Is it hard to be a screenwriter?

Yes, but maybe not for the reasons you think…

5 min readJan 12, 2021

The joy of printing off a feature length script.

Introduction

As a screenwriter, as a creative, your goal is to share the emotions you have felt with your audience. The struggles, the failures, the wins, the sad days, and moments of joy. How do you translate an experience you’ve had into a story that will connect with others on a deeper level? How do you make people laugh when ultimately you’re not telling the joke?

The Blueprint

Writing a screenplay is creating a blueprint for a piece of content that will be made by people you may have never met and actors you may have no control of casting.

Before I got into screenwriting, I was a playwright. I accepted the idea that it was up to a director and a producer to tell the story of the scripts I wrote. After I wrote the script and signed off to a director, I left the creative decisions to the director and the production team to decide. I was very cognizant of the kinds of questions actors asked about the scripts I wrote. If they had a question about what I thought something in the script meant, I would share those thoughts, and often by referring to other clues in the script itself.

If there was a question I thought the director should answer, I referred the question to them.

When you write a screenplay, if you are lucky enough to be picked up, what happens to your script will depend on whoever optioned or purchased the rights. Your script could be rewritten by a number of other writers. You have no control once you sell your rights.

Competition and Access

There are thousands of screenplays written every year. And there is limited access for screenwriters. Anytime you look into stories about Hollywood and Production Companies or screenplay readers, you hear stories about stacks of screenplays pouring in.

To help stand out, you can submit to screenplay competitions. Depending on the competition, you may hear from some production companies. I’ve heard that making it the the Finals at the Nichols Fellowship can potentially get you a call from a production company, a manager, or an agent. When one of my screenplays made it to the finals at a horror screenplay competition, a couple production companies reached out to me.

I sent off my script and never heard back.

If you want to make it as a screenwriter, I would recommend writing one feature length script each year because you love writing and at least one short film script that you are interested in seeing into production.

When you have a solid feature length screenplay, you can send it off to screenplay festivals and competitions. Make sure you give yourself a budget ahead of time because submission costs can add up quickly.

When you have a solid short film (one location, one or more characters, around 4–5 pages) you can get it into production.

Be a Filmmaker

You don’t have to learn camera or lights or directing or producing or acting. You have to be willing to put yourself out there to meet the people in your community that can do those things.

Around eight years ago I wrote a few short film scripts 4–5 pages, two or three actors for the cast and in one location. I had saved some money for expenses and I put out a craigslist ad saying I was looking for a Director of Photography.

I had experience from the theater world as a director and producer. I also had some previous experience as a producer for short films.

Pretty soon, I was lucky enough to have a talented Director of Photography reach out. And they lived in my neighborhood! We met up for coffee and I told him what I wanted to do. I pitched him my short scripts and then he asked me which one I wanted to do first.

I put together a cast, found a location, and he brought on two other crew members and brought the camera and lighting gear.

We shot that first short film in the back of a coffee shop and I edited it on iMovie.

We had a great cast (thanks to some contacts from the theater and sketch comedy world), and a great crew.

After that experience, I went on to make three other short films that year.

You don’t need a big cast and crew to make a short film. You don’t even need that much gear.

If you have a smartphone, you can shoot a short film.

Conclusion

It’s hard being a screenwriter. It’s a long and winding road. But when you sit down to write, sometimes something magical happens. The world drifts away and you can hear your characters. You can feel what they’re feeling.

If you want to be a screenwriter, you should start writing. You should be able to write one solid feature length screenplay in a year. One month for development, one month to write the script, and five to six months for rewrites.

You can submit your feature to competitions. You can ask friends for feedback, you can request written feedback from some competitions, and you can put table readings together to hear your scripts out loud.

At the same time, you can make a short film. All you need to get started is a short script and a location.

Start writing!