Every Screenwriter Has A Different Journey by Christine Conradt

Film Courage: So I think aside from writing all of these scripts that you do and rewrites, you also do speaking engagements and you go to conferences?

Christine Conradt, Screenwriter: I do. I speak a lot at conferences actually. And I do a lot of workshops which are a lot of fun. I love teaching and I also do consulting when people hire me to read their scripts so I do that, too. Which is great because it’s also another form of teaching. When I do consulting they obviously give me a feature that I’m giving notes on. It’s really not about giving notes for that particular script, it’s about teaching them how to become better writers and so that’s a lot of fun for me, too.

Film Courage: And so they can go to your website (which link we will have underneath the video) and they can contact you?

Christine Conradt: Yes, all the information is there [Christineconradt.com].

Film Courage: Let’s say I’m a hypothetical person attending one of these conferences and then I’m one of the people waiting in line to talk to you and just say “Hey, really enjoyed the information, I was wondering…” And that is, “How can I become a working writer, so I don’t have to work a part-time job? I just want to go right into it”

Christine Conradt: I think that everybody’s journey is so different in this business. If you want to become a doctor, you go to med school, you do your residency and you become a doctor and you go work at a hospital. That’s not the way it works in the film industry.

The key to success in the film industry is being open to opportunities and being able to see them when they come.  Everybody has this sort of Type-A personality plan where we go “Okay, so I want this by this date and then I’m going to try to do this.” And we think of that as being ambitious, right?  That we have a plan that we’re working toward something and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But if you get too obsessed with that, so much so that you don’t see opportunities that come to you (that may not fall in that plan), you can miss out on a lot of opportunities that come to you that may not fall in that plan, you an miss out on a lot of opportunities…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).