To become a professional screenwriter, do you need to live in Los Angeles?
Despite the advancements in Internet technology, the Entertainment capital of the world is still located in California. Do you need to live here?
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As much as aspiring screenwriters wish this was not the case, Hollywood is not a meritocracy and never will be one.
Succeeding in the business of Film and Television does require talent, skills, and an understanding of the craft.
But your big break is most likely going to come as a result of who you know.
Not a competition win, a listing on a paid website, or even your manager.
Hollywood is all about who you know. Despite the proliferation of Internet technology, the best way to meet people is in person. And the best way to maintain close friendships is to hang out in person. Therefore, people pursuing a screenwriting career while located in Los Angeles have real advantages compared to those writers attempting to do the same thing from other cities in the United States or in the world.
Even if those writers claim that they are willing to move to LA at the drop of a hat.
The reality is that in a town full of talented, local writers, no Showrunner, producer, or development executive wants to hire someone who would have to relocate.
At least, not on a TV writing staff.
There are 4 paths to success when you live in Los Angeles.
Screenwriters who take their career seriously should be in the place where they are most likely to find that professional success.
Being located in Los Angeles allows you to:
#1 - Work in any industry job that you can.
Even if you went to film school, there is so much that you don’t know about the way the business and production sides of Film and Television work.
Working as an assistant allows you a front row seat to the way things function. It allows you to learn the paths to success, see the mistakes that other people make, and calibrate your expectations for when you’re finally a professional screenwriter yourself.
It also offers you ample face time with high level executives and creatives.
Your bosses and co-workers will become your friends, your contacts, and your allies.
If you work hard, you can turn these contacts into lifelong friendships that will generate opportunities for you that you would never get access to otherwise.
#2 - Network with serendipity.
When you live in a place where everyone is either working in entertainment or knows someone who is, you have more opportunities for random lucky breaks.
As long as you’re friendly, personable, generous, and outgoing, you might find a valuable connection among your neighbors, gym members, kids’ friends’ parents, or Lyft drivers.
As long as you say “yes” to every invitation that comes your way, you might find yourself at a party talking to someone with exclusive insights or a lead on an available job. You might find a mentor in the screenwriter who shows up to the coffee shop every day at the same time as you.
Every time you leave your house, you are open to the potential to meet someone who can change your life.
Technically, this is true no matter where you go.
The universe works in mysterious ways.
But the odds are stacked way more in your favor in a high density entertainment location like Los Angeles.
#3 - Network with intentionality.
You never know who you might meet.
But you can take steps to meet the right people as often as possible.
When you’re in Los Angeles, it’s easy to reach out to friends who work in the business and ask to see them for lunch, coffee, or drinks. You don’t have to have an entry level, assistant, or day job in the industry to benefit from in-person networking.
Being located where all those people are allows you to nurture relationships with them and put yourself in situations like mixers, networking events, or other social interactions that increase your chances of meeting someone who can help you.
Just make sure that as you network, you’re doing it in a genuine way.
You should only hang out with people that you actually like.
This way, your worst case scenario is having a ton of friends and a fulfilling social life.
If done right, this is truly a win/win.
#4 - Find creative collaborators.
Artists are everywhere.
But it is easiest to find creative collaborators in cities where artists tend to congregate.
I am a big fan of screenwriters taking their careers into their own hands. Yes, you should write solid, sellable scripts and try to get them produced by major studios.
But this process can take a long time.
While you’re going about trying to succeed in the traditional route, with your various irons in the fire thanks to your networking, your reps, or your cold querying, think about what else you can do to build a body of work and an audience.
If you write comedy, can you pursue stand-up in Los Angeles’ thriving comedy scene?
Or can you join an improv class like UCB or Groundlings?
With so many people interested in acting, directing, producing, or other aspects of film production, living in Los Angeles means you can find people willing to help you produce your short film or (if you have the money) an independent feature.
