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Post #304616

Author
zombie84
Parent topic
Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side (the TM edit) (Released)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/304616/action/topic#304616
Date created
25-Dec-2007, 3:09 PM
Well, speaking as someone in "the biz" you should be aware that film school is simply one (VERY expensive) option to take if you want to get into filmmaking. Honestly, the only worthwhile thing you get out of it is friends and likeminded people that you can hang out with and collaborate with and keep encouraging each other, but for the $30,000+ pricetag you could do a lot of other film-related things. I've been out of filmschool for years and I only last month payed off my student loan. Its ridiculous what they charge nowadays. A friend of mine wanted to go to filmschool and for the life of him just couldn't get accepted into the program, so he basically gave himself that education--he bought all the textbooks the production students get, took film theory, made his own shorts and volunteered on all the student productions he could (basically every one he applied to); he became part of the production class, and everyone knew him, even though he wasn't in the production class, and he made his own shorts that were as good as any of the production students. Even with all this under his belt, and personally knowing people on the acceptance board since he was around so much, he still couldn't get in; still seeking some kind of formal production education, he took a 2-week workshop at USC, and continued to do his own thing, and he's probably the only student to come out of those film school classes that is actually now working (ocassionally) as a professional director.
I guess I shouldn' recommend such a haphazzard way of going about things, just saying that half the people I work with didn't go to film school. But when your in highschool and don't know much about filmmaking or "getting in" it seems like the only sensible option. Just saying its not the only one.