants and other young writers cross the line into professional work, I’ve noticed that one of the biggest mysteries is money. A small percentage of these readers will succeed, and suddenly face a new category of questions about What Happens Next. Most of the questions I answer on this site are from readers who hope to become professional screenwriters. ![]()
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