Ken Miyamoto was a security guard at Sony, and worked his way up to story analyst for the studio.
In 1996, I took one University of Wisconsin screenwriting class, and that was the extent of my screenwriting education.
I moved to California from Wisconsin with my wife in late 1999 to pursue a career in screenwriting.
The apartment was way overpriced and much smaller than others we looked at, but we signed the lease that day.
Lastly, don't write for free.