And the best part is, as you rise together in your careers, these creative collaborators will be the people you keep coming back to for bigger and bigger projects.
Once you find someone you vibe with and trust, you don’t ever have to let them go.
But there are 3 huge downsides to living and working in Los Angeles.
As strongly as I recommend that you move to Los Angeles, at least for a few years, I understand that it’s not a desirable or possible action for many people to take.
As someone who has lived here for the past decade, I am all too familiar with how grueling this lifestyle can be.
#1 - Entry level jobs are criminally underpaid.
When you're trying to break into Entertainment, the first years—hell, the first decade is going to suck.
It is so expensive to break into Hollywood. When I graduated college in 2015, I took an assistant job that paid me $650 a week (pre-tax). This salary has not gone up for entry level assistants since then.
I had two roommates and was lucky enough to live in a rent controlled apartment.
But I still wouldn't have been able to survive if I didn't have parents paying for my car (and the insurance that went along with it).
The lifestyle was brutal. And it's only getting worse.
I do think that the best thing for an aspiring screenwriter to do if they’re serious about breaking in is to get an entry level job anywhere they can in this industry.
But because the pay is so low, I know that this is an inaccessible path for anyone who doesn't have savings from a prior career or parents who are willing and able to help them out.
#2 - Entry level jobs are soul-sucking.
The assistant jobs that lead to an influential network consist of belittling, monotonous work.
In fact, many assistants have revealed that their "ladder" is, in fact, a trap. The long hours, low pay, and degrading environment leave them with no time or energy for their own creative pursuits. And despite the promises that many companies and productions make, there often isn't an opportunity to move up.
Rigorous industry jobs often leave support staff with little time or energy to spend on their daily writing—the reason they came out here in the first place.
#3 - It’s expensive.
If you don’t work as an assistant and have an unrelated day job, living in Los Angeles is still beneficial. You can still write and network on the side.
The problem is that your money doesn’t go as far here.
The cost of living in Los Angeles is 50% higher than the rest of the country, mostly because of housing.
Finding a place to live here is 137% more expensive than the national average.
Anecdotally, I don’t bat an eye when I pay $30 for a margarita, which suddenly puts a whole new spin on your pursuit of networking lunches, coffees, dinners, and drinks.
Making friends here requires a particular level of financial solvency that is incompatible with most entry level industry salaries.
If you stay in your cheaper location, you can save money you would have spent moving to Los Angeles and put it towards producing something for yourself. A successful festival run off of a strong independent short film or feature could generate even more career opportunities than attending tons of random drinks or coffees ever would.
Plus, you get creative fulfillment from actually getting something produced.
Luckily, there is another way.
Thanks to technology, you don't need to be an assistant and you don’t need to live in Los Angeles to break in.
There are ways you can network, build relationships, and generate opportunities for yourself even if you live outside of California.
You can save time and headaches by taking your career into your own hands. Use the above tactics I recommended to build your own network with intentionality. Just do it with the technology that you have at your disposal.
This can include reaching out to people via call, text, or email.
It can involve taking online classes or joining communities, building friendships with the people that you meet.
It can look like taking a high paying job outside the industry and using some of your disposable income to shoot a short or go to a writers' conference. Reach out to people you know, tell them your goals, and ask specifically if they know anyone that you should meet.
Create a system for keeping track of and regularly (every 6-12 months) following up with your contacts.
Invest any spare time and money into education to level up your screenwriting.
Whether it's continuing online classes, studying books, analyzing scripts, or joining an improv team, don't fall for the lie that graduating college means you have learned all that there is to learn.
Above all, don’t forget to carve out DAILY time to work on your own screenwriting.
Besides the big writing samples (feature screenplays, pilot scripts), build a smaller body of work.
There is value in iterating and in variety. Write short stories, short films, or sketches. Get some friends together and actually produce something.
This brings me to the biggest advantage to living in Los Angeles.
