Terri Deno: Author, content creator and screenwriter in Zionsville, Indiana.

There are only about 900 scripts produced in the English speaking world a year. Well, not including short scripts. About half of those are adaptations from established writers, and from what's left a lot are written by hyphenates (including writer directors.) Yet, on many screenwriting networks, there are over ten times that many people claiming to be screenwriters.

About one in three thousand screenplays that the studio reads may end up getting produced. Most scripts never even get read.

Screenwriting is one of the most competitive jobs in the world, more competitive than most professional athletes.

What I find strange is, despite the fact that there's ideally only one screenwriter per film (when there's more than one, it's someone messing with your work), about 1/4 to 1/2 or more of people on filmmaking networks want to be screenwriters. (Another puzzling phenomenon is the high number of film festival organisers.)

Now, for those of us who enjoy writing, as a passtime, perhaps it's not strange. But, those who have never written a script, who have no idea how to tell a story, and still want to pursue this rather than a less competitive avenue, (or more lucrative one) I'd like to know, why?

Happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to all!

What concrete changes do you commit to make this year to improve your careers?

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Erika Arbak and I'm a director/cinematographer/photographer from the Pacific Northwest. I am 100% self taught, and learning more every single day! My first film was an experimental short called ULTERRAN. I'm hoping to dive into more than just experimental shorts. Currently, I'm writing my first screenplay and let me tell you, cinematography and directing is where I'm supposed to be. So I joined Stage 32 to hopefully meet some lovely creatives to collaborate with, since I finally learned that, hey, you CAN'T do everything by yourself. And shouldn't! I'd love to hear more about some of you, start some friendships and create some beautiful films!

I'm not used to writing scripts. I've worked on everything from books to movie reviews, blogs, websites, marketing copy, travel articles...writing a script is technically different. I received some feedback, and I was told I need more fade ins, fade outs, cut to this, cut to that...Where can I find a book or some other resource that would help me, not the story and characters, but with the technical formatting, etc? Thanks!

Hi Everyone! My name is Terri Deno and I'm a writer. I don't have any writing credits in film (yet) but I'm really excited to be a part of this community. My favorite scripts to write are family/drama, but I've tried my hand at comedy and action as well.

Hello Terri -

Welcome to the community! I'm Amanda Toney, the Managing Director at Stage 32. Since 2013 I've been proud to oversee Stage 32's Next Level Education, which provides you the most up-to-date tools necessary to become a better creative.

Over the years Stage 32 has worked with over 500 industry executives and professionals to teach online webinars, classes and intensive labs exclusively for you - our Stage 32 community. We bring you instructors who have worked directly on some of your favorite films, TV shows or theater productions to teach you in-the-trenches information that you won't find anywhere else on producing, directing, financing, writing, packaging, acting and more.

Our Next Level Education has a 97% satisfaction rate and averages 4.5 out of 5 stars. Plus, we've had the honor to be called "LinkedIn meets Lynda.com for film, television and theater creatives" by Forbes Magazine.

I encourage you to take the next step to continue learning and expanding your career by clicking here, or clicking "education" on your top menu bar.

I'm grateful you've joined the Stage 32 community. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Amanda

Hi Terri. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 400,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members to pay it forward by inviting 5 fellow creatives to the network and by spreading the word of Stage 32 through other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The more creatives, the stronger the network. The stronger the network, the more opportunities.

Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. I very much look forward to your contributions.

Thanks, and have a creative day!

RB

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