How Much Do Netflix Writers Make?
Netflix is one of the most popular companies in the world. The company was established with the overall objective of providing online content to viewers. It has released several high-quality original shows, which have received widespread critical acclaim.
The firm operates its streaming service, available worldwide to users across all demographics. On top of this, it also delivers DVDs through the post. As well as being an extremely profitable business, Netflix also invests heavily in its productions department.
How to become a Netflix writer:
Netflix seems to be the place to go for original series these days. Stranger Things, House of Cards, Narcos, The Crown, and Daredevil, are just some of the many critically-acclaimed shows on offer.
If you want to make it big as a screenwriter in Hollywood right now, your best bet is to write for Netflix. But how do you get there? What steps can you take? Well, here’s how I see it…
Step 1:
Having an idea (or two) isn’t enough by itself. You need to bring that idea to life in script format too. So before anything else, you’ll need to research your chosen genre and learn what works and what doesn’t work within it.
For example, here’s a list of 100+ Netflix shows worldwide, from Narcos to Stranger Things and everything in between. Study these scripts. They’re not going to give away their secrets that quickly, but you can start by studying form and structure, then move on to storytelling techniques, character arcs, and so on…
Working out how a good TV show is put together will help immensely when writing your script. It’ll also lay the foundations for what is expected of a television screenwriter i.e.
Format, structure, pacing, etc., which I’d say are more important than having an original idea. If someone doesn’t know what they’re doing formatting-wise, nothing else matters because no one will read their work anyway!
Step 2:
So with your chosen genre and solid screenwriting format in hand, it’s time to come up with your idea. I covered this in a previous article (How To Get An Original TV Show Idea).
You need to write what you want to see on screen and then keep refining that ‘what if’ until it becomes the fully-fledged idea we’re after. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to start writing!
Before starting on an original series, it always pays dividends for a writer to have plenty of ideas at their disposal, so they don’t get stuck when coming up with episodes or seasons three years down the line.
You never know when inspiration will strike or long it’ll take, so having an idea bank is vital, even if it just means writing down what you’re doing at all times. There must be thousands of potential original series ideas out there just waiting to be discovered then developed into scripts!
Step 3:
Now that you’ve got your TV show pitch ready, it’s time to start looking for a production company. Netflix doesn’t accept submissions, so getting them interested directly isn’t easy (although not impossible).
They won’t read your work, but they might listen to your pitch if the person pitching has some industry connection or knows someone who does… This can include working in the industry themselves or learning someone who does. The more powerful that person is within the industry, the better chance of having something heard.
Step 4:
So you’ve got your show idea, and it’s time to get someone with industry ‘juice’ to listen. The most likely way this is going to happen is if that person has already worked on the same production company (i.e., Netflix) before, which means your best shot would be through a personal connection rather than cold pitching, e.g., relative, friend, colleague, etc.,