Film & TV Industry Opportunities for New Writers Growing in 2026

The profits are there. So are more opportunities for writers.

by Robert L. McCullough, WGA

If you spend any time online (and let's face it: we're all online every day), you could easily come away thinking the entertainment business is in free fall. Headlines about cutbacks, shrinking episode orders, and industry strikes have created a lot of anxiety, especially for writers trying to break in.

I understand the concern. I've survived repeated “sky is falling” cycles for years as a film-television-streaming writer, and every single time the narrative sounds familiar. The business is changing. The old model is dying. Opportunities are disappearing.

And every single time, the reality turns out to be more nuanced and, ultimately, more encouraging.
Step back and look at the bigger picture today, and you'll see that the industry isn't collapsing. It's evolving. It's simply stabilizing once again in a meaningful--and somewhat abrupt--way.

Yes, the Streaming Shift Was Messy...but What Did You Expect?The move from traditional TV and theatrical models to streaming has been one of the biggest structural and cultural changes Hollywood has ever gone through. For decades, studios relied on a reliable mix of ad revenue, cable carriage fees, box office, and licensing. Then streaming arrived and changed the math almost overnight.

When companies launched their streaming platforms in the late 2010s and early 2020s, they poured enormous sums into content to compete for subscribers. Remember Netflix's amazing spending spree when they'd buy almost any story that had a beginning-middle-end? Barfing up all that cash to writers, combined with the pandemic’s hit to theaters, temporarily dragged profits down. Wall Street reacted, the industry tightened its belt, and production volume dipped...and a lot of us panicked and went out and got a real estate license.

But none of that surprised many of us who have been around a while. Transitions are rarely graceful. But they are often necessary.

Now the recalibration is almost complete. The major companies are once again reporting strong earnings as the streaming model matures. Netflix is more insanely profitable than ever, and the legacy studios have followed--some later than others--with their streaming divisions moving into the black over the past few years.

Executives are now openly saying what sounded counter-intuitive not long ago: streaming is becoming a reliably profitable business...the reliably profitable business model. Subscription revenue is growing, advertising tiers are adding a new income stream, and global expansion continues to bring in new audiences. Have you checked out all the foreign language series the streamers are grabbing just because they can?

From where I sit, having watched the business evolve from three networks to cable to global streaming, this feels less like a disruption now and more like a new normal settling into place. Again: what did we expect would happen?

Why This Matters for Writers:  Whenever the industry goes through a major shift, there is a natural tendency to focus on what's shrinking. Shorter seasons. Fewer overall shows than the peak years. Tighter development pipelines. Yeah, that sucks. But it doesn't last forever.

In fact, global demand for storytelling has never been higher. Streamers need content that travels. They need fresh voices. They need ideas that can stand out in a crowded marketplace.

In my experience as both a working writer and someone who has spent years evaluating scripts through major competitions, one truth keeps resurfacing: the bar may move, but the need for strong writing never goes away.
And as profitability returns, companies have more room to invest strategically rather than defensively. That does not mean an automatic green light for every script. It does mean the long-term appetite for compelling material remains very real. It means you can't stop writing!

The Business Is Still Cyclical. Opportunity Isn’t.Hollywood has always moved in cycles. Booms are followed by corrections, new technologies disrupt old ones, and the rules of the game keep shifting. Writers who succeed are those who accept that volatility as part of the landscape, not a sign the landscape is turning into a sinkhole.

I've watched the industry reinvent itself repeatedly since I worked under legends like Bruce Geller, Aaron Spelling, Earl Hamner, and Gene Roddenberry...and eventually writing and producing series across multiple eras and genres. The tools change. The distribution changes. The audience habits change. The constant is storytelling.

Right now, the industry is settling into its next phase. Advertising is back in a big way on streaming. Prices are rising. International markets are expanding. And the core engine of the business, compelling stories, remains exactly what it has always been.

The transition to a streaming-first world continues to be somewhat turbulent...and writers feel it. But the financial outlook for good writers and good material is moving upward again, with profits climbing and revenue projected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Look, I'm not saying the path to a successful writing career is easy. I grew up hearing my parents remind me that "life isn't a bowl of cherries."

Damned right it isn't...and neither is a career as a film and television writer. Plenty of pits in that bowl. And don't forget the stems. But at the end of the day, those cherries are still pretty tasty and the demand for great storytelling continues to expand.

From where I stand--as someone who has more produced credits than I care to count and who reads the work of emerging writers every day here at Where Hollywood Hides-- I know this: opportunity favors the writers who stay informed, keep improving, and keep writing.

In other words, the door is still very much open. You just have to be ready when it swings your way.