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Let me end with the question that is always on the mind of aspiring writers who live well outside Los Angeles: Do I have to move there to break into the business? Of course you’re paying $25–30K per year for the privilege. There’s so much more to discuss with regard to this topic, things you would likely never consider like how the choice of your child’s private school can present work opportunities as you rub shoulders with execs and directors, producers and actors. On the other hand, it’s possible the unique voice you developed by living elsewhere will get subsumed into the generic attitude and tone of every USC, UCLA, Loyoyla Marymount or Chapman film school grad hawking their wares in studios from Burbank to Culver City. As I say, maybe it will make you a better writer. And over time, the sum of what you go through in L.A. You will show up at the same screenings and restaurants. You will have the same conversations with your managers and agents other writers do.
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But you will feel the same 70 degree sunny days that every other writer in L.A. If you move to Los Angeles, it will change you. The sum of your life experiences and the very place in which you live now has helped to make you the writer you are, giving you your distinctive take on the world. Iowa, New Jersey, England, Norway, wherever. There’s also this: Assuming you’re not a native Californian or a long-time transplant to L.A., you developed your writing voice elsewhere.
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But there are times when all of those goddammed writers you see, and the thousands you don’t yet you know are out there pounding out pages, convey in a visceral way the harsh reality of life for a working screenwriter: the fierce competition we all face. And that can be a good thing to get your ass in a chair to actually, you know, write. Stop by any coffee bistro and there they are, a half-dozen slump-shouldered, pasty-faced writers tapping away on Final Draft.īeing surrounded by scribes can remind you of a basic fact: You should be writing.
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Its presence is everywhere!Īlso you have to understand that it seems like everyone in L.A.
Screenwriter career movie#
Huge movie billboards, film shoots on street corners, movie stars at Gelson’s, floodlights piercing the night sky as you walk your dog. But when the inevitable drought occurs, three… four… six months without a gig… you can’t escape. feels like your town, you’re an active part of the business, you belong here. When things are going great with your career, there’s perhaps no better place to be. On the other hand, depending on how things are shaking out with your career, the sheer omnipresence of the film industry can be intimidating, even overwhelming. That can inspire you, motivate you and fuel your drive. When you’re in L.A., it’s virtually impossible not to become infused with the culture of the film business. offers writers opportunities to learn more about the craft, everything from presentations through the WGA or Writers Guild Foundation, and an endless stream of public screenings followed by Q&A’s with filmmakers, to meeting up with other writers or attending industry screenings of movies.Īnd there are the intangibles. Whether it’s general meetings, pitch meetings, open writing assignment meetings, script meetings, it all happens in L.A., much easier to be a presence if you get a call and have the capability of hopping in your car to drive across town to take a meeting.īeyond that, L.A. Your presence in Los Angeles puts you in proximity to these people which enables you to do networking that much more effectively. Agents, managers, producers, studio execs, talent, L.A. as the film industry is a ubiquitous presence. There’s no better way to keep track of the ebb and flow, ins and outs of the movie business than by living in L.A. Let me say up front, there are enormous advantages for a screenwriter to live in or near Los Angeles. The Business of Screenwriting: Living and Writing in L.A.