There’s a romantic myth that screenwriting is pure art. There’s also a more realist and sometimes cynical belief that screenwriting is more of a business than an artform.
The truth actually lies in between those two perspectives.
Screenwriting as an Art
The art form of screenwriting is evident when screenwriters find themselves in front of that blank screen and blinking cursor, waiting for the inspiration to come. Screenwriters conjure worlds and characters from their imagination, no different than a painter creating art on a blank canvas.
The screenwriter’s blank canvas is that blank screen. Telling cinematic stories is like painting an epic work of art. At its core, screenwriting is storytelling. And storytelling is art.
When you watch artistic masterpieces like The Shawshank Redemption, There Will Be Blood, One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, Hamnet, Moonlight, and so many more, you’re not thinking about budgets, tax incentives, and international pre-sales - you’re feeling something. That emotional resonance, that human connection, is art.
Any type of art is about risk. You’re asked to be vulnerable by putting yourself and your ideas out there. When you’re deep in the writing process where the dialogue is flowing, the scenes are falling in place together, and you’re solving plot issues to convey a better story, you’re not practising a business strategy. You’re following your creative instincts to tell the best possible story you can. That’s art.
The Business Reality of Screenwriting
Here’s the hard truth about screenwriting - the writing element of screenwriting is an art, but filmmaking is an industry.
Unlike a novel, your script cannot exist as a shared expression of art on its own. Your script is a blueprint for a collaborative and expensive venture. These days, even a “small” indie film that manages to get into theaters or on streaming platforms may cost $2-5 million. A major studio tentpole? $100 million and beyond.
In that respect, your script isn’t just a product of art: it’s a business and investment proposal for filmmakers, crews, corporate executives, financiers, shareholders, etc. You’re asking investors, producers, studios, networks, or streamers to risk millions of dollars to produce your piece of art, even if that art may have been developed with a more business-friendly story in mind.
The moment money enters the conversation, business enters the craft.
To pick which movies are made, studios, networks, and streamers analyze:
- Audience demographics
- Comparable titles (“comps”)
- Streaming performance data
- International viability
- Potential star attachment
- Budget-to-Return ratio
The art is still there, but when it comes to money needed to make that art come to life on the intended cinematic scope of a screen, there’s no escaping the marriage of art and business in screenwriting. A romantic drama may be beautifully written, but if similar films have underperformed for the past few years, executives may hesitate greenlighting a script. On the flip side, a horror script may not be groundbreaking art, but if it can be made for $10-20 million dollars, the horror genre is widely known to be a successful gamble as far as budget-to-gross potential.
The inevitable business end of screenwriting doesn’t take away the truth of screenplays being art. It just means that there’s a context that can’t be ignored. The intention of a screenplay is always to see it produced and released for audiences to experience. For that to happen, a lot of business decisions and deals have to be made.
Screenwriters Who Just See the Art
If unproduced screenplays were a commodity in the publishing world, screenwriters could more so focus on the art of screenwriting alone. Sadly, that’s not the case. Screenplays are written to be produced. And to get your scripts produced, you need to find the perfect business partner in a financier, investor, executive, producer, and director.
Some screenwriters lean so hard into creating “art” that they reject all commercial considerations that are often necessary for any script to be produced.
They say things like:
- “I don’t write for the market.”
- “If they don’t get it, that’s not my problem.”
- “I’m not going to compromise my vision.”
There is integrity in that mindset, but there’s no denying the hard truth that studios, production companies, networks, and streamers are into the cinematic content business to make a profit. And it’s not just about profits for the higher-ups to enjoy; it’s also paying for the company employees and paying for the hundreds upon hundreds of industry professionals that take part in making each movie come to life for all to see.
Here’s the question all screenwriters need to face: Do you want to express yourself, or do you want your script to be produced? Those two dynamics aren’t always the same goals.
If you’re writing purely for artistic expression, great. That’s valid. Not everything needs to be monetized. But if your goal is to make a living as a screenwriter - and to get your screenplays produced - you need to understand the business-end of screenwriting. You need to study the market and get a feeling for what sells, what doesn’t, and what ways you can break through.
That’s not selling out. That’s being strategic.
Screenwriters Who Only See the Business
On the flip side, some screenwriters only focus on the business end of screenwriting. They see it more as an opportunity to write something, anything, that sells. That is their driving goal.
The problem with this approach is that they’ll start seeing themselves chasing trends. If one type of movie has popped up high in the box office charts, others try to jump on that wave.
Here’s the issue when it comes to screenwriters: By the time a trend is going strong, Hollywood is already trying to capitalize on it. And Hollywood is always well ahead of the pack in that respect. When you’re a beginning screenwriter with no major credits to your name, it will take you far too long to jump on any trend. By the time you write the script, get representation for the script to be taken out, and get a decision-maker to read it, the trend has already played itself out in the box office. If the trend is still going strong, there are already plenty of studio or streamer trend chasers greenlit, produced, or released.
