Becoming a screenwriter5/7/2023 ![]() You can still make it big in this field without one. If you network in the right manner, they would keep you in mind and may offer a job, if they become successful. But if you don’t want to spend a lot of time getting a degree, don’t fret. You would be surrounded by aspiring actors, writers, and directors. For example, let’s say that you take a screenwriting course in FTII. No, a degree is not really required per se, but it might be beneficial in other ways, such as networking. The Screenwriter’s Association of India also has a rate card, which you can check out here. Starting salaries for TV and streaming are in the range of 50,000 to a lakh or so per month, and can go up to multiple lakhs once you have a few hit shows behind your name.Įkta Kapoor, in a Film Companion interview, said that senior TV writers earn about 3-4 crores a year. But to give you a ballpark figure, movie scripts are generally sold for tens of lakhs. It all really depends on how good you are at your job. The salaries are not really uniform in this profession. Growth opportunities are there for those who want them (you can become a content head, script supervisor, or executive producer), but most screenwriters are happy being screenwriters. Remember, what you are writing now would come on the screens after a year or so (if you’re lucky). ![]() Huge amount of patience is also needed in this profession. Technical skills are not really required, but vast amounts of creativity and imagination are a must. It is a really fun job if you like creating and telling stories, as you get to work with people working passionately to get a story to the masses. There are also regular meetings with other stakeholders like directors, content heads, producers, etc. Then the work of writing individual episodes is divided among the various members of the writers’ room. The first few months are spent in plotting up a storyline and the individual journeys (both mental and physical) of the characters. Usually, the writers come to an office and write together in the ‘writers room’. If you are writing for traditional TV or for streaming services, there is a little more structure to your day. Nobody really cares about how much you write in a day all they really care about is that you submit your script well within time (usually 6-12 months). For a commissioned project, there are meetings with the director and producer every other week or so. Since there is no such thing as ‘office hours’, your daily schedule depends a lot on yourself. If you are writing for a film, it’s a pretty solitary job. All the other stuff depends a lot on the medium you are writing for. The main work of a screenwriter is to create interesting characters and compelling storylines. Job Profile (A day in the life of a screenwriter) ![]() However, “Raghu lies awake all night and starts drinking” is clearly filmable, and thus will work wonderfully in a script. Here’s an example for you – The statement “Raghu is sad and depressed” might work in a novel or a short story, but it will not work in a script because ‘sadness’ is not filmable. ![]() It’s a method to transform the story into filmable ‘actions’. Think of it as a cross between a story and an instruction manual. But the web/streaming space that’s on the boom here is much similar to its Hollywood counterpart, due to the presence of international giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime – The writing room is responsible for the story, screenplay, and dialogue. Here, we have different credits for all three categories (in movies and traditional TV). In Hollywood, a screenwriter is entirely responsible for story, screenplay, and dialogues, but as with most other things, this is not the case in India. Movie scripts are written mostly in isolation, while writing for TV and the web is usually done in groups called “writing rooms”. A screenwriter (or a screenplay writer) is the person who writes scripts for movies, TV shows, and web-series.
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