I moved to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter. But that was before the internet made the world a lot smaller. So what’s the value of living in L.A. now? Is it necessary?
Of course you can write anywhere, and you can learn about writing (and even take courses and get professional feedback) from anywhere. And you can send in your work to potential managers (usually the first step to selling or working professionally) remotely, as well.
In the best case scenario, when these managers love your stuff and want to meet you, you can fly out to L.A. And then leave. And then come back again if you have meetings with producers and such.
This can definitely work for writing features. For TV, it can be dicier. While everyone hopes to sell their original pilot and have it produced and reach an audience, the more practical reason to come up with a series idea and write a TV pilot on spec is to use it as a writing sample to try to start a TV career. And where do TV careers start? Working on someone else’s show, as part of the writing staff. Which means — if you’re one of the fortunate few who lands such a job — going to an office every day. In L.A.
But say that’s not your interest. Say you’re just starting out, and maybe you’re only writing features. Or you figure that if you stumble into success in TV, you can always consider moving to L.A. when that happens. Fair enough. (Although people don’t really “stumble” into those coveted jobs.)
Do you really need to move to Los Angeles? No.
But somehow writers who find success usually turn out to be ones who did.
Why is that?
A couple things…
To succeed in this field tends to require an extraordinary amount of commitment and chutzpah. It’s not just a hobby. It doesn’t tend to happen for writers with just one script, even if they’ve endlessly rewritten it. It tends to happen for people who are working at this constantly, somehow, daily and passionately, and putting everything into it. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a day job and some other sort of life. But your level of passion, belief and diligence probably has to be really high. You might even have to be certain that this is the life you want, the only life you want, and you’re going to have it.
People who decide that tend to move to L.A. Because it’s “what you do.” So maybe part of the reason why most who succeed already lived in L.A. has to do with that. Their attitude and approach to this undertaking caused them to make a lot of good choices along the way. And one of those, coincidentally, was moving to L.A.
But I think there’s more to it than that. Living in L.A. can jumpstart one’s success for three other reasons:
- If you can surround yourself with people doing what you want to do and learn from the inside, you’ll tend to learn better and faster.
- As you do that, it will help you make it all seem “real and possible” in your own mind.
- In the best case scenario, you’ll also make contacts within the industry. And you’ll naturally be something of an insider already, if and when your work reaches the point where it’s ready. So you’ll have an easier path in moving it forward.
Obviously what I’m talking about here is not just living in L.A. and working at a restaurant. I’m talking about working in the industry as a day job. This usually means starting at an entry level. For writers, it traditionally means entry level office assistant jobs, as opposed to on-set production jobs. And those tend to start with “temping.” If you were to Google “Temp Agencies Los Angeles Entertainment,” you would quickly find the handful of companies that place secretarial “temps” at the major entertainment companies. All of them are looking for new people. It’s easy to apply, and to get placed in short-term assignments. Which can lead to long-term assignments. And assignments in tangentially related entertainment offices can lead to ones that are right where a writer wants to be. Like working for a production company that’s developing material. Or even better, a writer’s assistant job on a TV show.
These are all things that I did when I started out. And trust me, they helped.
When you look at writers who get their first representation and first sales, so often they were already working in the industry in an assistant job, or sometimes as an executive. But it’s not just that they were able to meet the right people in those jobs. The right people mean nothing if the writing isn’t there. Working in those environments and being part of the industry also probably helped them to get it there.
How?
If you’re an assistant, you might get to know people at your level, where you help each other, give feedback, etc. It’s also nice to be local for in-person events, classes and resources that can’t be replicated online. (Though the number of those is shrinking.) But I think the biggest is becoming familiar with the industry and how people think, and how things operate. Being around professional scripts, writers and producers helps you get a feel for things. And it helps you build in yourself that belief that this could be you, and it should be you, and you’re one of them, and you’re ready.
It gives me no pleasure to point all this out. Because I know for a lot of people who are serious about screenwriting, moving to L.A. just isn’t in the cards. Their life situation doesn’t seem to allow it. And maybe they wouldn’t be good candidates for those kinds of “day jobs,” even if they did. (It’s true that they mostly go to people in their 20’s.) But I wouldn’t be honest if I said it makes no difference at all, and it’s equally as easy to get your work to a professional level (the first and hardest part, by far), and to do these other things, from somewhere else.
If nothing else, I would recommend to writers outside of L.A. that they take these things to heart, and try to do what’s described here to the best of their ability, anyway. So much of it is about having the right approach, and about honest and high-quality self-education. And you can do that anywhere. It might not be as easy, but hey, there are a lot of reasons why living in L.A. isn’t easy. Or ideal. It’s definitely not for everyone. But as someone from Ohio originally, I have to admit that the weather is pretty awesome.
