Why did you want to study Screenwriting?

I have always had a passion for writing ever since I was about 12 years old and it was one of my few hobbies that I never abandoned and actually maintained throughout the years. I then developed a love for cinema when I was in high school, and movies became my escape throughout my teenage years. So, when it came time to choose a college major and career path, I realized that combining my two passions was the best idea, so I decided that I wanted to study screenwriting.

What have been your greatest successes and challenges at school so far?

My greatest challenge has been getting over my imposter’s syndrome. Since I have virtually no experience in screenwriting (the first time I wrote in script format was when I had to create a creative portfolio for the schools I was applying to) I felt very unprepared and I couldn’t help but compare myself to my peers who all seemed to have significantly more experience than me.

My greatest success at school so far has been getting my script picked to be produced in my CTPR 290 class. For the final project of the class, everyone writes a script and the class votes on the top 3 scripts they want to see get produced into films, and mine was one of them! It was a very exciting moment for me because I loved my script and was really hoping for it to get produced.

What projects have you worked on that you’re proud of?

I’m very proud of my 30 page short film script that I wrote for my screenwriting class during my first semester of my freshman year. It was the first full script that I had ever written, and though it wasn’t perfect, I was proud of myself for writing a whole script. I am also very proud of the short films I’ve created in CTPR 290. I learned a lot about the filmmaking process, from developing an idea, to filming it, to editing it. I think that considering my lack of experience, my films turned out very good.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about applying to SCA?

My biggest piece of advice for anyone applying to SCA is to be confident in your work and don’t hesitate to apply because you don’t feel “good enough”. I almost didn’t apply because even though I felt like my work was good, I was certain that I wouldn’t get into USC. However I went ahead with it because I quite literally had nothing to lose. But then, to my surprise, I got in and I was so relieved that I ended up choosing to apply. Don’t let your insecurities about your skills prevent you from applying, oftentimes people are much more talented than they think they are.