Hi everyone, I'm new to the website.  I was curious as to what kind of credentials/academic background most of you aspiring or established screenwriters have?  I ask this because my background is in electrical engineering - possibly the furthest degree from creative writing possible   

Do producers/directors typically look at academic credentials to decide on their scripts, or do the scripts sell themselves?

Thanks a lot everyone!

cob

My background is a High School education and a lifetime spent watching far too many movies.

Work wise, I worked in a grocery store in my younger years, have recently worked as a Warehouse Operations Manager, and am currently working as an IT Distrbution Specialist.

Personally, I don't think academic credentials play any type of role in the film industry, other than being able to make contacts with other writers/filmmakers to network with while in school that may possibly prove beneficial down the line.

As far as my background in relation to my current career status....I have three feature length films (one spec and two writing assignments) scheduled to go into production in September.

I failed all five of the classes I took in the one semester of university I attended in 2002 because I spent most of my time cavorting with sexy women.  

I'm an English Major at university right now. Other than that I've worked a year at a school for disabled kids, but I doubt that's gonna give me a head-start in this business...

Perhaps when dealing with Hollywood execs?

I have high school GCSE English and I'm going to be doing HNC Communications with Media in August.

I have worked in the insurance industry for 12 years now, the last 6 as an aviation underwriter.

Talk about NOT being inspired by your work!

I finished high school.

And now I throw myself in front of cars and sue the driver.....  


Matt.

I dropped out of high school in year ten because pocket money just wasn't covering the cost of my drug and alcohol consumption, so I got a job. However, I don't touch the dope or the sauce anymore.  

Certificate Four in Media Studies; which is one rung under a diploma. All I did was make short films. I made two of my own and I worked on a bunch for other people. No assignments or tests. It was cool.    

I've attended screenwriting seminars and read a lot of text books about screenwriting and filmmaking. So I guess you could say I’m self educated. Go on say it.

This has nothing to do with screenwriting, but I've also done a fair bit of training for my day job in the drug and alcohol field. Hmm. Is anyone seeing a connection between my leaving school and my current occupation?

I've watched a billion movies and when it comes to movies (and my football team) I'm like a sponge. I'll devour and memorize any information that comes my way, no matter how trivial. If only my mind worked that well in other areas.

So there you go, a text book example of what a writer's CV should look like.

What education? From what I've read here, I have the least of it. I thought real life was more interesting than a classroom. Ditto that for my husband. Our kids on the other hand are overachiving A+++++ students with the longest and most impressive resumes. They know nothing about life however....

I've found that most, and say most, people with higher qualifications have absolutely no common sense what so ever and completing the simplest of tasks becomes the greatest challenge for them.

Writing a sceenplay, a good screenplay, comes down to having imagination and determination and the sometimes the best results are achieved by weirdos who sit in front of their computer for months talking to no one and producing a fantastic script.  Oh how I long to be a weirdo, I spend ample time in front of my computer, but I'm affraid there are just to much interesting stuff out there (the men know what I mean).  

As far as my credentials go, I've work as a mechanic, in an office, in a youth project and now as a postman so...I lost what I was gonna say.  Oh my credentials for screen writing are probably none, except for english qualifications, life skills and 5 gold stars in getting the shit kicked out of me (a nod to Edmund).

I have a first class degree in English Language and Literature and an MA in Fiction Film Production.

I also have a legal diploma and am a part-qualified accountant.

I've made the decision to run my small Production Company full-time and see where it leads.

Quoted Text Do producers/directors typically look at academic credentials to decide on their scripts, or do the scripts sell themselves?

Generally speaking I would certainly say the script is the most important thing. You can be highly educated, yet unable to think creatively enough to be a good writer.

As others have said there is no substitute for real-life experience. Someone who has travelled and got into unusual situations and met many colourful characters may be able to write a far more involving story than someone who has studiously studied literary theory and read every screenwriters book.

Screenwriting, despite being an art, is also an industrial process. Producers want to make money. Whatever budget they are working with, they are looking to increase the investment by an amount that is greater than the sum of money they would receive from alternative revenue streams like the Stock Exchange.

Don't forget that the studios are no longer ran, necessarily, by film fans, they are run by the boards of multi-national companies. Accountants are the people who decide which films get made these days. They tend to go by the numbers.

The more intelligent the script is, the less of a market there will be. That, unfortunately is the situation we find ourselves in at the present time.

I graduated High school, spent some time in the U.S. Army, took a couple years of accounting classes, and another year of legal secretary courses.
I have worked in factories and retail. Mostly retail.

I was always good at crunching numbers. I like to garden, paint (acrylic or oil), crafts, and I played a couple instruments.

I've won awards for my paintings, my poetry, my short stories, and my screenplays. I had one short produced, and one half-produced. (the guy got busy doing other things)

I think writing a script is a lot like crunching numbers... working out a puzzle... and you have to be creative. Working with the public helps with dialogue, too.

I think you'll find that a lot of screenwriters either are artists or musicians, too. They have the need to create something.

Cindy

Quoted from alffy I've found that most, and say most, people with higher qualifications have absolutely no common sense what so ever and completing the simplest of tasks becomes the greatest challenge for them.

That sounds like me. I can't screw in a lightbulb but I can give a speech about the democratic enfranchisement of the 1640s in England. I'm counting on living a place where there are no lightbulbs and everybody loves meaningless trivia.

Then again, think about it: "How do you screw in a lightbulb?" will never be a question on "Who wants to be a millionaire?". So why bother?

Once in boarding school I was doing mandatory kitchen duty and the janitor saw me sweeping the floor and told me: "Stick to the books, kid, you're never gonna learn how to sweep a floor".

So I did.

I have an example of my statement, highly qualified people have no common sense.  This is mainly for the English as it refers to a cricket bat, no offence America but you probably don't have a clue what that it is, I mean hardly anyone here plays it!  In any case, I guess you could compare it to a baseball bat.

Anyway the reference.  One of my mates was a proper swot at school, then college and after, uni.  He had qualifications coming out of his arse, yet while playing cricket for a laugh one day I proved my point.  It was his turn at the crease so he picked up my cricket bat, for a laugh I said mine was a left handed one so he best choose another...and so he dropped mine and choose another!

Like baseball bats, cricket bats are universal and yet he was totally oblivious to this, what a plonker!  Give him an mathmatics question and no problem but ask him to get you some tartan paint and he'd spend all day in B&Q!

Quoted from alffy I have an example of my statement, highly qualified people have no common sense.  This is mainly for the English as it refers to a cricket bat, no offence America but you probably don't have a clue what that it is, I mean hardly anyone here plays it!  In any case, I guess you could compare it to a baseball bat. Anyway the reference.  One of my mates was a proper swot at school, then college and after, uni.  He had qualifications coming out of his arse, yet while playing cricket for a laugh one day I proved my point.  It was his turn at the crease so he picked up my cricket bat, for a laugh I said mine was a left handed one so he best choose another...and so he dropped mine and choose another! Like baseball bats, cricket bats are universal and yet he was totally oblivious to this, what a plonker!  Give him an mathmatics question and no problem but ask him to get you some tartan paint and he'd spend all day in B&Q!

I'm also kinda absent-minded, dreaming up things most of the time, so I can't rule out that I wouldn't have done the same.  

I had to ASK how you made tea when I was 19-years old 'cause I had never had it in my life. You can imagine how that went down with the people around me.

I guess it's just a matter of necessity and interest. Practical work doesn't interest me in the slightest. Although I do play the piano and guitar, so it's not that my hands don't work...

But I learned a lot the year I was out working, so I'm much less gullible now.