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The Screenwriting Profession

A screenplay is the form that movies are written in and filmed from. A screenplay is referred to in shorthand as a script. There are scripts for feature films, scripts for television movies, scripts for situation comedies or sitcoms, scripts for hour-long drama television shows. If it involves actor portrayals and it's filmed, it originated from a script.

Screenplay writing has become an extremely popular form of study within the entertainment industry, on par in popularity with film direction certainly -- if not more popular than -- but still probably less popular than acting. Some universities now have entire programs dedicated completely to screenwriting. In fact, many if not most southern California universities have a screenwriting program (southern California being the de facto capital of the American entertainment industry).

The more well known of the university screenwriting programs, typically at the southern California schools, are overflow with applicants. It's real world proof of just how popular the form of screenwriting has become. What is it that one learns by attending a university screenwriting program? The method for writing industry accepted screenplays, presumably. Acceptance into a prestigious screenwriting program is not a guarantee of a successful screenwriting career; it is, however, a guarantee of networking access, and proper connections are extremely important in the entertainment industry.

One does not need to attend a university screenwriting program to have a screenwriting career. There are rules and methods to screenwriting that must be learned and understood and applied, but a university isn't a mandatory training ground. Any number of established screenwriters did not attend a university screenwriting program.

Screenwriting has probably, if not certainly, surpassed the novel as the preferred writing form for aspiring fiction writers. There are any number of reasons for this, and the assumption that the entertainment industry is especially glamorous is probably one of them. But the screenplay is also typically much shorter than the novel is, and is possibly seen as a potentially easier goal as a result.

Screenwriters can earn considerable amounts of money -- millions of dollars -- but big salary screenwriters are rare. Screenwriters are also often treated dismissively by entertainment industry decision makers, and are typically given little to no final authority. Screenwriting is not generally a form for those seeking control or notoriety. This reality is frustrating for some screenwriters, and a number of them have produced works over the years documenting what they perceive as disrespectful treatment.

Television writers tend to be received better than feature film writers are within the entertainment industry. Perhaps the time deadlines inherent to television mean the television writer is less likely to be disregarded: their immediate work is needed. But while television work may be more ego rewarding, though less prestigious, than feature film work for the writer, screenwriting as a whole is far behind novel writing and playwriting in terms of writer control and recognition.

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Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Read Zinn's online work at article exchange. To learn more about screenwriting, visit screenplay writing.