How can I become a screenwriter ?

Question:

How can I become a screenwriter ?

Is it necessary to attend a film school, or is it really just a matter of writing and networking? How do you get started?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The best way to become a writer of any form is to write, if you can find other people (not friends) to critique your work that is also a good idea. Write outside your favourite genres too to become more rounded, write pieces in the styles of other writers.

The second best thing is to read, it is possible to get film scripts at http://www.script-o-rama.com and of course reading loads of different styles of books allows you to see how different people put plots together.

There are a bunch of screenwriting books, some are listed on the link below (bit of an animation bias I'm afraid)

It could depends on what kind of scripts you want to get into and of course by the time you finished at film school the whole market could have changed. Film school will help you with some of the standards of the industry and help with things like style, continuity and other technical issues. Of course a good school name would be an excellent thing on your CV. However you may need to actually have written some things to get into the school in the first place.

Don't forget there is also the less glamorous job of script editing and there is likely to be more work in television than in films.

My final piece of advice was learnt the hardway. After about a year of messing about with the script for my Flea Circus film I thought it was ready for recording. When it was read out loud a whole bunch of extra issues were found. So my recomendation is to read out your scripts and record them, when you listen to them you may have further improvements.

All the best.