Which is a more lucrative career: Screenwriting or Directing?

Drew Ott said:
I heard Roger Deakins made something like $400k for his work on The Village. This was what somebody told me that they read on IMDb pro.

Geoff, what do you mean by "earning points"?
Click to expand...

you're right. imdbpro.com lists his salary as "$384,750 (last reported) - The Village"
 
Zak Forsman said:
you're right. imdbpro.com lists his salary as "$384,750 (last reported) - The Village"
Click to expand...
It says they started shooting in October 03' and wrap in mid-December of that year... so let's say 2 and a half months of production for the most part; 10 weeks. That'd be $38,475 per week. Of course that doesn't include prep time which might be an additional 3-5 weeks...who knows, but still that's some solid pay :)
 
You also need to think about how easy it is to move to a different project once one wraps (or even simultaneously). When you direct a film, you spend about a year or so on that film. That means all of your resources are wrapped up on that project.

When you write, you can have several projects going on at the same time, which all have the potential to be profitable.

So if you're somewhat of a hustler (for lack of a better term), writing probably has the potential to be more profitable.

Of course, that's only my opinion...
 
yeah, it would seem to me that there's all this writing that gets sold but never made. For a director to work, one of those scripts has to get made. Which means there were ten other scripts that didn't make it that some writer still got paid for.
 
In my opinion, the best gateway's into directing are editor, and DP.

Being able to put together scenes, know how beats work, and to understand how a film works visually are all incredibly valuable when it comes to directing... also, one has to understand character motivations, etc. which writing could actually help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top