Which do you think is easier to be professionally if you don't live in LA or NY, a screenwriter or a novelist

Question

I know both are extremely difficult to break in to, and the chances are very slim, but I'm wondering which one a writer would have a better chance at breaking in to.

Answer 1

I would have thought a novelist

Answer 2

It's very difficult to break into screenwriting without living in LA or going to an MFA program with connections. Novelists can live pretty much anywhere - most of your work is done through the mail.

Answer 3

Novelist, if you have the talent.

A screenwriter would need meetings with producers/directors I would think which would require one to either live in or travel to an area where those persons reside.

Answer 4

First of all, don't sell yourself short. There's lots of jobs that are "Hard to break into," yet people do it all the time.

The main difference is that a screenplay is not a finished work by itself. A screenplay you write for yourself (a Spec Script, For "Speculative" as opposed to "Contracted") has almost no chance of being bought or made into a movie ( Although even this happens) and instead is a calling card. It allows you get interviews and job assignments on other projects. And to do that you need to be where the people are who are hiring screenwriters. That means you really should live in California. There's lots of stories of screenwriters who make a good living without ever getting a movie made- I think the Farrelly Brothers had this happen to them.

Novelists, however, can live almost anywhere. Although the industry is still centered in New York, you can write novels almost anywhere. And although an Agent might help guide and shape your career, and help find projects for you to work on, you're really on your own and responsible for your own production.