What Are Strong Goals in Screenwriting?

Your goals in screenwriting can be whatever you want them to be when you start out. As I have mentioned before, give yourself a lot of grace when you are starting to hone this craft. There is a lot that you need to know. But as long as you are taking the proper steps, you will be well on your way. I will say that setting your own internal goals and making them small at first is a good way to start building habits. Just make the decision to write every day. Even if it’s just pulling out your notes app and jotting down an interesting character trait you witnessed. Or going on a walk and thinking about a scene and the beats of the scene, this is all considered writing in my book. But I strongly recommend you study story structure from a reliable course first. And I mean someone who has actually worked professionally. It is better to start off knowing the correct elements of screenwriting first, then trying to just figure it out on your own. This is key to honing in what are strong goals in screenwriting.

Screenwriting is such an interesting medium as you are starting out, because no one cares if you write every day or you don’t. It’s all up to you and how much you want to hold yourself accountable. It is very very easy not to write. It takes dedication and discipline to set aside an hour or so every single day to dedicate to your craft. In this article, we will talk more about goals and how they differ between professional screenwriters to amateurs, and some of the other struggles and obstacles you may experience on your screenwriting journey.

Why Setting Goals Is Crucial for Screenwriters

Setting your goals for screenwriting is crucial for so many reasons. Obviously, your number one goal you need to accomplish to potentially become a professional screenwriter is, you have to write your scripts. You have to put in years and years and years of this free labor and dedication, building up your abilities and compiling as many scripts as you can. Screenwriting is not on-the-job training. When you finally get hired to be a screenwriter, it is going to be because you already know how to write. You don’t want to set goals that are so unrealistic that you are going to feel overwhelmed. Set small goals to start off, so you are building that habit of honing your craft every day.

Since story structure is the most important part of a script, I suggest you make sure you are building your days around some sort of structure where you can sit down and do the writing. You want to make screenwriting become such a habit that if there is a day where you don’t do any writing, you actually feel a bit guilty. The more you write, the better you will be.

Types of Goals for Screenwriters

From a creative POV, you are going to have to set a lot of goals to finish that first script… and in reality… every script. But the first script is going to be the hardest and probably not that good. But again, give yourself grace. This stuff isn’t easy.

Every step of the way, you should treat everything like a goal. When you write your logline, that’s a goal. When you start breaking the story on a whiteboard, that’s a goal. When you go off and write the outline, that’s a goal. When you finish the first draft of the script, that’s a goal. When you revise it, that’s a goal. When you send it out to friends and family to get feedback, that’s a goal. All of these are necessary goals in the creative process. You have to complete these goals over and over again before you can really even think about getting staffed and turning professional. And that’s how it should be. It doesn’t make sense for someone to want to hire you if you have never written a script. You don’t want a pilot flying a plane if they have never taken pilot lessons, right?

Your career goals can be a little more complex, but by no means should this prevent you from writing. Get it out of your head that you are going to sell your first script. You have never really worked professionally. And I don’t mean that to be rude. It’s just the reality. Your first TV writing gig, you are probably going to have to get on your own. Agents and managers aren’t necessarily going to help you do this. And chances are, they won’t even take you on as a client until you have been staffed on a show. You need to prove to them that you are a viable writer before they will really do any work. 

There is no book on how to get that first staff writing position. But I think the most linear way is to start working on a show as a Production Assistant. And if you can get a job as the Writers Production Assistant, that’s even better. Then over the course of the next few years, if you build those genuine connections with the writers and are continually honing your craft, you might eventually get staffed on a show with them. But again, this process could take years. But these odds are far better than thinking you are just somehow, someway going to randomly sell your script to a network without ever having worked professionally. 

Common Pitfalls in Goal-Setting and How to Avoid Them

Not giving yourself grace and realistic timelines can be the downfall of a lot of screenwriters. Everyone seems to just want that overnight success, and that just doesn’t really happen… and actually I don’t think it ever did. Even if you “get discovered” day 1 in Hollywood, it is going to take at least a year before people can ACTUALLY see your work. And 1 year is not overnight. So I think managing your expectations and goal-setting can really help you stay motivated. Again, this is like being a professional athlete. You need to study and practice for years before you are ready to become a professional. And it can be very daunting for people to have to wrap their mind around it, taking 5, 10, maybe even 15 years to finally get that professional writing job. That is a lot of time to keep grinding away, and I can guarantee it will be frustrating.

Studying from the wrong sources can also be such a detriment to your development as a screenwriter. Really do your research before you purchase any sort of screenwriting educational materials or courses. Make sure the person you are studying from has the experience to back it up. There are a lot of scams out there, and people want to take advantage of your hopes and dreams while they try to convince you that they know what they are talking about. 

Be very cautious of some of these “coverage and feedback services” and what they are offering. Again, the people who are going to be reading these scripts for these services, I can almost guarantee, are not high-level Executive Producers. They are most likely recent college grads who are doing this for extra income. In my opinion, they don’t really have the merit or qualifications to give people feedback.   

Conclusion

Make your screenwriting goals whatever you want them to be. Just make sure you are taking steps towards it. It is perfectly okay to change goals and timelines, just make sure you are doing it because it is necessary, not because you are being lazy and not honing your craft. Make sure you are starting smaller so you can build that confidence and make screenwriting an everyday habit for you. Especially on those days when you just don’t feel like writing, I will encourage you to write. Because changes are, if you don’t feel like writing, there is probably some emotional crisis you are dealing with, and as a screenwriter, that could become an amazing story, and you want to make sure you have those emotions written down somewhere. But all in all, your goal needs to be to learn the craft and learn how to tell a story in the medium of TV and Film.

Michael has some free lessons you can watch, so you can start your journey and learn more about story structure and the storytelling process.

I encourage you to sign up. It’s free! Literally no excuse. It’s free! And just in case you don’t know what “free” means, “free” means “FREE.” Do you know what ISN’T free?

Having regrets.

But what IS free is Michael’s free screenwriting lesson.

Sign up and start your screenwriting journey today with a lesson from Michael Jamin at michaeljamin.com/free.

Did I mention that these free lessons are FREE?

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