No one talks about it, but it’s the most important part about living here…
The #1 benefit to living in Los Angeles is the Hollywood Immersion.
If you have lived in Studio City, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, or Burbank, you know what I’m talking about.
Being in the space with the sun the palm trees and the nearby studios and the energy just feels different.
It feels like you’re in it.
And that sensation is invigorating.
When you live in the creative capital of your industry and surround yourself with people doing what you want to be doing, it is impossible to forget about your creative calling.
When you live in the beautiful, comfortable, affordable, disconnected suburbs elsewhere, on the other hand, it’s easy to get distracted.
Becoming a screenwriter means writing every day.
And in an effort give writers the confidence to develop their daily writing habit, I recommend starting small. If your goal is to go from 0 to Daily Writing, give yourself the lowest bar possible. Can you write a page a day? 30 minute a day?
This is a valid starting point. Writing a page a day means you’ll finish your feature draft in just four months.
However.
“We are traditionally rather proud of ourselves for having slipped creative work in there between the domestic chores and obligations. I’m not sure we deserve such bit A-pluses for that.”
- Toni Morrison
If you are trying to become a screenwriter, you are competing with professionals.
You are competing with and trying to get the attention from people who have devoted their entire lives to this business.
You are competing with people who do this as a full time job.
And the harsh truth about writing is that the best way to get better at it is to spend more time on it than anyone else.
When you are not spending time improving your screenwriting, someone else is.
And they are going to get hired before you.
When you live in Los Angeles, you can’t help but constantly think about the industry. You have peers who are succeeding, and you hear about industry mandates from your friends who are professionals. You feel the sense of urgency, and it compels you to dedicate time to your craft every day because you can sense everyone moving on and up around you.
When you’re outside LA, your attention is easily hijacked by the rest of your life.
The kids need to be taken to school, the house needs to be cleaned, the HOA meeting needs to be attended, and your day job takes precedence. Your one page a day slips down to a few pages a week which becomes an occasional writing session, which becomes thinking about your script and feeling guilty for not writing it.
When you’re not immersed in Hollywood, it’s easy to spend hours, days, weeks, months, years forgetting that it exists.
Until you’re fully and completely an outsider.
You lose your competitive edge when you forget to prioritize your dream.
There are people in this industry right now who have devoted their lives to it. These are the executives, writers, assistants, and everyone in between who struggle with the abominably high cost of living in Los Angeles every day. Who grind through the thankless 12-hour workdays. Who are thinking about story constantly.
If this is just a hobby to you, you’re not going to surpass these people in skill or talent.
Their writing will progress faster than yours as they constantly level up and you only level up occasionally.
When you live in Los Angeles and complain about the cost of living, the unbreathable air, the insufferable people, and your grueling job, you have to immediately ask yourself, “Why the hell am I doing this?”
And then you remember.
You remind yourself that the work needs to come first every single day.
If you’re happy in your comfortable life, on the other hand, it’s easy to forget to be motivated to strive for success.
If you don’t want to live in Los Angeles, you need to find a way to create Hollywood Immersion wherever you are.
Everyone knows that the best way to learn a new language is to go to the place where the people are constantly speaking it.
The same thing is true for screenwriting.
To be successful, you need to be surrounded by screenwriters so that you can’t forget its important position in your life.
Moving to Los Angeles is the best way to accomplish this, but if that isn’t feasible for you, there are other ways to create Hollywood Immersion for yourself.
#1 - Make friends in the industry.
If you don’t live in Los Angeles, you should be friends with people who do.
Let them do the networking for you. Keep up with them regularly, via text, social media, email, phone calls, FaceTimes, or Zooms. Whatever it takes to consistently hear about what is going on in their world.
In hearing their stories and updates, you’ll constantly be reminded about the action.
#2 - Travel.
Living outside of Los Angeles will save you tons of money.
