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Screenwriting · Stage 1

How to Become a Screenwriter

From Day 1 to Getting Paid

From a script nobody asked for to the first cheque: the routes, the years, the money and the plan.

Almost nobody reads a script sent cold, and almost every working screenwriter started with one. From never having finished a script to your first paid writing work: how a script reaches the screen, the routes with their years and money, the craft, what an option is, and a plan with dates in it.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to explain the difference between a spec and a commission, film and television, and describe the development process from logline to polish and who reads a script in what order.
  • Have chosen two lanes from the real routes, with the years and money of each, and found their first deadlines.
  • Have a ninety-day writing schedule, two readers, and a clear picture of the body of work that opens doors by year three.
  • Know what the first paid work looks like, what an option is, where the Writers' Guild and Pact minimum terms live, when an agent takes you on, and why being paid is not being produced.
  • Have a saved plan with what you will finish, the competitions and schemes with their deadlines, three people to approach and a review date, and be able to say MFJF's five Stage 1 statements honestly for a writer's road.

Where this leads

By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.

Finish the course and you can build your personal plan: MFJF's three-stage planner for this role, ticked from Your Profile and your CV, with dated next steps and the CV line each one becomes.

Module 1

What a screenwriter does, and how the work reaches the screen

20 min

Spec versus commission, film versus television, the development process from logline to polish, and who actually reads your script.

  1. readWhat a screenwriter actually does8 min
  2. readThe development process, and who reads you8 min
  3. checkCheck: the job and the process4 min
Module 2

The routes, with the years and the money

20 min

The spec script, the competitions and schemes, shorts, theatre and radio, the development desk and continuing drama, each with how long it takes and what it pays, and a task that picks your two lanes.

  1. readThe spec script, the competitions and schemes, and shorts8 min
  2. readTheatre, radio, the development desk and continuing drama7 min
  3. taskTask: pick your two lanes and find their deadlines5 min
Module 3

Day one to year three

20 min

The craft you can practise from today, the software, how many scripts it really takes, feedback that speeds you up, the body of work by year three, and a schedule with dates.

  1. readCraft: format, structure, dialogue, rewriting and the software8 min
  2. readHow many scripts, who reads them, and the body of work6 min
  3. taskTask: your writing schedule and your first feedback loop6 min
Module 4

Getting paid

20 min

What the first cheque looks like, what an option is, staged payments, where the Writers' Guild and Pact minimum terms live, agents, and the difference between being paid and being produced.

  1. readThe first cheque, options, stages and the minimum terms8 min
  2. readAgents, and being paid versus being produced7 min
  3. checkCheck: the money and the agent5 min
Module 5

The industry around you

20 min

Producers, development teams and commissioners, the funders, the competitions worth entering and the test for any, what the people in the case studies did, and the library for the years ahead.

  1. readProducers, development teams, funders, competitions and the case studies7 min
  2. resourcesThe screenwriter's library8 min
  3. checkCheck: the industry around you5 min
Module 6

Your plan

20 min

The plan you take away, the signs that you are moving, MFJF's five Stage 1 statements adapted honestly to a writer's road, and what to do next on MFJF.

  1. plannerYour plan10 min
  2. readHow you know you are moving, and what to do next6 min
  3. checkCheck: ready for the road4 min
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Sources and references

Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.

What this course was written from

Every link checked 19 September 2026.

You are not doing this alone

You have your own personal career mentor

That is us, the MFJF team. Book an MFJF Mentor Session with us every month: we guide you through this journey and answer all your questions, from which job is yours to your CV and your next application.

Book my MFJF Mentor Session

Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Screenwriting. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: ScreenwritingTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. Find your role in the career plannersEvery entry-level job by department, with a three-stage planner for each.
  7. Read the career guidesWhat each job is, the day, the way in and the pay: one guide for every role.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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