Aspiring Screenwriters Face Challenges in Hollywood
The entertainment industry has always been competitive, but for young screenwriters, the current landscape is particularly harsh. Since the start of the year, Brandy Hernandez has applied to nearly 200 entertainment jobs. The 22-year-old film school graduate, who works as a receptionist at the Ross Stores buying office in downtown Los Angeles, said that for most of those applications, she never heard back — not even a rejection. When she did land follow-up interviews, she was almost always ghosted afterward.
Industry-Wide Contraction and Job Scarcity
“I knew that I wouldn’t be a famous screenwriter or anything straight out of college,” said Hernandez, who graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2024. But she thought she’d at least be qualified for an entry-level film industry job. “It shouldn’t be this hard,” she kept thinking. Since the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a widespread production slowdown, the entertainment industry’s recovery has been delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes, some of the costliest wildfires in California’s history, and an industry-wide contraction. Studios scrambling to cut costs amid the turbulence were quick to slash low-level positions that historically got rookies in the door.
The Impact of the Writers’ Strike
“You almost feel cursed,” said Ryan Gimeson, who graduated from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in 2023, in the early days of the writers’ strike. And while screenwriting has always been a competitive field, industry veterans attested that the conditions have rarely ever been harsher for young writers. “In the past 40 years of doing this, this is the most disruptive I’ve ever seen it,” said Tom Nunan, founder of Bull’s Eye Entertainment and a lecturer in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
TV Writing Roles Drop Significantly
The landscape is especially dry in television writing, according to a jobs report released last month by the Writers Guild of America. TV writing roles dropped 42% in the 2023-2024 season that coincided with the strikes, the report said. About a third of those cuts were to lower-level appointments. It’s a far cry from the TV business Liz Alper broke into 15 years ago. Alper, an L.A.-based writer-producer and co-founder of the fair worker treatment movement #PayUpHollywood, came up in the early 2010s, when opportunities in scripted television were still plentiful.
The Rise of Streaming and Its Effects
The CW, for instance, was putting out three original one-hour shows a night, or about 18 to 21 original pieces of programming a week, Alper said. That translated to anywhere between 100 and 200 staff writer slots. But in the last five years or so, the rise of streaming has essentially done the opposite — poaching cable subscribers, edging out episodic programming with bingeable on-demand series, and cutting writing jobs in the process. The job scarcity has driven those in entry-level positions to stay there longer than they used to. A 2021 #PayUpHollywood survey found that most support staffers were in their late twenties, several years older than they were on average a decade ago.
Finding Success in a Competitive Industry
Without those employees moving up and creating vacancies, recent graduates have nowhere to come in. “I think if you have a job, it feels like you’ve got one of the lifeboats on the Titanic, and you’re not willing to give up the seat,” Alper said. Peter Gerard, 24, moved to L.A. from Maryland two years ago to pursue TV writing. After graduating with a data science degree from the University of Maryland, he sensed it was his last chance to chase his dream. Within weeks of arriving in L.A. in April 2023, he landed a handful of job interviews and even felt hopeful about a few. Then the writers guild went on strike. “I came moments before disaster, and I had no idea,” he said. Lore V. Olivera, 26, has gotten used to her senior counterparts waxing nostalgic about the “good old times.” “I think they’re definitely romanticizing a bit,” she said, “but there is some truth in there.”
Conclusion
The entertainment job market has suffered significantly due to the ongoing exodus of productions from California, where costs are high and tax incentives are low. Legislation that would raise the state’s film tax credit to 35% of qualified spending — up from its current 20–25% rates — is pending after winning unanimous votes out of the Senate revenue and taxation committee and the Assembly arts and entertainment committee. Supporters say the move is critical for California to remain competitive with other states and countries. Meanwhile, young creatives are questioning whether L.A. is the place to launch their careers. Weary from the “black hole” of job applications, Hernandez said she, too, is focused on bringing her own work to life. In an ideal world, that leads to a film festival or two, maybe even agency representation. But mostly, what drives her is pride in the work itself. “If I’m successful in my mind,” said Hernandez, “I’m content with that.”
FAQs
Q: What has been the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry?
A: The pandemic triggered a widespread production slowdown, which has been further delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes, some of the costliest wildfires in California’s history, and an industry-wide contraction.
Q: How have TV writing roles been affected by the strikes?
A: TV writing roles dropped 42% in the 2023-2024 season that coincided with the strikes, according to a jobs report released by the Writers Guild of America.
Q: What is the current state of the entertainment job market in California?
A: The entertainment job market has suffered significantly due to the ongoing exodus of productions from California, where costs are high and tax incentives are low.
Q: What are young creatives doing to adapt to the current industry landscape?
A: Many young creatives are focusing on bringing their own work to life, creating independent films, and attending writing classes to build their portfolios.
