The International Student Blog

Yes, it is Hollywood. Yes, you do get to meet the stars. Yes, you do get to have your ideas and stories broadcast to millions of viewers from around the world. Screenwriting for movies and television is about creating and storytelling in a way that truly touches people. It is one of the purest forms of artistic expression and most of the time you get to work from home.

International students interested in pursuing creative writing for entertainment in order to study screenwriting for movies and television should know it is one of the most interesting, exciting and lucrative professions in the entertainment business. Screenwriters for the motion picture industry made a median income of $62,000 annually in 2010, with the top ten percent earning $109,440 a year, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many benefits include getting to choose your subject matter, having a very flexible work environment and hours, and many writers do freelance screenwriting where they essentially become their own boss.

The BLS advises that a degree is important and most students wanting to enter this profession choose English, journalism or communications as preferable majors when a specific screenwriting program is not available. Unlike screenwriting for other forms of entertainment where students are required to learn various types of new media, screenwriting for movies and television still revolves around the fundamental concepts of creativity, form and storytelling.

Breaking into the industry as an international student is based primarily on the reputation writers build for themselves with their work. Instead of a typical business structure where an employee works their way up through the years, a writer can go from an undergraduate to a major Hollywood screenwriter with just one script.

With the possibility of fame, fortune and artistic freedom, writing for movies and television is a profession many international students looking to study creative writing for entertainment choose to pursue.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 at 9:00 am and is filed under International Student, International Student Study Section, Study in the USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Written by Bryanna Davis

Bryanna joined EIC in 2011 after returning to the United States from teaching English in China. Her interest in international education, sparked initially by her own study abroad experience in Wales, led her to the company. Bryanna is originally from Missouri and is a graduate from the University of Central Missouri.

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