Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36912
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

To transition to screenwriter from a novelist you need to:

- Master screenplay format, which is very strict and standardized 
- Learn to approach writing as a collaboration, not a solo activity. You may still _write_ your screenplay alone, but it will not be a movie without the additional work of up to thousands of other people (for a big blockbuster). 
- Focus more on dialog and plot, and learn to do without the work done by the richness of your descriptive prose.

With all that said, I would heavily question your opening assumption, which seems to be that screenwriting is an intrinsically easier and more lucrative career than novelist. A movie is MUCH more expensive and labor-intensive to produce than a book. Furthermore, as a novelist, you can complete a book alone, even if no one publishes it. But it takes a whole team of people to create a movie (unless you are filming yourself on your iPhone). Therefore there are a lot more novels published than movies made, which in turn means that there are fewer successful screenwriters than successful novelists.

Yes, you'll make a huge amount of money --_if you successfully sell a Hollywood blockbuster screenplay_ (sometimes, even if they don't actually ever film it). But if your film is a quiet indie short, you might not make any money from it at all. And where a novelist can live and work anywhere, an unknown Hollywood screenwriting hopeful is likely going to need to live in LA and work the face-to-face social networks.

Original score: 6