Somebody will write your screenplay for $75.
Somebody else will charge you $75,000. Same page count. Same 110 pages. Same font.
So what are you actually paying for?
I have been a produced screenwriter for twenty-five years. I have seen what the cheap end does to people, and I have seen what the top end delivers. Here are the real numbers, and what sits behind each one.
The four price bands, honestly
1. Under $500 — the content mill
You will find these on freelance marketplaces. Five dollars an hour. Two hundred dollars for a feature.
What you get back is formatted. It will open in Final Draft. It will have INT. and EXT. and a FADE OUT.
What it will not have is structure. No act breaks that land. No midpoint that turns the story. No character who wants something badly enough to carry you to page 110.
You have bought a document, not a story. And here is the part that hurts: you cannot fix it by paying someone a little more later. A broken foundation gets torn out, not patched. You pay twice.
2. $1,500 to $5,000 — the working writer
This is where real craft starts. A writer with credits. Someone who has sat in a development meeting and been told no, and learned why.
At this level you should expect a story document before a single scene is written. If a writer starts typing dialogue in week one, walk away.
3. $5,000 to $30,000 — development, not typing
Now you are buying architecture. Someone takes your book, your life, your idea, and engineers it into something a producer can finance.
That means market positioning. Comparable titles. A logline that survives a lift ride. Chain of title that a lawyer will not choke on.
The script is the deliverable. The asset is the package.
4. WGA minimum and above — the studio tier
The Writers Guild of America sets a floor for its members. For a low-budget feature it currently sits in the region of $75,000, and climbs steeply from there for high-budget work.
If you are financing a studio picture, you are in this band and you already know it. Most people reading this are not.
Why the gap is so wide
Because “screenplay” describes a file format, not a level of skill.
Think of it like a house. Anyone can draw four walls and a roof. Very few people can draw something that will stand up, pass inspection, and still feel like somewhere you want to live.
Most cheap scripts are four walls and a roof.
What should be in the price
Before you pay anybody, ask what the fee includes. A serious writer will answer without blinking:
- A story document first. Beat sheet or treatment, signed off by you, before any pages are written.
- A named number of drafts. Usually a first draft, your notes, then a polish. Get the number in writing.
- Who owns it. You should own the copyright outright on final payment. No exceptions.
- Correct format. Industry standard. Not “close enough”.
- A pitch document. Logline, synopsis, one-pager. A script with nothing to sell it is half a job.
If any of those five are missing, the price is not the price.
The question nobody asks
Most people ask “what does it cost?”
The better question is “what does it cost me if this script does not work?”
A bad script does not sit quietly in a drawer. It goes out. It gets read by the one producer who was going to say yes. It burns the relationship. And you do not get that read back.
That is the real cost, and it never shows up on the invoice.
What I charge, and why
I work in four ways, and I price by how much of the architecture I am carrying.
- Story Architecture Assessment — from $1,500. A full diagnosis of what you already have. What works, what is broken, what it needs next.
- Script Your Story Blueprint — from $2,500. I build the structure with you, and you write it.
- Story to Screen Authority System — from $5,000. Raw material in, structured pitch-ready property out.
- Done-For-You IP Development — from $20,000. The full build, from story extraction to a market-ready asset.
See what sits inside each one.
Questions people ask me
Can I pay a writer a share of the film instead of a fee?
You can ask. Almost nobody experienced will say yes. A writer who takes deferred payment is betting their rent on your ability to finance a film. If you have never financed one, that is a bad bet and they know it.
Is a cheap writer fine for a first draft I will fix later?
No. Fixing a broken structure is harder than building one. You will pay a second writer to tear it out, and they will charge you more for the mess.
How long does a feature screenplay take?
Properly developed, twelve to sixteen weeks. Anyone promising a finished feature in a week is giving you four walls and a roof.
Who owns the script when it is done?
You should. Get it in the agreement before you pay a cent. On my projects, copyright transfers to you on final payment.
Start with a diagnosis
You would not let someone operate before an X-ray. Do not let anyone write before a diagnosis.
If you have a book, a life story, a message or an idea, start with an assessment. You will find out what it actually needs, and what that will actually cost, before you commit to anything.
Book a free discovery session and bring whatever you have. Even if it is three paragraphs on your phone.