Why Screenwriting in Boston is the best decision.
Posted by F A on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 @ 08:42 AM
Most people would consider the best locations for screenwriters to be New York or Boston. While those might be the best places to make deals, the best place for a screenwriter to live is Boston. Sure the weather is unique and the hipsters abundant, but hear me out. Boston is the best place for screenwriters to live due to its unique cultural mixture, access to people and other reasons.
Boston, has a cultural mix beyond most American cities. Sure it may be caricatured as a bunch of pale Irish Catholics, but the reality is much more complex. Partly due to its ostentatious collection of top flight universities Boston attracts a metric ton of foreign students. Many settle here and contribute to our culture. This means you can sample many other cultures by simply traveling around Boston. In an increasingly international connected world where foreign sales are increasingly important it is vital that your scripts understand their place in the world. What better way to help this than to be exposed to other cultures.
Boston's varying cultures do not simply mean foreign cultures. There are also the socioeconomic cultures to consider. Boston has a fantastic blend of working class, various professionals (bankers, tech heads), educators and artists. Nearly any character you mightconsider exists in some part in Boston. The fantastic thing is their accessibility. Boston is such a compact city that it is amazingly easy to sample these various voices. A simple ride on the
"T" or hanging out on a park bench in the park will expose you to an array of voices to inspire your writing. Ride the Red Line from Alewife to Ashmont or Braintree and walk away with a treasure chest of characters and dialogue. Ignore what people say about New Englanders being standoffish. Approach people, give them a chance and they will open up. More than New Yorkers or LAers.
Boston is also located in an ideal location geographically. A quick drive or plane to Manhattan. Multiple flights to LA, from a convenient and less delayed airport. It's all the locational convenience of New York, without the price tag or quite as many scraggly beards and summer scarves.
So you say you want to be on the cutting edge of something new? Why not establish yourself as a premier writer for new media? The MIT Media Lab and other area institutions are on the cutting edge of new storytelling technology. The sooner you can establish yourself in these new transmedia forms the better. Then you can laugh and laugh as your screenwriter friends in other locations struggle to comprehend the massive changes in the entertainment industry. Who's laughing now? That's right - you are! Just don't laugh too long, it will make you look silly.
Finally, Boston celebrates the unique. In LA, where a pre-schooler has his first script written in crayon, you are just another writer. In Boston you are something to be celebrated. Someone who has broken the old rules and become determined to succeed in your own way. You are your own entrepreneur and Boston loves nothing more than an entrepreneur. Our vibrant arts community is not simply about being "artsy", in many ways it is because the city supports each artist and an entrepreneur and rule breaker. After all what other city has a museum that celebrates bad art?
Have I convinced you? Probably not. Have I at least made you think? Hopefully. Much of what I have mentioned above not only applies to screenwriting in Boston, but can also apply to filmmaking in Boston, especially independent filmmaking in Boston. So what haveI missed? What great things do you guys think exist in Boston that I forgot?