To Live... and Die in L.A.

“To Live…and Die in L.A.”

MYTH: You have to LIVE in CA or NY to be successful in the industry.

As an avid networker, I can tell you that there are many charlatans posing as script consultants or “former agents” or some other non-descript title, and many of them share their advice- for a price- on some of the more active social media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Personally, I find much of this advice to be common misconceptions, deceit, and even arrogant, self-serving mistruths, all in the effort to make money off of unsuspecting screenwriters.?

Among one of the more common myths is the NECESSITY for a screenwriter to live in Los Angeles to have a successful career. Many of these people make no bones about it; they flat out tell you that you HAVE to move there in order to BE a working screenwriter.

Well, yes…and no. I have a theory as to why they tell you this, which I’ll share a little bit later.

However, one needs to define “working screenwriter”. If your goal is to work on a current or new, upcoming series that pumps out scripts weekly, then YES- I can see where in most situations living in Los Angeles would be a requirement.

However, this is not always the case…

I was considered for the “writer’s room” for an upcoming police procedural weekly drama series adapted from the stories of the foremost police novelist of our time. The first question I asked was “Will I need to relocate to Los Angeles?”

Their answer was not only “No”, but they would fly me out for weekly sit-downs.

Now, this may be the “new” Hollywood, due to Covid, or simply the sign of the times, technologically-speaking.

Are there situations where you may be required in a writer’s daily? Well, of course. I would say emphatically in MOST cases this is the situation.

Is there ANOTHER kind of screenwriting that doesn’t require you to move lock, stock and barrel to California- the Land of High Taxes, undocumented voters and the “For Thee, Not for Me” practice of mask and vaccine mandates?

Yes. It’s called spec screenwriting, which most of us reading this are doing currently, or will start doing. Basically, you’re writing screenplays based on your own concepts, and hoping to sell that screenplay to the highest bidder. Now, the competition is fierce and it’s a lottery shot at best, but there are other ways in which you can succeed.

I managed to parley a series of successful screenplays into paid writing assignments, which led to having movies produced based on those assignments. I was then contacted by a certain celebrity, with whom I ghosted a number of projects for over a year. Eventually, other A-listers began calling, and soon I was known as the “Ghostwriter to the Stars”.

I also started my mentoring business to share the secrets to MY successes, and since then, hundreds of other writers have enjoyed their own successes as well. It cost them far less than a thousand dollars to do it, too.

?Let’s not kid ourselves, either. There is a huge advantage to being where the work is; you get to meet people in person, socialize with them at bars and restaurants, attend in-person meetings and seminars, etc. I did that for twenty-four years in Los Angeles. I worked in Beverly Hills AND lived in Sherman Oaks. I knew Hollywood folks through my private investigation firms and, later, as an executive with the award shows, including the Academy Awards. When you’re on a first-name personal basis with the likes of Warren Beatty, Billy Crystal, and the late Michael Clarke Duncan, and hundreds more, you’re pretty entrenched in their world.

It wasn’t MY world, though. I just lived in it. I didn’t even start screenwriting on my own until I left California, actually, and to this day, I have not called a single A-lister for work, or help getting a script read; didn’t have to, and I wouldn’t if I did.?

I said earlier I would share my theory as to WHY many tell you that you have to move to L.A. One reason is, they know most of you can’t. You have families, property, a steady job, relatives and you’re not about to risk it all on a pipedream when you don’t even REALLY know how to write or even get started. So, they simply reduced the competition by one, repeated over and over again.

The other reason is because they are miserable, and misery loves company. Most are these consultants and self-professed “gurus” were successful once- in the 70’s or 80’s- and have seen the dramatic decline of the Golden State.

They are miserable because they enthusiastically voted for those politicians who then destroyed their state.

They are miserable because once they were the “go-to writer”, and now, five hundred 20 and 30-somethings have replaced them.

They are miserable because they’re now making their money doing screenplay reviews at $300 a pop, and the competition is far too heavy to even make a meager living doing this. Their connections to the industry have aged out, or worse; died off. There are no happy people in California; despite what Seth Rogan claims (he was high, no doubt). Yes, it’s beautiful there, but seriously- are you just going to “accept” the fact that, occasionally your car will get stolen, and your home broken into? That’s what he tells you are the trade-offs. Easy for him; he can replace that car the next day. Lunacy.

Not only is it not necessary, but many producers are somewhat envious of the fact that you can produce great work and remain active within the filmmaking community and not have to deal with the traffic, State budget cuts, and the occasional earthquake.

With networking tools such as the Internet, Skype, emails and such, many companies are not only accepting pitches via these methods but conduct pitches by these methods exclusively. There are countless of websites dedicated to the posting and promoting one of one’s screenplay (Ink Tip, The Blacklist, Stage 32, Amazon Studios, and many others), despite claims that “studio executives worthy of their title do not check these sites”, just another fallacious statement. The number of screenplays sold or optioned over the Internet, over Skype, and over the phone is countless; anyone who says otherwise is simply lying, and anyone who believes otherwise is ignorant of the world around them.

This is not to say there aren’t valid ADVANTAGES to living in Los Angeles- or New York, or Japan, or Brazil, or Toronto, or anyone of the thousands of locations around the world where movies are bought, sold, pitched and made (funny, it always seems to be imperative to these frauds that you have to live ONLY in CA, as if movies aren’t made elsewhere). It would be just as advantageous to be seven feet tall if you want to play in the NBA, but many others have made it standing considerably less than even six feet!

?It all depends on what YOU are looking for in YOUR career. Some write to sell spec scripts; others want writing assignments. Others still want to be hired as staff writers or work on a production staff. As a spec script writer, there is nothing prohibiting one from doing well and selling scripts whether you reside in Alaska, Maine or Florida or in any other country on any other continent.

?Don’t be fooled by some of these “professional consultants”. They are not interested in helping you in YOUR career. They are only interested in taking your money to subsidize their own failed writing careers.

WRITER'S BIO: Geno Scala, known professionally as "The Script Mentor" as well as the "Ghostwriter to the Stars", was the former Executive Director of the 2000 Academy Awards, and held a similar position with The Grammys, The Blockbuster Video Awards, The Sou Train Awards and The Saturn Awards. He is highly skilled at adaptations; converting novels into screenplays; having written over 47 of them to date. He currently mentors over five hundred lifetime Script Mentor members and is frequently requested by producers for writing assignments.

His screenplays "Black Easter", Assassins 33 A.D." and "The Tombs", can be found on Amazon Prime and Tubi. You can network with Geno through Lisa Lavigne- his social media manager- or through Facebook (The Script Mentor page) and the Shark-Eating Man Productions page. Geno also invites you to subscribe to his YouTube channel at:

The Script Mentor - YouTube