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Writing for the Stage and Screen

Description
• A demanding, selective, and highly skilled position that requires fresh and original, or modernized and adapted content for either the stage or screen.

Job Titles
• Playwright
• Screenwriter For Film
• Screenwriter For Television

Skills
This occupation requires

• A bright and creative imagination that is always in motion.
• Patience, as the job may call for fifteen hour days in attempts to reach the deadline.
• Determination, as motivation is sometimes not enough. The writers who "make it" are the ones who don't give up, even if they aren’t the most talented.
• Teamwork, as there is usually an assigned ‘staff’ for television programs.
• Pride, as frequently done in the job, the one in charge negatively criticizes your work and demands you write a better product.

Education/Experience
• No formal education is required, but having at least a 2-year Associates Degree in English, Creative/Professional Writing, or Theatre would help dramatically.
• Marketing skills play a huge factor in getting known in this business.
• Being able to promote yourself and your works is part of the job and without it will make goals harder to reach.
• Don’t count on being the next school-dropout who makes it big in Hollywood.

Salary
It’s difficult to produce close estimates for this position, especially in freelancing

• Unfortunately, unless your name is synonymous with theatre, it is unlikely that your playwriting income will provide you with the equivalent of a full-time job salary.
• Playwrights often supplement their income by writing articles for magazines and e-zines or with jobs in the field, like teaching courses in playwriting and drama or even directing the works of others. The main sources of income will come from performance royalties, script sales, and contest prize money. However, playwrights’ fees are usually substantially less to the money they make from the show’s profits.
• Television writers who are signed on for a whole season can earn six figures, but failed pilot writers usually make less than $5,000.
• Screenwriters for film make their dues depending on the type of success the movie has. Some independent film writers will make only four figures, while some of the best writers in the business can now demand over $1 million per script.

Job Outlook
• There is always a demand for professional writers who freelance.
• This business never stops looking for fresh and inspired minds.
• The hardest part is making it and staying in it.
• One can be as easily replaced as it was hard to get there.

One can find many JOB and HELP Ads on these websites:

Jobs and Opportunites for Screenwriters: A list of fifteen comapanies and ads for screenwriters.

The New York Screenwriter: -- The online version of New York Screenwriter Magazine:

Their site offers much more than the magazine's archives, a community of screenwriters and filmmakers hang out there.

 

--Created by Jim Corriveau on 11/14/05--