Writers hope that there will be an audience for what they write and that they can get paid for their writing To come full circle, we should remember the opening chapters of the book in which we made the point that scripts are blueprints, instructions to a production team, and that audiences don't generally read scripts. Although writing may begin as a purely creative act, at some point the question arises: What is the value of this writing? If writing is a professional skill, then how much is it worth? What is someone paying you for? What are your obligations?

The answers to these questions can vary according to the market in which sector you choose to practice your craft. Broadly, the writing market divides between the entertainment world and the corporate world. The first is perhaps more glamorous, more competitive, and more highly paid but also a great deal riskier than the second, which is less familiar to most would-be writers. In both worlds, the overwhelming majority of writers are freelance.

WRITING FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD

The writer is indispensable, yet not always valued at least in the entertainment world this is so. Sam Goldwyn is reported to have called scriptwriters "Shmucks with Underwoods." An Underwood, for those who have no cultural memory about this, is a make of typewriter. So you're a shmuck with a laptop. Robert Altman's brilliant film, The Player (1992), gives you an...