What Do You Have to Do to Make a Living as a Screenwriter?

Jim Agnew is a director, writer, and producer. He has worked with Dario Argento, and his scripts have starred Oscar-winning actors like Adrien Brody and Nicolas Cage, with projects landing at Lionsgate, ABC, Blumhouse, and Sony.

But in the beginning, he saved up money for a year to focus entirely on screenwriting, and his second script got him paid.

Speaking with Film Courage, he gave some no-nonsense screenwriting advice you probably haven't heard before. Here are his top tips for anyone who wants to make a living as a writer.

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1. Be Realistic About Your Endgame

Agnew gets straight to what many new screenwriters avoid thinking about.

"You've got to be realistic. You have to look at the steps involved. What is your endgame? Do you want to get a movie made? Is it a small movie? What kind of movie is it? Are you writing a studio-type script? Are you writing a small, intimate thing that can be made for half a million dollars?" he said.

Writing a massive studio blockbuster when you're starting out means you're competing in the hardest arena possible.

"If it's a John Wick movie, that means you have to sell it through the studio system,” he added. "That's very hard to break into until you are working at a certain level. It does happen, but you usually have to work your way up. All of a sudden, you're not up for like these gigantic jobs of writing $100 million films."

Know what game you're playing and plan accordingly.

2. Keep Refining Your Craft

Agnew gets blunt about what separates working writers from wannabes. He told Film Courage:

"My advice would be just keep working, but work on your craft, because people don't do that. They don't take the time to actually keep rewriting and learning to write. They write one thing, and they think, ‘Here it is, world!’ That's why it doesn't get made, and then they get frustrated."

The harsh reality is that most first scripts aren't good enough. Agnew points out the importance of writing multiple samples and constantly improving.

Be aware of your page count, too, and edit your work down where you can, because “no one should write a script over 115 pages unless you're Quentin Tarantino or Paul Thomas Anderson,” according to Agnew. Most studio scripts will be around 105-110 pages.

3. You Have to Be in the Game

Geography matters in Hollywood, and Agnew doesn't sugarcoat it.

"Being in LA is a big part of it, too. It really is. Unfortunately, it's hard to become a professional screenwriter when you're in Missouri or somewhere, because a lot of the connections you make and people you meet," he said.

One breakthrough came from a chance encounter, he said.

"I ran into a friend of mine who's a big producer at the Coffee Bean one day. I hadn't seen her in a while, and she said, ‘What are you working on?’ I go, ‘Well, we got this zombie thing.’ And she goes, ‘Call me later.’ And then we got paid to write it for a huge company."

The town has changed a bit since Agnew gave this advice, but the fact remains that networking is important. It doesn't always have to be Los Angeles. Go to film festivals as a guest or volunteer if you can. Get plugged into your local writing or production communities. There are opportunities everywhere.

4. Limit Your Writing Hours

Agnew described his writing routine as limited and structured.

"Probably like three or four [hours],” he said of his writing time. “I think after four hours, you get a little bit [of] diminished returns. Now that doesn't mean the other five or six hours a day I'm not thinking about the writing. But physically sitting there behind the keyboard, usually you try to limit to four hours, because after four hours … you're not sharp. Why keep writing?"

His method involves prep work instead.

"When I write, I don't touch keyboard until I've figured out the whole first act, the second-act turn," he said. "I can sit down one day and write 20 pages, but I've thought about it for two or three weeks, and maybe just wrote out the beats, what's going to happen."

Work smarter, not harder.

5. Be Patient

Agnew's biggest piece of advice is to have a serious commitment to writing.

"If you're determined and you want to take 10 years of your life working super hard to get somewhere, you can get somewhere. You can get some movies made. You can do it for a living, but you have to really buckle down."

That's the timeline he's talking about. But for those willing to put in the work, learn the craft, and be strategic, it's absolutely doable. Just know it might not happen overnight. Keep pushing!