You’ve always given sound info. And when the writers are not connected and over 55+, after 9 years, to turn the scripts into books because I’m not getting better connected or any younger.
HI Erik, great article. However, there are somethings that I would beg to differ on. While it certainly has it’s benefits to live in L.A., it’s possible to have some success outside of L.A., now. I say that because of the possibilities that technology have afforded. While the traditional T.V. series is still filmed in L.A., web series can be filmed anywhere. I suggest to any writer who isn’t in a position to head out to L.A., make where ever you are work for you.
I’m lucky enough to have screenwriter’s group right here in my hometown, Pittsburgh, and a very active film community. If you have a group in your town get involved with them, if you don’t, then form one. Our group has really flourished over the past several years. We’ve made many short films, some award winning. We even have our own cable television show. It’s called Fade In, we have hosts that interview local film makers and discuss the latest projects around town. We host Crew Connect in conjunction with another group, where locals can pitch their project and find crew and collaborators to help make it happen.
We’ve had some members leave for L.A., and that’s great. It means we now have contacts out there. If you are young and without a lot of ties to a specific area, then, by all means, it’s the best option. My advice to writers: don’t give up on the writing because of location alone. There are many ways to make it work.
I totally agree!
Hi Erik,
Any tips for someone who lives in Turkey?
I’ve been trying to move to Los Angeles for years. All my stuff is in English, and I have the right style. (Someone in the industry once asked me how long I’d been living in California – my pilot had just captured the atmosphere.)
But when you have to deal with visas and immigration and thousands of dollars of flights, it becomes another beast.
Anyway, great post as always. I’ve been submitting to management/production companies and contests in the meantime.
That is a tougher question because of immigration issues, you’re right. I was lucky in that I came from Ohio! Getting into the U.S. long-term is a whole other challenge, and outside the scope of anything I know much about. Sorry to say!
I’ll keep working on it! 🙂
As a Canadian who eventually got his green card in finance, I can say it is difficult and long. In my opinion, the best way to go for a movie/tv person of any type is to be prolific in your field, win some awards, get as much recognition as possible, and then apply for an EB-1A.
Excellent post, Eric, and I wish I had this kind of information when I started my journey in the entertainment business. I do have one note for you based on my personal experience. I started with the temp secretarial route through temp companies which did get me into production companies and studios but into the corporate end of it where there was very little contact with writers or production companies or TV series or movies to make the contacts necessary to get those entry jobs. Usually shows and movie companies don’t hire temps from agencies — somebody always has a cousin or niece or friend wanting in. My observational experience when I broke in was that those who could intern (work for free) or even PA in the production end of it and are nice and helpful to everyone and are eager to learn will make the connections that get them to those entry level jobs much quicker. Ultimately I tabled the secretarial temp jobs from agencies and took a minimum wage part time page job at Paramount and supplemented that with script reading. Ultimately that little part time page job backed up by the skills i had (i.e., secretarial, hard work, and eagerness to learn) got me known enough by people on the Paramount lot that I got my first writers assistant job on a TV series. Just what I encountered, but your advice here is amazing and like I said, I wish I had had it back when I was in Chicago, planning the move out here.
I think you do raise good points. In the beginning I also was assigned to corporate type temp situations through the agencies, and even after I entered Fox’s in-house temp pool. I actually asked to leave a pretty cushy long-term corporate-type assignment at Fox, at one point, to take my chances in the “pool” again, knowing that I couldn’t predict where I’d be sent (some jobs great, some awful). I also kept my ear to the ground about what was going on at Fox in terms of pilots and series staffing up so that I could internally apply for writers assistant jobs on shows from the inside, when they came up, which is how I ended up a writer’s assistant on a show. But it was just the normal Fox temp pool that sent me, eventually, after I’d paid dues for two years, to Tom Hanks’s production company.
Thanks, Erik! Very useful thoughts and points!
Great post! Thanks! It’s what I did five years ago moving from Cleveland to LA. There’s more opportunity to network, learn and move forward here in LA in a single day than a month or two in Cleveland. And you can’t find the serendipity anywhere else. I’ve met people through people in the oddest of places here in LA. From tour guides to Uber drivers, you’d be surprised who you can meet randomly here. So while it’s crowded, loud, expensive and has the worst traffic I’ve ever scene, this is the place to be if you’re serious about getting it done.
Otherwise, you better have amazing scripts and luck submitting to contests.