LA taught me that I hate the fuck out of anyone who calls themselves a screenwriter. The ones who aren't repped because they aren't, they're pretenders. The ones who are because they were doing better than me. It's entirely possible I would have gotten further down there had I accepted the mantle but even when I was at William Morris I still introduced myself as a sound mixer. The raw, supplicating indignity of being a screenwriter was a bridge too far. Still is.I don't tell people I'm a writer. Or an artist and I have a BFA in studio art. I keep that to myself for other reasons than to tone down the pretension.
Honestly I don't tell people I'm an artist mainly because that is immediately followed by being asked if I can draw almost all the time. Yes I can fucking draw you ignorant ass. No I don't want to do tattoos. If you're not self supporting on it then what right do you have to call yourself anything? I freely call myself an artist to impress women though. It can be a conversation starter if nothing else