The Many Roads to a Finished Film

How Movies Get Made and Distributed

When I first launched my career as a screenwriter, sitting behind a computer, cranking out stories and getting paid was all I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I had several produced screenplays under my belt that the shine of that experience started to wear off and I began to want to stretch creatively. By that time, I’d watched all the movies I’d written premiere on various networks and honestly, some I liked, and some I didn’t.

That’s the thing about movies. They’re one of the most collaborative art forms-- and business endeavors-- out there and there are bound to be times when the people hired to be a part of that collaboration don’t necessarily have the same vision as you did when you were creating the whole thing from scratch. It’s not surprising that many screenwriters eventually become writer-directors or writer-producers just to have more control in making sure what ends up onscreen is somewhat close to what they envisioned back when they were sitting alone, staring at a blank pag…