entertainment industry are very competitive to gain entrance into. The southern California schools UCLA and USC both have established and competitive screenwriting programs. Since these schools are located in what is essentially the capital of the entertainment industry, the immediate area around Los Angeles, they have an inside access schools located elsewhere don’t have. This geographic advantage adds greatly to the prestige of these schools’ screenwriting programs.
It is absolutely not mandatory to attend university screenwriting training. Many screenwriters have established careers, some quite successful, without any formal screenwriting training at all. At the end of the day, all that’s required to become a professional screenwriter is to have a screenplay that the industry wants to buy. No one in the entertainment industry cares much if at all about