What’s your brand as a screenwriter? It’s a question every writer faces, whether you’re pitching to producers, applying to writing programs, or aiming for a spot in a writers’ room.
Your brand is more than a genre or buzzword—it’s your creative identity, the key to standing out and getting staffed in a competitive industry. In our latest blog, we break down how to define your voice, showcase your strengths, and create a brand that opens doors without boxing you in.
Click here to read the blog and start building your standout screenwriting identity: https://www.screenwritingstaffing.com/post/building-your-brand-as-a-scre...
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This was effectively how I broke in. While everyone else was throwing mud at the wall through endless competitions submissions, I was blogging about my journey and outlook. That got me recommended to a director. That director then saw my website, read my bio, and wondered if my writing lived up to everything else - thankfully, for him, it did.
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Jacob, thank you! Terrific brand-building advice.
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Great blog, Jacob N. Stuart! I mainly write Horror and Action, and I've noticed that I write about the same themes a lot, like asking for help/accepting help. I've been working on coming up with a sentence for my brand like "I create speculative worlds that examine humanity’s moral gray areas" in the blog. Thanks for the tips!
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Its always great reading a script where the writer has stamped their own voice on the page. Its not a case of going out of your way to "have a thing", but it comes from experience and earning confidence in your own ability.
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I have no brand, just in the right place at right time. And it wasnt Luck. I put myself in spaces & situations where ppl actually make stuff for a living/income, and I got that tap on the shoulder by a stranger, "hey I heard you write. Wanna help me?" I know many ppl who met business partners via the internet but I still believe in being in the same rooms, same places. I guess being young then and having zero responsibilities outside of work helped.
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As ever, I feel the situation denotes the strategy. When I'm on set, being in that space, around people who can make things happen, moves me forward at light-speed compared to trying to network online.
However, absolutely nothing compares to word of mouth. You have a reputation for delivering and people are singing your praises for you.
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I believe my strongest brand is that of Redemption, which focuses on lost, broken characters desperately attempting to weave their ways through some of life’s most psychologically, brutal avenues.
Examples: LIFE OF BRADLEY examines a devoted family man, fighting passionately for his kids in a 1972 Massachusetts child custody battle. He has ZERO chance of victory, yet with strong faith as his armor, he is awarded custody of ALL of his children and the wife / mother has 24 hours to vacate the property. Based on a true story. I like to call this one the “ROCKY II” of divorce.
WHERE’S GRACE? offers the current lives of two women viewed as damaged goods, defined by traumatic childhoods. Protagonist Debra is a chronic alcoholic who takes a leave of absence from work in order to nurse her condition, while her husband has filed for divorce and child custody of their daughter, Grace (6).
Antagonist Brinn is a child serial killer on the hunt for her next little girl. Both troubled strangers share an odd, uncomfortable encounter in a clothing store fitting room on page 20. By page 90, Both meet again in a riveting and dynamic car chase when Grace is snatched by Brinn.
GRACE was an Official Selection at the 2024 Beverly Hills International Film Festival and at the 2023 Block Island Film Festival. The short script version was a “Second Rounder” at the 2021 Austin Film Festival.
Other scripts that express my brand of Redemption include the comedy, SOUTH OF SOUTH BOSTON (VIRGINIA), and the slow-burning thriller, DREAM HOLLYWOOD.
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Well said CJ Walley
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Online branding's tough, especially these days as online platforms keep shifting year to year. Twitter used to be a great place to brand yourself as a writer and i know multiple writers who got repped by putting in long campaigns on there, but recently it's gotten pretty wack and splintered by threads and bluesky. TikTok has been a unique place for young writers marketing themselves in recent years too, but with the upcoming legislation this week, it may soon vanish. Where does that leave us with online options? Facebook? yeah, right. LinkedIn? tough crowd. Instagram? gets old quick. The best branding is always just being cool with a lot of people in real life, making unique connections through your existing network, and constantly pushing to know more people and have more people know you, so you have more chances to exhibit your quality of work.
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Facebook and LinkedIn work okay for me. I'm in an old industrial town in the UK. We don't even have a film industry here, so networking in person is pretty much impossible.
The crux of it all, online or offline, is if you come across as acting like everyone else is there to help you or if you are there to help everyone else. There's a huge difference. There's quite a few screenwriters I see on social media who clearly think their own personal dream is the only one that matters. They want everyone else to carry them over the finish line and then worship them on the podium. 90% of what I see is just people talking about competitions too, which is neither inspiring nor reassuring to see.
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Jacob, thanks for the post!
Me...well, I've come to realize that my brand as a screenwriter is: I like to turn out stories of empowerment...of people out to find their own voices.
And a lot of my lead characters are musical people, since I've been around music most of my life (starting with listening to the radio when I was three).
I'm a fan of history, too. And I'm out to show that if we don't learn from our history (whether it's personal, national, international, what have you), we'll repeat our history.
On top of that, I want to turn out stuff that's fun to read...irreverent at times. But mainly, fun!