If you remove the artistry of screenwriting for the pursuit of business checkmarks alone, you’re going to create something that feels hollow and forgettable. Hollywood readers and audience members see through most trend-chasing scripts and movies.
In an industry that is flooded with "competent" scripts, standing out is everything.
It’s About Embracing Screenwriting as BOTH an Art and Business
Pro screenwriters are dually aware. They embrace the art of screenwriting while leaning into the business-end of it with a strategic mindset.
The questions and considerations made by screenwriters like this showcase that duality.
- Is this emotionally authentic?
- Is the concept marketable?
- Is the story compelling?
- Is the budget realistic?
These types of questions and considerations don’t kill creativity and artistry: they refine them.
- You can write a deeply personal piece about grief, but maybe you frame it within a genre structure that gives it more commercial viability.
- You can write a character-driven piece, but give it some oomph by finding a compelling and original high concept hook to draw more audiences in.
And, in turn, if you’re starting from a more business approach:
- You can take a big action story and inject artistic character dynamics, deep-meaning themes, and unique story choices.
When you look at a franchise like James Cameron’s Avatar movies, they’re big action-packed 3D theme park-like experiences that also tell heartfelt stories about race, religion, family, and environmental issues.
Screenwriting is the ultimate collision of art and business. Sure, works of art in the form of poetry, novels, and painting can produce products that are sold - sometimes for millions. However, unproduced screenplays are never published. They are never written with the hope of selling the publishing rights or a collector buying the sole hard copy of the script for display. That’s not what screenwriting is about. Screenwriting is about creating a cinematic story for the purpose of production.
If you go into screenwriting knowing the necessary duality of art and business, you’ll be far more successful than solely embracing it as an art form or quick way to make some money.
Write One for You, One for Them
If you’re struggling with this dual nature of screenwriting - as far as needing to balance your screenwriting perspective between art and business approaches - one of the go-to methods experienced screenwriters utilize is the “one for me, one for them” approach.
Make no mistake, there is a place for more artistic and unconventional screenplays. We see them on the awards circuit every year. It’s just a little more difficult to get those screenplays produced.
If you’re itching to write a more artistic screenplay… if the inner whispers are pushing you in that direction… one way you can balance this art versus business duality is writing one for you, and then writing one for them.
Write an Artistic One for You
Whether it’s just for you and/or something you just need to get out of your head, you can write with a bit more freedom. If your intention is for it to eventually be produced, you’ll always need to keep the general industry guidelines and expectations in place when it comes to format, structure, and characterization. But if you just want to write something for your eyes only, have at it.
Something to keep in mind: Most artistic and unconventional films out there are made through the indie approach (self-financing or through finding financiers), often by way of auteurs who write and direct their own films. Screenwriters can also partner with filmmakers to create indie projects as well.
So, to satisfy that artist in you, try writing a script where you don’t worry about all of the financial elements down the road. Just write your cinematic tale.
Write One for Hollywood
Now it’s time to write one for Hollywood. This is when you do your research, understand the market, and try to write something that is both familiar and new at the same time.
Hollywood likes the familiar because that’s what audiences want as well. Going to the movies is expensive. Audiences want to spend money on a near sure thing so they feel their money was well spent. Because of that, Hollywood wants to give audiences that experience. Why? To get butts into theater seats or to get play buttons clicked on streaming platforms.
Writing one for Hollywood isn’t about regurgitating what’s been successful, and it isn’t about writing your copy cat version of the latest big hit. It’s about writing something familiar that feels new. You accomplish this by way of a few different tricks of the trade:
- Taking a familiar concept and adding a unique and unexpected twist to it.
- Blending successful genres.
- Blending successful movie concepts for compelling “comps” (It’s Titanic meets Star Wars).
These approaches will not just increase your odds of success - they’ll also open up more creativity needed to make such screenplays and concepts work and stand apart from the rest.
Merging Business with Art
By far the best approach is to write something that is both artistic and commercial. If you’re ever looking for a level to aspire to, it’s the ability to accomplish that. Some of the greatest movies have showcased both true artistry and commercial viability.
Screenwriting Is BOTH an Art and Business
There’s no way around it. It’s an art form and it’s a business. And the two must coexist together in the same space, preferably with as much balance between the two as possible. The moment you embrace that as an artist and budding potential pro screenwriter is the moment where those two parts of you will be satisfied and excited to continue writing.
- Write one for you, then one for them.
- Try to make your more artistic screenplays commercial in any way you can.
- Try to inject more artistry in your otherwise commercial action flicks, horror flicks, thrillers, high concept comedies, etc.
Have fun. Enjoy the process. But always understand the duality of art versus business in screenwriting.