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Screenwriting: Hobby or Job?

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victortiti89

While for me it's still a hobby, this isn't about me, but it's a general discussion.

Is screenwriting just a hobby, or could it be a kind of(even secondary) job? Now, I've read a couple of cases where the first thing a lucky person did after selling his/her screenplay was to quit his/her job.

I read this isn't the norm though. Mostly, you'll get some extra cash for a coffee or a pizza. But could it mean both? I think that, for someone who likes this and manages to get a screenwriting career, would be a dream job!

But you have to work hard. And you have to like this. I've also read many screenwriters don't sell, so the trick would be not to expect much.

If it's truly a hobby, then should you send your script out there? Because the moment you send it out, expecting to get God knows how many milions off it, is it still a hobby for you?
 
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it is quite simple really, if you write 2 hours a day that's your hobby, if you write 8hrs that's a job. If you don't get paid for writing it will be very hard to turn it into a job.

If you don't want to sent out a script, than don't. The question is why write a script if not to have it filmed? Why not write a novel, book, blog w/e instead?
 
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I feel like I'm interning (if that makes sense) putting in hours for free, gaining experience and growing in my craft to make it into a career (job , for the sake of this conversation).
 
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For me, it is currently a hobby. I do hope to make enough money from my writing to focus on that at some point in the near future. As to the question of can screenwriting be a profession, it absolutely can be. The vast majority of television is written by full-time, professional, writers.
 
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I am currently in my last year of a screenwriting degree, the course leader said that over the years no one from the course had become a full time screenwriter. I am doing the course because I enjoy writing, will I be able to earn a living from writing? I think only time will tell.
 
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I think it's 100% possible to make a living writing screenplays. But don't look at it as just writing your own stuff, or just selling to "big" producers. There's a lot of money in rewrites and polishing, too, and if you can be prolific, you could even make a livable amount of money selling to micro-budget filmmakers.

For low budget (under $5M) WGA minimum on an original screenplay (no treatment, just a spec script) is like $45,000. Rewrites are like $20,000 (on your own or someone else's script). Hell, a polish will get you about $10,000.

I could sell an original script every two years and scrape by. Throw in a rewrite a year or a couple polishes, and I'd be very comfortable.

And then there's the market for shorts and low-budget feature scripts among indie directors/producers. Granted, that might amount to more of a part-time side job, but it can still be decent money. I know a guy who sells his scripts for somewhere around $20/page. A 10-page short (which he can write and polish in an afternoon) will earn him around $200. He sells a 90-page feature for $1800 (which he can write in a few days). If you could find enough producers interested in your work, you could theoretically make a living doing it that way, too.
 
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cameronchapman said:
. He sells a 90-page feature for $1800 (which he can write in a few days). If you could find enough producers interested in your work, you could theoretically make a living doing it that way, too.
Click to expand...

Holy cow.. a complete feature screenplay in a few days :huh:
I tried working with one screenwriter who could crank stuff out, but it was long winded and my writing was 6x shorter to accomplish the same stuff
 
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sfoster said:
Holy cow.. a complete feature screenplay in a few days :huh:
I tried working with one screenwriter who could crank stuff out, but it was long winded and my writing was 6x shorter to accomplish the same stuff
Click to expand...

His pace is 24 hours of writing for a solid first draft (after he has a beat sheet completed). He said whether that's an hour a day for 24 days or two 12 hour days or three 8 hour days depends on what kind of time he has available.

My own pace for a first draft is similar. My 120 page scripts are generally around 20k words, so that's less than 1k words/hour, which is more than doable if I know where I'm going with something.
 
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victortiti89 said:
While for me it's still a hobby, this isn't about me, but it's a general discussion.

Is screenwriting just a hobby, or could it be a kind of(even secondary) job? Now, I've read a couple of cases where the first thing a lucky person did after selling his/her screenplay was to quit his/her job.

I read this isn't the norm though. Mostly, you'll get some extra cash for a coffee or a pizza. But could it mean both? I think that, for someone who likes this and manages to get a screenwriting career, would be a dream job!

But you have to work hard. And you have to like this. I've also read many screenwriters don't sell, so the trick would be not to expect much.

If it's truly a hobby, then should you send your script out there? Because the moment you send it out, expecting to get God knows how many milions off it, is it still a hobby for you?
Click to expand...

Screenwriting is a job. A lot of people forget that if you're talented enough, you can make a living off of screenplay writing

However, a lot of people also forget that for a vast majority of screenwriters who can make a living off of their writing, their income doesn't come from a stream of "magic" original spec sales. On the contrary, a majority of their income is made through paid writing assignments. They don't have the luxury to work on nothing but original scripts (those passion projects are on the side). Writers who are lucky enough to get an agent but refuse to write anything other than original scripts are usually dropped, because this directly harms that agents income; agents bring good writers paid writing assignments (these can be anything from rewrites to commercials to mini-movies), so that both the writer and agent can expect a smaller, yet far more continuous income
 
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If you really want to take screenwriting somewhere, I think it needs to be both.

If you want it to be a job, you're not going to be as successful with it, if it wasn't a hobby at first. For screenwriting to be a job, you'll have to spend countless hours, not only writing, but contacting people and working with contracts. If you don't REALLY enjoy doing it, why make it your job.

I myself, want to be a FILMMAKER. I want to learn the trade, so screenwriting will only be a small part of my job.
 
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