Do you need to be in Los Angeles to consider yourself a screenwriter? Do you need to be in Los Angeles to write a movie that launches your career? Do you need to have an agent or manager to place in screenwriting contest? I think you’re seeing what the trending answer here is – no. “DIY Filmmaking” is no longer a niche or novelty. “Do it yourself” is the key to that term! John Cassavetes made films for low money. So did Orson Wells, who made bad wine commercials to finance his low-budget Shakespeare adaptations. Robert Rodriguez literally wrote the book, and major directors like Spike Lee and Aronofsky got their starts on the cheap. Credit-card filmmaking has been around forever, the watchword being filmmaking. These early low-budget efforts were all shot on film-- which then brings us to what is new in the equation: TECHNOLOGY.
Hollywood. Home of the true 1%. Behind this gated community are the kidney-shaped pools and impeccable hedge rows. The million-dollar mansions and Lamborghini excess. The Country Club of which you are most definitely not a member. You cannot apply to this club. The gatekeepers know you are not of their cloth. They can smell you. You are the Unwashed. They can smell your wanting, your desperation to join them on the inside. They have set up impenetrable motes and ramparts to stop you. How will you scale these walls?
The Curious About Screenwriting podcasts have recently been focusing a lot on the changing trends of the industry – there are big changes currently occurring in Hollywood. So much is shifting – not only from the big screen to the small screen, but technology is allowing writers to create their own material for little to no money. There is a paradigm shift happening right now, and Paul Peditto, long time script consultant and adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago talks with our co-host, Laurie Lamson, and dives into how the industry is changing and how writers can take advantage of it. So grab your pen and paper, be ready to take notes and be inspired. You do have power, and you can control your writing career. The ISA is here to help.
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