What Is The Likelihood A Student Screenwriter Will Become A Professional? by Richard Walter Video Lecture | Screenwriting: From Beginner to a Pro - Career Development

Richard I would imagine a majority of
your students here are in the class in
the program because they want to be
professional screenwriters they want to
make their living as such what's the
likelihood that any of them will do this
Grimm first of all uh among the writers
were coming to our program we want to be
successful a majority of them it's a
hundred percent of majority I mean every
one of them wants me a successful
professional and that's what we want
them to be we are a professional school
and our great success is their success
they're doing fabulously well in all
media now indeed on that I mentioned
that I was in a reflective Portland I
went with the family in Hawaii and we
also went to New York so that's four
flights you know two round-trips on each
one there was a movie written by a
student an alumnus from the program and
several television episodes you know how
they run out of them they finished the
movie there's still time so they run
some TV episodes of old series and so on
it all they're all all my commandos were
sitting in the classes just a few years
ago and that it's gratifying they all
want to be be professional that's what
we want them to be so what is the
question why so what's the likelihood I
was saying you have to assume it's not
gonna work out God is watching if if she
sees you take it for granted that it's
gonna work out then it's not gonna it's
not gonna work out if you need certainty
you shouldn't even start this if you
need to know for sure that you'll
succeed at it you just have to get into
the stream and hope for the best
and at the end of the day let everybody
else betray you and and shortchange you
and let you down but at least you'll be
true to yourself and keep the writing
coming you got you gotta crank the stuff
out you have to keep the stuff coming
that's the most important the most
important part of it
yeah I mean listen what does a writer
trying to do she's trying to literally
trade her daydreams for dollars writer
you know that she's trafficking in her
own imagination you know writers get
scolded for what other I'm sorry
other people get scolded for writers for
what writers get praised for that is
daydreaming what could be better than
that you know to literally live on your
wits so a lot of people gonna compete
for it and it's gonna be difficult to
succeed at that but at the end of your
life let everybody else have let you
down but at least you be a warrior for
yourself we do rejoice in an
embarrassment of riches here we do see
our students for the most part succeed
and have successful professional lives
but I like to think that they don't
really expect that they certainly don't
take it for granted that that will come
to pass if they do they will they will
not succeed
you