Screenwriting is a bit of an invisible profession. Most people who watch movies or television give very little thought to how the actors come to say what they say; but the fact of the matter is, aside from the occasional ad lib, everything film and television actors say is written for them by someone else. And the someone else who writes what film and television actors say is typically known as a screenwriter.



The rare person who does have some form of interest in screenwriting often hopes to be a screenwriter him or herself, presuming they aren't one already. The fact of the matter is, there are a variety of ways for one to become a paid screenwriter. Notice the usage of paid here. Virtually anyone has the capacity to write a screenplay. A small number of people have the ability to write a legitimately good screenplay. And some few literally earn money by writing screenplays.

All things considered, the number of people who are paid to write screenplays or television scripts is small. Screenwriting is a competitive industry in the sense that more people would like to get in than are needed, and that it's often difficult to connect with people who pay for scripts: the path to established entertainment industry professionals who regularly pay for some form of screenwriting is blocked by any number of gatekeepers. All of this isn't to say it's impossible to become a paid screenwriter because it certainly is not, but it is a challenge.

One of the forms people take to establishing screenwriting careers is to get screenwriting training at a university. Various university screenplay writing programs exist, with the programs that have close connections to the entertainment industry being the most competitive to gain entry into. The southern California schools UCLA and USC both have established and competitive screenwriting programs. Since these schools are located in what is essentially the capital of the entertainment industry, the immediate area around Los Angeles, they have an inside access schools located elsewhere don't have. This geographic advantage adds greatly to the prestige of these schools' screenwriting programs.

It is absolutely not mandatory to attend university screenwriting training. Many screenwriters have established careers, some quite successful, without any formal screenwriting training at all. At the end of the day, all that's required to become a professional screenwriter is to have a screenplay that the industry wants to buy. No one in the entertainment industry cares much if at all about how a screenwriter learned their trade. The only bother at all is for the final output, the screenplay, the thing that matters most of all in screenwriting.