Screenwriting How-Tos: Screenwriter David H. Steinberg wrote “Slackers” and “Puss in Boots,” among other films, and recently made his directorial debut on the romantic comedy “Miss Dial.” He’s writing a series of articles for Yahoo! on the craft and business of screenwriting. And no, he won’t read your script. — The Editor
Everyone knows that breaking into screenwriting is hard. But how hard?
I’m going to lay some numbers on you to put things in perspective. Use the data as you will, but my only point is to illustrate that when you’re shooting for such a tiny target, even near-perfect shots are sometimes not enough.
Screenwriting competition
First of all, tens of thousands of screenplays are registered every year with the Writers Guild of America, West, the union you must join to write for the Hollywood studios. (That number comes from the WGA’s “Guide to the Guild” brochure, available in PDF.) So there’s your competition. Now all you need to know is how many jobs are available.
The WGA has about 10,000 members, of whom only 50 percent earn any income at all in any given year, according to statistics in last year’s Writers Guild of America Annual Report. (The link is to a 21-page PDF; all of the related numbers below are extrapolated from it.) That’s because some members are retired or moved on to other careers or simply didn’t get any work that year.
Writing for film vs. TV
Of the remaining members, two-thirds work in television. People don’t realize that television is a much bigger business than film, but the numbers don’t lie. Think about it: How many “hours” of “programming” are there in film each year? A few hundred? Compare that with the millions of hours of TV programming content that must be created and you’ll see why TV is a bigger business.
So, if you’re writing a screenplay that you hope will one day become a movie, you are vying for one of maybe 1,500 jobs out there.
Just out of curiosity, what do these screenwriters earn? Well, the median salary of a screenwriter is surprisingly low. It’s around $100,000. Now, that’s not chump change. It’s a great salary. But it’s not the millions you might expect for beating those kind of odds. In fact, if your dream is to make a million dollars as a screenwriter, keep in mind that fewer than 50 screenwriters in the world earned that much last year.
How screenwriting jobs stack up
Still think 1,500 jobs doesn’t sound so bad? Well, let’s compare your chosen field with some other prestigious careers and we’ll see if that puts things in perspective. There are fewer NBA players (450) than working screenwriters (1,500), but there are fewer movie writers than NFL players (about 1,700, with 32 NFL teams of up to 53 men). Or compare that with the 535 members of Congress or 750 players in major league baseball. Those are the kinds of odds we’re talking about here.
And here’s the most important number of all: Last year, the six major Hollywood studios combined made only 106 movies.
Now, that’s not to say you can’t write a great script and go get it made independently. But you have to be realistic about what you’re up against.
And this should give you some solace. You may have written a really fine script, but the competition and fickle nature of the business could deal prevent your breaking in anyway. Not sure if that will cheer you up, but there you have it.
So if you’re feeling down because your great American screenplay hasn’t been snapped up yet, just remember, it’s hard. Really hard.
More Screenwriting How-Tos from David H. Steinberg:
How to Break Into Screenwriting
How to Create a Killer Outline for Your Screenplay
Check out the “The Hunger Games” live red carpet premiere on March 12 only on Yahoo! Movies.