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An indie filmmaker is someone who makes movies without a studio holding the purse strings or calling the shots. As I quickly discovered making The Parables, it’s freedom and chaos in equal measure. Budgets are small, crews are tight, and if the script calls for a helicopter, you're rewriting it to a bike ride before lunch. But indie doesn’t mean amateur—it means no one's paying you to play it safe. You make the shot when you can, where you can, and you tell the story exactly how it needs to be told. Good can be mostly in a soundstage. Mecca can have a lot of drone footage. Hi can ironically incorporate AI. No executive notes. No test audiences. Just story, guts, and whatever gear you can borrow.
Now—how much do indie screenwriters make? Honestly, most don’t. At least not at first. Some scripts get written for favors, promises, or the hope someone reads it and says “let’s make this.” On a good day, if the budget allows, you might see a few thousand. Maybe $5K or $10K if there’s financing. Unicorns like Good are the exception, not the rule. But the numbers aren’t the point—indie writing is about building the work that proves you can do it. The kind of story no one else is telling, because no one else will give you permission to tell it. So you skip the permission part.
The three C’s of screenwriting? Concept. Character. Conflict. That’s it.
Concept is the hook. If you can’t explain what your story is in one sentence, it’s not ready.
Character is what we stay for. If we don’t care about the people on screen—flawed, funny, messy, real—nothing else lands.
Conflict is the fuel. Every scene, every beat, every decision should cost something. No tension, no story.
You can add more C’s if you want—clarity, catharsis, coherence—but without those first three, your script’s just a vibe.
As for the difference between a scriptwriter and a screenwriter? It’s mostly semantics. A screenwriter writes for the screen—film, TV, visual storytelling. A scriptwriter can mean anything scripted: commercials, podcasts, training videos, AI prompts, the whole buffet. In real life, people use them interchangeably. But if you’re applying to Sundance, call yourself a screenwriter. If you’re writing dialogue for a chatbot, maybe stick with scriptwriter.
Bottom line: indie film is scrappy and unpredictable. It’s also where voices that don’t get filtered through five rounds of market testing actually survive. The money comes later—sometimes—but the voice? That’s yours from the start.
Independent Filmmaking for Writers: Say More
Now—how much do indie screenwriters make? Honestly, most don’t. At least not at first. Some scripts get written for favors, promises, or the hope someone reads it and says “let’s make this.” On a good day, if the budget allows, you might see a few thousand. Maybe $5K or $10K if there’s financing. Unicorns like Good are the exception, not the rule. But the numbers aren’t the point—indie writing is about building the work that proves you can do it. The kind of story no one else is telling, because no one else will give you permission to tell it. So you skip the permission part.
The three C’s of screenwriting? Concept. Character. Conflict. That’s it.
Concept is the hook. If you can’t explain what your story is in one sentence, it’s not ready.
Character is what we stay for. If we don’t care about the people on screen—flawed, funny, messy, real—nothing else lands.
Conflict is the fuel. Every scene, every beat, every decision should cost something. No tension, no story.
You can add more C’s if you want—clarity, catharsis, coherence—but without those first three, your script’s just a vibe.
As for the difference between a scriptwriter and a screenwriter? It’s mostly semantics. A screenwriter writes for the screen—film, TV, visual storytelling. A scriptwriter can mean anything scripted: commercials, podcasts, training videos, AI prompts, the whole buffet. In real life, people use them interchangeably. But if you’re applying to Sundance, call yourself a screenwriter. If you’re writing dialogue for a chatbot, maybe stick with scriptwriter.
Bottom line: indie film is scrappy and unpredictable. It’s also where voices that don’t get filtered through five rounds of market testing actually survive. The money comes later—sometimes—but the voice? That’s yours from the start.