I got this question recently:
“Hi there.
Do you think it’s worth it for a 20-year-old like me, to move from my country, Portugal, to Los Angeles or somewhere close, to follow the dream of writing screenplays?
I mean, if it’s a tough world to the American writers, isn’t it even tougher for a foreign boy to do well? Or if you’re really talented, it doesn’t matter?
I’d appreciate an honest answer, it’s very important to me.
Greetings from Portugal.”
It’s really a personal decision and I would never want to try and push someone in one direction or the other. It depends on how passionate you are about making your dream a reality balanced with how much you value time with your friends and family at home. There is no right answer.
It’s going to be very difficult to succeed as a screenwriter even if you have a lot of talent so if you’re not ready to work hard it’s probably not worth moving to Los Angeles.
I personally feel like Los Angeles is a great place to live and work, even if you’re not in the entertainment industry, so I don’t see a lot of downside to giving it a go even if it’s just for a few years.
I’ve written some posts about moving to and living in Los Angeles which you can read here:
http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/tag/living-in-los-angeles/
Especially these two articles:
Moving to Los Angeles and preparing for the long haul
Do you have to live in Los Angeles to be a screenwriter?
If you found this post useful and want to learn more about how to sell your screenplay please check out my book Selling Your Screenplay.
{ 4 comments }
Hi there!
I’m new to the site. Been looking over everything here and found the info very interesting (totally bookmarked it). Especially this particular question that I’ve been wondering about for a while. I live in Charlotte, NC which (from what I’ve heard on the local news) has the potential of becoming the next Hollywood. Just a year or two ago I starting learning how to write screenplays.
I’m hoping Charlotte does attract more Hollywood attention because I just do not have the money to be moving to California (not to mention I’ve moved many times already and it’s getting old; I should probably point out that I’m 20). I “finished” my first spec script and currently working on another. I have a question and I’m not sure if you’ve been asked/answered this yet but: Would one have to attend an expensive film school just to do screenwriting?
No. Film school is most definitely not a requirement for being a screenwriter. Just keep writing and working to get better. A good script is all you need. No one cares about your formal education.
Hello!
Nice and quality web page. It is hard to get a conntact in L.A. Specially if you are from Slovenija!!!! I noticed that treagents exist in L.A. Does anybody have an information about that matter.
Thank you,
I’m really not sure what you mean by “treagents”?
Comments on this entry are closed.