In deciding whether or not to quit your day job, you’ll have to consider all of your expenses. And don’t forget health insurance. Your day job may have provided a health plan. Once you quit, and start selling scripts to WGA signatories, you’ll join the Writer’s Guild. You’ll pay dues, but if a certain amount per year; you’ll get WGA health insurance, free.
If you’re just selling the occasional non-union script, or the occasional teleplay, you might not qualify for the Writers Guild’s free health insurance. So you’ll have to add healthy insurance to your expenditures. And that can cost you between $700 to $1,000 or more, a month.
You might also want to consider what happens if you start out strong, join the WGA, but then have a bad year. Having a go-to part time job, or parents who’ll support your dream, emotionally, or even fiscally, by letting you write free at home, or a spouse who’ll carry you during the lean years is a huge help.
Living in Los Angeles is a huge help, as well. With all the meeting you have to take to get a job, it’s almost essential that you live around the studios. There are studios in New York and Florida, too, so you may consider that.
Having enough savings for about 6 months living expenses is highly recommended if you’re selling only occasional scripts. However, I think the best-case scenario is getting hired to write on a TV show. The salaries are high, and you will learn to write better working with veteran writers running the show, and with the other writers working with you in the room.
And during the hiatus, you collect unemployment and write your features on spec. That’s how it worked out for me. I worked on a TV writing staff almost every year for 25 years straight. I had time off to write features.
I sold features to Dino De Laurentis, I was brought in(and paid) to develop a feature film by Klasky-Csupo, a very cool, and creative animation house that contributed to Rugrats, the Wild Thornberrys (a show I have a created-by credit on) and The Simpsons.
Klasky-Csupo made 2 feature animated films based on The Wild Thornberrys, which I got credit for.
Having worked with a director who made the transition to film, I was brought in to write a big budget comedy feature for Amblin, run by Steven Spielberg. I was hired to write a shooting draft, and then to do rewrites on the set, based on some of the stars’ ideas.
Keep in mind; if you do quit your day job to write full time, you won’t just be writing. You’ll need to do a lot time to networking, to getting to know other writers, agents, managers and producers. You can look into various groups on Facebook and LinkedIn to find writers just like you. And joining these groups is free.
You can go to Meetup.Com meetings and hang around with other writers. You’ll find these writers are very supportive of your efforts, and will be nice to you, in case your career takes off. And going to those meetings is also free.
You’ll need some money to get your scripts noticed in Hollywood. Xeroxing 20 copies of a screenplay, and then getting the fasteners cost money.
Joining contests, like the Nicholl, Page, Sundance, and Blacklist costs money. MovieBytes has a list of 100s of contests, and the list is free, if you’re interested.
Getting your screenplay read by a Script Consultant, to get coverage, and hopefully high marks, or even a Recommend costs money.
When you place highly in a screenwriting contest, or get a high mark or a recommend from a known Story Analyst (like the Blacklist), you can use that information on a query letter to an agent. If they see your work has been highly rated, they may place your script on the top of the pile.
Scriptblaster and ScriptShark will blast scripts that get high marks, or Recommends from Story Analysts, out to currently working agents and producers. There are fees for those services, but they’re not too bad.
You’ll need screenwriting software, although Celtx is easy to use, and can be downloaded for free. You can download your favorite screenplays for free, at SimplyScripts.Com.
I have lots of information on great resources, some free, and some cheap, that will help you generate “heat” around your project. Contact me if you like for a free phone consult.
So, you will probably want to consider all those expenditures, plus the obvious costs of living in or around Hollywood. Have a realistic idea of how much money you spend per month versus how much you’ll be making per month, (without your day job). Be sure to factor in your savings, your parents’, your relatives’, or your spouse’s support, and if you’re lucky, your trust funds, when making this decision.
Let’s hope you soon find yourself selling a script, getting an agent, and start thinking about whether you should consider quitting your day job.
If you’re struggling to come up with a great idea for a screenplay, or if you’ve started one and just can’t figure out how to finish it, call for a free phone consult from a veteran screenwriter.
Image credit: Creative Commons Lonely Cocktail Waitress 2013 by Grey World is licensed under CC By 2.0