Screenwriting/Film Major
My major is screenwriting/film and I would like to take this major into possibly a career in this exact area. Up until about a couple months ago, I was completely undecided on what I wanted to pursue in college, but recently I have a "real" job. This major will include learning about the aspects of screenwriting including story, character development, plot, and climax. A screenwriter has a difficult job because until he or she gets the "big break" it's basically a gigantic waiting game. Many aspiring screenwriters are just stuck waiting for their big break. Thus far, I have decided to major in Film (screenwriting) and minor in English (creative writing) because these two talents flow well together in the field of writing.
All of my life I have always been into writing, whether it be letters, christmas lists, or short stories. I have always been a fan of writing and expressing whatever is on my mind. Writing is something great because wherever I find myself, I know that I can always write and express my thoughts. I applied to the UCs and have hopes of attending either San Diego, Santa Barbara, or Santa Cruz. All of these schools have exceptional programs in electronic art and film. Screenwriting is the base of every film ever made (Wise Geek) . Usually, a small story is written just for plot and characters and this is elaborated into something much more (Wikipedia Screenwriting). A story board is a common form of a brainstorm type of pre-script. This is usually done by one specific individual, sometimes even the director is the one who does this, as he has the main story for the camera angles, etc (Screenwriting.info). A screenplay writer must first decide which kind of script he wants to write, everything down from style to shooting elements (Screenwriting Resources) . After this, the writer can decide on more aspects of the movie such as characters, developing their emotions, etc. Very often a screenplay writer writes a huge brainstorm of short lines and/or important citations that would be useful in the movie. Everything must be thought of as a movie scenario (Screenwriting Headquarters) , because this is not a book, it will be made into a live picture movie. After a plot is developed, along with a climax which is the most important part of the screenplay, the movie is almost complete. Some things that are done last are factors such as If I were to find myself possibly being involved in the movie industry years down the line, I would want to be behind the cameras, obviously. I could see myself as being a type of Seth Rogan, writing and even possibly directing some of my work. The reason I might want to direct is because I don't know if I'd be able to allow someone such as a director to "tamper" with my beautiful screenplay (Scriptologist) . If it were someone extremely famous such as Steven Spielburg, it would be totally fine of course. I think writing screenplays would be a very creative side-job, but it would not function as a real job to support a family. I believe that in order for me to do this as a hobby or side job, I would either need to have a wife bringing in all the money, or have another job where I would bring in the real bucks, Screenwriters often lead tough lives if they are still living on their own, because basically they are constantly waiting around to have one of their works discovered. It is definitely also not how good the screenplays are, but networking. It is not a matter of what is known, rather whom. I think that if I wrote a very good screenplay I could definitely have it checked out because I have some connections to the movie industry, including Harrison Ford being my uncle's brother, and one of my good friends being an actor going to high places. It is definitely not a dream career for making money, but I cannot imagine myself doing something I don't want to do just to make money.
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Wikipedia, "Screenwriting," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriting Screenwriting Headquarters, "Screenwriting Introduction," Screenwriting Info, http://www.screenwriting.info/ Screenwriting Resources, "Screenplay Formatting," SWR, http://www.screenwriting-resources.com/screenwriting.html Wise Geek, "What is Screenplay Structure?" Wisegeek, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-screenplay-structure.htm The Scriptologist, "Questions and Answers," The Scriptologist Forums, http://www.scriptologist.com/Forum/Questions___Answers/questions___answers.html |