Work as a screenwriter is, apparently, more lucrative than writing fiction books.

I had no idea.

I mean, a world famous fiction author than has written over 40 books – has still made most of his money writing for the movies?

Crazy.

Of course, maybe it makes sense, what with the global production companies and their large movie budgets.

It sounds like good work if you can get it.

If you want to be a professional writer, the takeaway is to maybe look for where the money is before you commit to a genre.

Money has played a fairly minor part in my career decisions, a fact I attribute to one particular piece of luck: my novels attract good filmmakers, and they have from the first. Nearly a dozen of my books have been filmed, four of them very successfully: Hud, The Last Picture show, Terms of Endearment, and Lonesome Dove. The success of these films, whether or not I took any part in their production, has enabled to me to get work as a screenwriter—and get it consistently for over fifty years. Screenwriting, not novel writing, has funded my rare bookshop and, to a large extent, my so far comfortable life.

-Larry McMurtry, Literary Life