Is it hard to become a 'Script Writer' for movies?

Question

Or, just make a living off of it.

Is it hard to get work?

Is there alot of competition?

Would a degree in History help?

And of course a writing one (which course should I take?)

Answer 1

Anyone can write a movie script, the difficulty is selling it.

The best way for a beginner is to send your script to an agent, who, if they like it, may try to sell the rights to a studio or producer. But writers with "name value" and a history of writing successful movies have the inside track.

Even if your script is accepted, don't expect it to be produced just as you wrote it. Directors and producers and stars will often want rewrites, and sometimes another, more experienced "known" writer will be hired to rewrite and "beef up" the script.  

Since you have "sold" the script to a production company, it is theirs to do with as they want, and they will have the final say about the script and what's in it.  

There are a lot of books on screenwriting that give instruction on plot & character decvelopment and format for your script. Some colleges offer classes on play writing and screen writing, and you can sometime find published screenpays in book shops or online that can  give you an idea of format, style, technical terms and terminology for action and camera directions  (Pan, dissolve, Zoom,etc. ) how to deal with off screen dialogue, action descriptions, etc.