The Business of Screenwriting
Writing a screenplay can sound frightening to some. There are rules, structure, formatting, and many more elements that make film students scared to their bones. The good news is that writing a screenplay is not as hard as it sounds. In this blog, I’m going to give you tips and insights into writing a great script that will be sell.
Table of Contents
What does it really take to become a screenwriter?
Here’s the honest answer: there’s no guaranteed path. No checklist. No moment where someone taps you on the shoulder and says, “You’ve made it.” Screenwriting is a tough, competitive craft. Most writers spend years freelancing, hustling for opportunities, and navigating uncertainty.
And just as important as knowing what to expect is knowing why you’re doing it.
Here’s the part people don’t talk about enough: writing is only half the job. The other half is learning how to be critiqued often, bluntly, and repeatedly and still come back to the page. You need resilience as much as creativity.
If you’re serious about learning the craft, start by building a strong foundation. Explore the lessons in this script writing course to understand the essentials. When you’re ready, you can invest in more advanced training, but for now, focus on learning, practicing, and finding your voice.
How to start a career in scriptwriting?
The real truth about writing is that writing a screenplay isn’t a career. It’s a way of life. You can make a great living from writing, but you will have to keep doing it even if you won’t make a living from it. It something that defines you, so you won’t have a choice, but to keep on going. Screenwriting is not an easy career, but if you feel you have to become a writer, you need to go all the way through – without stopping. You don’t choose to be a screenwriter; screenwriting chooses you.
If you love writing, you need to live it, breathe it, read everything you can about it and just don’t do anything else. This is your only way to really succeed.
oh! and buy a comfortable chair.
I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker. But it is not an art form because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.
The first steps of becoming a writer
There are two things you can start doing right now:
- Start with our article about the Elements of a Story
- Write – The first scriptwriting lesson I can give you now is to write at every opportunity you get. If it’s possible to find a job that has something to do with writing, it can be excellent as well, but it will be better if you write for yourself. Like everything else in life – practice makes perfect. Write every day and you’ll notice how good you are getting at it.
- Read a lot – If you want to start writing, you need to start reading and not just scripts – read books and read the hard ones too. Reading will improve your vocabulary and it will also give you ideas
The articles in this course and the other courses in the online film school blog this are going to focus on finding your unique inner voice and learning how to let it out initially.
Creativity and originality in script writing
Scriptwriting is all about being original and creative. Now I’m not talking about re-inventing the wheel here. Take Pulp Fiction or Memento. For example, They both tell a pretty simple story- Memento is an ex-insurance investigator who tries to find his wife’s murderer, and Pulp fiction is about two hitmen trying to get a stolen bag back to their boss. In both cases, the stories are not that original, but the way the stories are told- the structure of those films, the writing of the characters, and the dialogue are unique.
As a beginner screenwriter, though, it is crucial to be original and stand out. I will write about inspiration and creativity later on in the blog, but the essential thing to understand is that you have to be affected by life and not TV or the other movies you’ve seen. You can not know where inspiration will come, so you should be ready all the time. It will also help if you surround yourself with creative people, but, on the other hand, don’t be affected by them too. Allow yourself to be alone from time to time and figure out what to say to the world.
Read about finding your own voice
"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not'?"
Flexibility with the script writing
Scriptwriting is not an art that stands on its own. A massive group of people produces a film and lots of money is invested. You will be required to be flexible and compromise with your story. You don’t need to sell your soul to the devil, and you need to know how to balance with what the producers want and what you want. I recommend reading the Make low budget film article to understand what the producer looks at in the script when he plans the budget. Sometimes you will find yourself changing your first idea to a totally different one.
Commitment to your script
The main thing to remember in script writing is – Do not give up no matter what! When You start working on your first script, it will be something like this – you sit in front of the blank page in a notebook or on a computer and stare at it. It could be an hour, two hours, or a full day. You do it every day. Never Give Up. Take a notebook everywhere you write down scenes in every spare moment you got. Some apps allow you to work on your script anytime and anywhere.
There are different ways of writing – One is starting with just writing the scenes for the idea of the movie without thinking about the script. Other writers like to start with a general outline; others will try to limit themselves with time, for example, writing the first draft in two weeks. You need to practice different tactics and see what works best for you. The best way (again, not for everyone) is writing at the same hours- that will force you to sit and write even if you do not feel like it.
After you finish writing the first draft of the script, you will still be required to do many rewrites. Keep doing that until you have something that you, the director, and the producer are happy with.
You also need to build good writing habits that work for you. If you can’t write ten pages a day, write 4. Don’t push yourself too hard. Don’t judge yourself, especially at the beginning. The most important thing to do when you start to write a script is to write. don’t think if it’s good enough or not- at the first stage, simply write
Courage to be in the business of scriptwriting
If you believe you can make a living, only from your brain, either you crazy, or you have great courage. This scriptwriting business is a bit tough to do in the evenings after work (although that is not impossible). If you’re committed to the script, you’ll have to sit on it for days, and that means no day job. It is essential to ask yourself, are you able to do it. You will also need to be able to do these things:
- Know how to speak – It’s sucks, but you will need to know how to sell yourself and your script. There is a thing called Pitch – the scriptwriter has something like a minute and a half to present his story to producers and to convince them that he is the person to tell this story. We will deal with this issue later on in the scriptwriting section of the blog, although I think it’s the least important thing. At least not as important as knowing to write.
- Knowing how to look – To be good writers, you should turn off your autopilot and start to be present. Start paying attention to what is happening around you and start asking questions about what is happening. Stop hanging out with headphones in your ears and listen to the conversation around you and ask questions about what you see- what this guy story? Why does this mother yell at her children in the mall? What’s her problem? Take a small notebook and write anything interesting you see, even if at the moment it does not look like something suitable for the film.
- Be able to deal with criticism – Perhaps the hardest part of the profession of script writing is the criticism. You worked on the scene all night. Suddenly there was a breakthrough, you ask a friend to read it, and he doesn’t understand what you wrote. The trick is to know who to listen to and how. If a friend did not like the script, you do not have to run out immediately and change everything. Try to figure out what he did not like and, most importantly, show the script to more people and see whether they think the same way. Be open-minded to new ideas when you get criticism on your writing, and don’t be stubborn, but don’t change the script just to fit others’ opinions.
And most important: Passion for writing
If you do not have a strong need for writing, you might want to give up the idea. This scriptwriting business is a complicated process, which can cost many frustrations and anger. If you do not need to do this, you should never start. Writing is something that burns inside of you, and you have to let it out. Most professional screenwriters say that, even when they are not working on a screenplay, they are writing every day. They just must. The most crucial thing in writing the screenplay for a movie is to love movies. Writing a screenplay is a process completely different from writing a novel. You have to love the field of film and to know how to express yourself adequately in this medium. Watch as many movies and read many scripts, to learn the tricks screenwriters made there. So now you see that you have everything you need, you can go in and start learning how you can write the script of your life.