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Finding Belief and Confidence in Yourself as a Writer

by Davia Carter on February 27, 2020

As part of our ongoing Letters from Past ScreenCraft Fellowship Winners series, our 2018 winner Davia Carter shares some thoughts on her experience. 

“I can always teach.”

This became my motto the weeks prior to learning that I had been named a ScreenCraft fellow. Having spent the last six years in school, I was terrified of what my next steps would be. What was I going to do, be a real writer? Yeah. Right. At this point, however, it was too late to turn back; my bags were packed and I was days away from moving to Los Angeles with little more than a dream and a laughable amount of savings. But it was okay, because I had already accepted that once Hollywood rejected me, I would try my hand at teaching (which I loved).

Then, I got the call that I was one of the winners of the 2018 ScreenCraft Fellowship. I couldn’t believe it. This was more than a win. It was more than an opportunity to meet with top industry executives – as amazing as that was. More than anything, what this win gave me was the belief that (just maybe) I could actually make it as a writer. Never before had this felt like such an attainable reality – especially by the time fellowship week rolled around.

This week and a half of meetings was invaluable; I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have a career without it. I had the opportunity to sit down with executives at Netflix, Universal, and Bad Robot (naming a few), and although Netflix has yet to call on me to write a YA movie, the dozen-plus meetings I took taught me something that would have taken years to learn without ScreenCraft:  meeting etiquette. By the time I took my final meeting, my palms had stopped sweating and I was more confident pitching myself as a writer.  Learning how to navigate a meeting was a skill that I hadn’t realized was so important, and as someone who gets nervous going to the grocery store, I’m in awe of how comfortable I am in meetings now. I have ScreenCraft to thank for that.

Luckily, it just so happened that the end of fellowship week coincided with my very first staffing meeting. What would have been a nerve-racking experience prior to ScreenCraft became a life-changing one. I got the job.

I can’t sing praises loud enough for the ScreenCraft Fellowship and all of the wonderfully supportive people behind it. To all of you who are stockpiling backup plans – like I was, and occasionally still do – give ScreenCraft a shot. I wouldn’t be the writer I am had I not.

Wishing you luck,
Davia

Gain Confidence and Knowledge with the ScreenCraft Fellowship!


Davia Carter was born and raised in rural Missouri and later graduated from University of Texas MFA program. After winning the 2018 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship, she signed with Russell Hollander at Fourth Wall Management and Jim Ehrich at Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston Agency.
She has been staffed on the past two seasons of USA's QUEEN OF THE SOUTH.


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