I'm 30, and I want to be a screenplay writer, what do I need to do?

Question

I graduated college with a degree completely unrelated to writing.

Answer 1

Well, with the strike going on you have plenty of time to come up with and rewrite your material. Your degree is not necessarily important. What is is a track record and momentum as a writer which obviously you don't have yet. You'll need to work your way into the business so right now work on your stuff, but not by being a scab anywhere. Log onto writer's sites, check out http://www.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/index and you can search for others. Also keep up to date on http://wga.org/

In my opinion, your best bet would be to self-produce a couple of your scripts and submit them to festivals. If they win awards and get distribution then you may get a break. There's also http://pitchfest.com/

If you mean that at this point you have no clue hat you're doing, there are programs you can enter, even at 30. Look at UCLA extension which has writing workshops. I believe AFI also has classes. You can also get tons of different books, just see which ones speak to you. In the end they all say the same thing about format, etc. It's just the techniques and they way they put things to you that are different.

***Don't forget to protect your material! Do not post it on the net or share it with anyone. Submit it to WGA and the library of congress to start the paper trail to prove that it was your material especially before you submit it to anyone. It's worth the fee compared to what you'd lose if anyone takes your ideas.

good luck!
Marianne

Answer 2

get an MS in your desired field...............try to join a writers guild......................read the books and screenplays written by the greats.......Contact Bill Conden.......(gods and Monsters and Chicago).....He might be helpful.............

Answer 3

well try writing some previews of your stories. then find places that need them. just advertise that you have them. try local directors first.