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What is it like being a writer for a movie or TV show?
Hello. I will become a High School Junior next week, and I am interested in writing movies and TV shows as one of my possible careers (others include editing and acting), and i wanted to know what the daily life of a writer was as a reference to see if ill like that career path. Thanks!
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Brandon’s Answer
An excellent way to learn is by exploring books written by authors who share insights about their writing process. Here are some examples you can consider:
1. "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" by Stephen King: This book offers a deep dive into King's journey and his approach to writing.
2. "Danse Macabre" also by Stephen King: Besides being an acclaimed author, King has penned numerous screenplays, making this book a valuable resource for understanding different forms of storytelling.
Remember, these books are not just for reading, but for active learning. Take notes, highlight important points, and try to apply the techniques in your own writing.
1. "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" by Stephen King: This book offers a deep dive into King's journey and his approach to writing.
2. "Danse Macabre" also by Stephen King: Besides being an acclaimed author, King has penned numerous screenplays, making this book a valuable resource for understanding different forms of storytelling.
Remember, these books are not just for reading, but for active learning. Take notes, highlight important points, and try to apply the techniques in your own writing.
Thanks! ill add those to my reading list!
Luke
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Ranelle’s Answer
It's a good question. While much of our daily life is spent actually writing, a larger part - but very necessary is doing the business of writing. The business of writing includes, applying for jobs, finding clients to write for, marketing yourself and networking to name a few. LinkedIn, social media are all very good ways to do that. If its on the table - college can also be an excellent way to go. Look for colleges that have professors who have made marks in their career. Like Spike Lee teachers at NYU - imaging making that connection and learning from a great filmmaker/writer.
The honest truth is it hard to get into the bigger companies that offer you the security we all dream of right away. That doesn't mean you should feel discouraged. In fact, there are ways to build your credentials and make things happen to further your career. Here are a few that I found very helpful. 1) Write. Write more and build a library of spec scripts. 2) Learn to pitch and pitch those to producers (you can find them on places like IMDb.com 3) Take your scripts and create a short from them or write a short and produce it with others who also want to enter in this industry. This gives you visuals to show your work. 4) Build your credentials by writing for others or making short films of your work - put them on IMDB. Basically do anything and everything that you can to create and network like crazy. When you do get NOs on your work - take it as a positive. They now know who you are, and took the time to tell you no. Every NO leads you closer to a YES! Finally - read every screenplay you possibly can. Learn the formats, and industry standards. Start now - so if you have a few things under your belt when you get out of high school - you will be so much further along! Hope this helps a little. There is always more.
The honest truth is it hard to get into the bigger companies that offer you the security we all dream of right away. That doesn't mean you should feel discouraged. In fact, there are ways to build your credentials and make things happen to further your career. Here are a few that I found very helpful. 1) Write. Write more and build a library of spec scripts. 2) Learn to pitch and pitch those to producers (you can find them on places like IMDb.com 3) Take your scripts and create a short from them or write a short and produce it with others who also want to enter in this industry. This gives you visuals to show your work. 4) Build your credentials by writing for others or making short films of your work - put them on IMDB. Basically do anything and everything that you can to create and network like crazy. When you do get NOs on your work - take it as a positive. They now know who you are, and took the time to tell you no. Every NO leads you closer to a YES! Finally - read every screenplay you possibly can. Learn the formats, and industry standards. Start now - so if you have a few things under your belt when you get out of high school - you will be so much further along! Hope this helps a little. There is always more.
A great place to find scripts you can download to read is at The Script Lab website. https://thescriptlab.com/. Look for early draft scripts and not production drafts. Scripts with numbered scenes were used during production and are not in the form that a script you write would be in.
Candace Egan
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Candace’s Answer
Realize that a script is a sales document. Its entire purpose is to interest a producer, studio or investor to put millions of dollars towards producing it. It is written to keep their interest so they will read beyond the first couple of pages. This means a screenwriter needs a command of screenplay format and is adept at using words that help the reader see the moving in their minds eye.
How do you get to this level? Practice, practice, practice. Also instruction through college, online classes or a consultant. And lots and lots of feedback: from professors, working writers and peers.
In my opinion you have to be passionate about writing in order to stay with it and manage the emotional and financial ups and downs. You can make a living at it if you are persistent. And in the early days write in your off time from a job that will pay your bills.
Finally, to directly answer your question as to what the daily life of a movie or TV writer is like... Writing for movies is a solitary experience where you on a daily basis are working to develop the project. That means research, interviewing knowledgeable people about your subject, writing many drafts of the outline; spending hours, weeks, months writing ten to 20 drafts of a 100-120 page script based on lots of feedback. In Television you are part of a writers room, a team of writers, that spend 10 to 12 hours Monday through Friday brainstorming, outlining, writing and giving feedback each week throughout the season. Then spending some time on weekends reading or preparing.
For me personally, I love all the research and outlining and drafting of scenes, brainstorming and rewriting. Having something I write get produced is the dream.
How do you get to this level? Practice, practice, practice. Also instruction through college, online classes or a consultant. And lots and lots of feedback: from professors, working writers and peers.
In my opinion you have to be passionate about writing in order to stay with it and manage the emotional and financial ups and downs. You can make a living at it if you are persistent. And in the early days write in your off time from a job that will pay your bills.
Finally, to directly answer your question as to what the daily life of a movie or TV writer is like... Writing for movies is a solitary experience where you on a daily basis are working to develop the project. That means research, interviewing knowledgeable people about your subject, writing many drafts of the outline; spending hours, weeks, months writing ten to 20 drafts of a 100-120 page script based on lots of feedback. In Television you are part of a writers room, a team of writers, that spend 10 to 12 hours Monday through Friday brainstorming, outlining, writing and giving feedback each week throughout the season. Then spending some time on weekends reading or preparing.
For me personally, I love all the research and outlining and drafting of scenes, brainstorming and rewriting. Having something I write get produced is the dream.
Updated
Amalya’s Answer
The typical day of a writer depends on some factors: The type of the writing job, the skills' development, and the experience level. Generally speaking, you will enjoy writing career if you can consider yourself as a creative person, have cultural sensitivity and appreciation to other's values, and so on.
If working as a freelance writer, you will deal with short-term projects with different clients. What refers to movie writing, you will need to have both writing and artistic/cinematic background to create relevant and powerful materials.
If working as a freelance writer, you will deal with short-term projects with different clients. What refers to movie writing, you will need to have both writing and artistic/cinematic background to create relevant and powerful materials.