When Applying for Writing Jobs
- Aug 24, 2014
- 2 min read
When you are getting your start as a writer, many people will tell you, "you can't sell something that's not on the page." This is very much true, for novelists, poets, song-writers, and screenplay writers. But one thing they don't tell you about screenwriting, is that even if it's written and people think it's great, you have to have something made already. No one jumps behind a screenplay written by a nobody. So the hardest part when starting out as a Screenwriter is to find that first job, where you write something that's going to be made.
When searching for writing jobs, there are a lot of things to watch out for and a lot of good sites that tell you which ones are pulling you leg. The three I check regularly are freelancewritinggigs.com, which has qualified personnel searching job opportunities and sniffing out scams on craigslist for only the legitimate ones. Another I use is LinkedIn, which although about any offer you find on there will be professional, there's not much in the way of creative writing. And the last one is the ISA Connect network, the International Screenwriters Association. This one has a lot of great gig options ranging from credit only all the way to fully paid gigs. The most difficult thing about applying is the wait. Out of over four dozen jobs applied for, I only ever heard back from two of them.
When I first started applying for writing jobs, I tried everywhere with everything, all genres, many different writing jobs. One particular job is working for WritersCash. This has a number of small-time writing projects available, most of which are computational or educational jobs. Another site I used was EssayShark, although my work on there didn't last long. I had a problem with writing other people's essay's for them. And that was the problem for me for both of these sites.
I felt as though if I stared trying to do that for money, it would only keep me from doing what was really necessary. So my best advice when looking for writing work is to be patient and diligant in you efforts and don't compromise on your goals. Depseration can taint your efforts, where you find yourself saying, "I could write essays for money, at least I would be writing something for money." OR you just find yourself compromising to do a few while you still pursue your interests.
Comments