Take some of that money and use it to plan a yearly (or, better yet, quarterly) trip to the city. It’s actually easier to get people to meet with you when you’re only going to be in town temporarily. When there is a deadline for meeting, it’s less likely to get rescheduled.
And/or, you can plan a yearly trip to a film festival like Austin or Sundance.
Anything to give you an opportunity to network while also being inspired.
#3 - Take a class.
There are so many online classes available for screenwriters.
The benefits include weekly deadlines, connections to teachers and students who are in the industry, and a consistent reminder to yourself that you have made a commitment to leveling up your craft.
If you don’t live in Los Angeles, you’re saving tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Put some of this money towards leveling up your craft.
#4 - Listen to the industry professionals.
There are plenty of screenwriting podcasts available for you for free.
This is by no means a complete list, but the ones I subscribe to are:
Put industry professionals in your ear on a daily basis.
In creating parasocial relationships with working screenwriters, producers, and development executives, you will feel like you live and work in Hollywood. Being immersed in this industry doesn’t need to involve physical immersion.
Think of it like listening to books on tape in a language that you’re practicing.
In surrounding yourself with updated insights on the business and craft of screenwriting, you will reinforce the feeling that it is an important part of your life.
#5 - Keep up with the trades.
Subscribe to entertainment industry news websites like Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and/or The Ankler.
This is what working professionals in Hollywood do.
Screenwriters, producers, executives, agents, and mangers all want up-to-the-minute updates on the deals being made around town.
When you receive these too, you can track projects behind-the-scenes that will make you feel like you’re a part of this industry. And seeing what studios are buying can be motivating for reminding you.
It’s a reminder that even when things are tough, there’s always an appetite out there for new movies and TV shows.
#6 - Read and watch new movies and TV shows.
You can’t be a part of this industry if you don’t know what’s going on inside it.
And if you want to be a professional screenwriter, you should be up-to-date with what is actually out there. You can’t hope to write for film if you don’t regularly go to the movies (plus, watching the trailers and credits is always an inspiring experience).
When you’re ready to start pitching your feature or TV pilot, executives will want to know what to compare it to.
If you want to sound and feel like a Hollywood insider, you should be able to speak intelligently about the entertainment that is airing right now.
#7 - Join an online community.
The biggest benefit to living in Los Angeles is surrounding yourself with people who are doing exactly what you want to be doing.
But you don’t need to physically be in the city to do this.
I built Screenwriter Brunch Club, a community of people becoming professional screenwriters. Every week, I teach a live class on the craft of screenwriting. Members have homework assignments designed to get them to finish their draft in 12 weeks.
Screenwriters share their insights, experiences, and triumphs with one another.
And every week I bring in working professionals to talk about what they’re doing in the industry right now.
With all the conversations happening daily, it’s impossible for members to forget that screenwriting is their #1 most important goal. And at the end of the day, it’s that consistent dedication, inspiration, and access that results in the resilience you need to actually achieve your professional goals.
You’ll save thousands of dollars in living expenses, and you won’t have to get coffee for an abusive boss at a thankless job that pays less than minimum wage.
Plus, it’s fun!
Enrollment is currently open for the next quarter, but it closes in a week!
Click the button below to join us.
Sobering.
To me writing is way more than a hobby, yet something less than a job, because of the inherent uncertainty. To survive, to keep my artist's soul intact, I am choosing to care without caring too much.
Creative pursuits of any kind require discipline and sacrifice, but a relentless pursuit can suck out all the joy, which is the thing that pulls us to take a risk in the first place, am I right?
Storytelling is in the sweet spot: it's something the world needs, something I'm better than average at doing, something that can generate income, and something I am willing to do, because when I do it well, nothing makes me happier.
I am doing all of the things described above in moderation, while also living a fullfilling life as a father and as a reliable friend, opposing malevolence and alleviating suffering where feasible. Whether something I write becomes an Oscar winner is just something to care about without caring too much.