How a screenwriting career can lead to money is a question I have been asked countless times during my long journey helming Raindance Film Festival.
Often screenwriters have the idea that they can win a lottery by selling their script to Hollywood. But how much money do you really think you could make by selling your script to Hollywood? Do you actually think your chances of winning the lottery are anywhere near as good as selling your script to Hollywood? The most common question I get asked is “How Do Screenwriters Make Money?”
Just because there have been some well-publicised script sales doesn’t mean you too are going to hit lottery-sized payment jackpots:
- Shane Black selling The Long Kiss Goodnight for $4 million
- Joe Eszterhas selling Basic Instinct for $3 million
- Tom Shulman and Sally Robinson selling Medicine Man for $3 million
- David Koepp selling Panic Room for $4 million
- Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilli selling Déjà Vu for $5 million
- Will Ferrell and Adam McKay selling Talladega Nights for $4 million
- Evan Daugherty selling Snow White and the Huntsman for $3.2 million
Reality Check
Firstly, only the very top screenwriters get money up front. If you sell your script to an American company for a six-figure sum it will be broken into many stages depending on the box office returns. These contracts are written by entertainment lawyers who will tighten you up to the point where it becomes very difficult to secure payment past the first deposit.
Have a look at the writer’s contracts, called Schedule of Minimums in use with the Writers’ Guild Of America. This is the basis upon which film industry contracts are negotiated.
How Screenwriters Make Money: Five Tried and Tested Ways
1. Write a micro-budget film and get it made
This is the tried and tested Raindance way. Write a limited location story using as few actors as possible. Raise a bit of money and make it. Market the film by using film festivals.
You are unlikely to make much money as a writer, but if the film is well-made and presented properly to the industry, then you have a really good chance of getting a look-see with your next script (and more money!).
Here is why Screenwriters should also write low-budget films.
Here’s how Screenwriters can plan a low budget strategy.
2. Write for a website
The internet is a sponge for content. Every website (including Raindance) is looking for sparkling content. Here’s a list of 22 websites that pay money for articles.
Alternatively, you can write for your own blog. Market your blog using social media. Set up ads on your website and cash in from the advertising revenue.
3. Create a web series
When the 2007/8 American screenwriter’s strike shut down TV and movies Matt Bledsoe and Troy Hitch created You Suck At Photoshop – probably the first ever web series.The first edition attracted over 4,000,000 views on Youtube and then the series garnered national attention in Time Magazine. The series will have earned money for its creators.
Why not consider creating your own web series? But first do your research on this website owned by YouTube: socialblade.com. Here you can research the different kinds of YouTube channels and gauge their popularity.
4. Write poetry
If you want to get paid for writing poetry, there are two different routes: One is to write for some of the websites that actually buy poetry, the other is to write for greeting card companies. Hallmark is the company that usually springs to mind, but they no longer accept submissions from the general public relying instead on their own in-house creatives.
5. Write commercially
The market for writers has never been stronger. Try not to encumber yourself with the label of a writer who only writes screenplays. Screenwriters make money doing a host of other kinds of writing. In your spare time, you can earn from writing grant applications, commercial texts and corporate promos.
Another area you can explore is writing for comics and graphic novels. Raindance has an excellent writing course detailing the creative parameters as well as the commercial opportunities for writing comics and/or graphic novels.
Here’s a good resource for other ways you can make money online with your writing.
Fade Out
Writing for a living is doable. Screenwriting for a living is doable as well. Only, however, if you plan a strategy and deliver bold fresh and innovative work. It’s easy to get discouraged. No one will understand you. If you abandon your dream no one will ever believe you.
You can always look at the advanced screenwriting degree courses at Raindance Film School
My advice?
Quitters never win. Winners never quit.
Keep writing!
Did You Know?
- Raindance Film Festival is considered one of the top fifteen film festivals in the world?
- Raindance Film School London offers HND, BA and MA in Filmmaking and Screenwriting?
- Let Raindance guide you on your filmmaking pathway. call +44 (0) 207 930 3412 or email filmschool@raindance.ac.uk
- Raindance members support indie film, and enjoy a range of benefits
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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