Unfortunately, this is exactly where most aspiring writers are trying to START. Decision-makers are more willing to listen to you, trust you, and take risks along with you. You’ve proven yourself. You’ve earned the right to take a chance. In Phase 7, you can branch out. You can try a new genre, different medium, or try being a writer-director. You can be a well-regarded, well-positioned, successful screenwriter without having had your scripts produced.) ( Note: when your first project gets made, when your project is a box office hit – these successes benefit you but are not in your control. In Phase 6, you establish your positioning. Your positioning means that you are the acknowledged expert in your area and anytime a producer has a problem with a script in your genre, your name comes to mind.Īs you get hired for bigger projects, complete those assignments on time, meet more people in the business, perhaps sell an additional script, you are building your reputation and establishing your positioning. You are hired for rewrites and hopefully make a couple sales quickly. They suggest projects to you and ask for you to come in and pitch ideas. If you’re good at pitching and handling the dynamics of high-stakes meetings, you develop relationships with decision-makers. It’s called the “water bottle tour” because everywhere you go you’re asked by an assistant, “Can I get you a bottle of water?” In Phase 5, you take the “water bottle tour.” As soon as your agent has negotiated a deal for you, and you’re signed with the agency, your agent sets up between 50-100 meetings with development executives and producers who may be able to hire you or who could be interested in your other projects. That’s when an agent swoops in to collect their commission – when you’ve done all of the hard work, made your own opportunities, and are right on the brink of a big payday. Agents can be virtually impossible to attract before you have a track record of success, a deal is pending, and there’s big money on the table. Yes, you may get a manager or you might partner with an established producer first, but the key aspect of this phase is that you get an agent.
#Becoming a screenwriter professional
In Phase 3, you get hired to write professionally. Most screenwriters get their first professional writing job without an agent. Film festival where you could volunteer?Įach person you add to your network of relationships dramatically increases the chance that when you have developed the library of material that you need, that you will know someone (or know someone who knows someone) who can help you.Is there a state or national film office?.Your goal is to find like-minded people in your local community:
#Becoming a screenwriter how to
In phase 2 you are building a network of relationships. This is a big part of learning how to become a screenwriter. In other words, the best time to sell your second project is immediately after you sell your first, and the best time to sell your third project is right after you sell your second.īonus: your second and third projects are likely to sell for increasingly large sums of money. Agents know that the best time to sell something is right after you’ve sold something. The reason is purely about the bottom-line. These are the key words: “in the same genre.”
In Phase 1, you are developing a library of material. This means at least 2-3 finished scripts in the same genre. So let me explain, in 7 phases, how to become a screenwriter. The same pattern leads to success 99% of the time.
Over the past sixteen years I have worked with thousands of screenwriters. You need to approach the process of becoming a screenwriter for the long-term. You need to do more than learn how to write a screenplay. To learn how to become a screenwriter, you need to do more than read screenwriting books.
0 kommentar(er)
