![]() The median income for a Writers Guild of America writer is around 5,000 a year. Adjust your expectations and libido accordingly. Henry Kissinger said power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. You may not even be allowed on set to watch them film your script. And even if you make it, while you will be well paid, you are the first one they will fire if things go wrong for any reason. There’s the old joke - very un PC - about the Polish starlet who slept with the writer to get the part. I say this for all the male writers out there who dream of being on set and catching the eye of some young ingénue. You are up against some very talented, smart, funny people who already know some folks in the business. There are roughly 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America, who all have sold something already and are trying to do it again. Want some numbers? There were roughly 600 movies released in 2011. All you need is some screenplay formatting software and desire to humiliate yourself on the page. You don’t need looks your humble author being a perfect case in point you don’t need to know an F-stop from a bus stop, and you don’t need a dad who owns a studio. Trouble is, being a writer is seen as the simplest way to get into the movies. Nine out of ten responded with some variation of “Great” or “How did you know?” There is nothing but competition out here, and the more people there are trying to do what you do, the less likely it is that you will make find your way to any sort of employment. ![]() I heard a story once about a documentary crew who went to a supermarket in LA and asked everyone walking out how their screenplay was coming. Your hobby is now your career, so you’ll need to find a new “other thing to do.” The other thing will not be health. And under these circumstances, a writer turns to whatever he/she can that isn’t writing. ![]() You won’t have “work colleagues” per se, or normal human interaction on a regular basis. It’s the sad byproduct of spending hours at a time in front of a computer screen. Might be booze hell, it’ll probably be booze  but it could be coffee, Internet porn, Kabala or daytime TV, but you will find your poison. And even though it’s futile to speak ill of the dream factory, here are the top reasons you, aspiring writer out there, should save the bus ticket, give up now and get a real job. But people keep trying, every day, arriving in Hollywood with a laptop and a dream, looking like so many well meaning douche-bags as they clutter up my Starbucks for hours on end. Because being a screenwriter who actually gets paid for what he/she does ain’t easy. ![]() "Where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs." Like poetry really, and less hyperbolic than you might think. Thompson’s take on the TV business, but the phrase has been applied with equal accuracy to the writing side of the film industry. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |