Are you considering film school as your first step towards a career in filmmaking? Think again. While it’s true that you’ll be learning throughout your entire career, starting that process in film school may not be worth your time and energy. As a filmmaker, you’ve already committed yourself to lifelong learning, but where should you take your first step? Here are a few reasons why you might want to skip film school from personal experience:
1. Film school is crazy expensive. For example, if you went to USC (arguably the world’s best film school), it would cost you $42,000 a year. That’s $162,000 after a four year degree, not counting any other costs. Think of what you could shoot for $168,000 or the equipment you could buy. With that kind of money, you could start a production company, build an amazing editing station, hire actors, and invest enough money to have $2,000,000 in retirement by age 65.
2. It can’t keep up with the times. It’s hard for a college or university to stay up-to-date on anything. So when a new camera is released that has the potential to radically change the industry, you probably won’t be using it in film school. Instead, you’ll probably be using cameras that are incredibly old.
3. Film school is way too nice. Being forced to hand out overly kind, kid-glove critique (while receiving the same) to fellow aspiring filmmakers is of no help to anyone, especially when the project clearly doesn’t merit a positive response. Unlike reality, film school tries to say nice things about everyone’s work… but when a film is bad, it needs to be labeled as such.
4. Film school sets false expectations. Students, in general, have never even been on a professional film set, let alone worked in the film industry. So their preconceived notions of what the industry
Other Articles
Top Headphones for Film and Video Under $100
