Film Schools in Los Angeles


Many aspiring filmmakers are naturally drawn to film schools in Los Angeles. After all, this is the movie capital of the world. Here’s a quick breadown.

The Downlow on Film Schools in Los Angeles

Film Schools in Los AngelesFilm schools in Los Angeles are still a waste of money if your goal is to produce and direct your feature film. I know you’ve heard that USC is the shit, the place to go to get into the film business. And it kind of is, and it isn’t. Here’s the deal. Even if you graduate top of your class at USC and win 100 awards in festivals, it won’t mean squat for your career. In fact, there have been grads of USC and other film schools in Los Angeles who made a big impression on Hollywood folks.. but it never led to anything substantial.

Why?

Because film school students are still just in pre-school as far as Producers are concerned. Your short film or thesis project is nothing compared to what you need to make a 120 minute feature. As such, most grads of films schools in Los Angeles come out of school with no idea how to handle a feature or pitch a project, or deal with anything in the real world. If you do graduate from USC, and you do get connected (which can happen), this is the kind of job you can look forward to:

Yes, like all film school grads you can get on a real Hollywood film set and get someone else their coffee.

The other big film schools in Los Angeles are LA Film School, NYFA, and Chapman.

Chapman Film School has been making headlines recently for their ambitious new initiative. They are creating a million dollar fund to allow film students to SHOOT THEIR OWN FEATURE FILMS. This is exciting. For only $30,000 a year plus production costs and books (around $180,000 total) you can compete with your fellow students to get the chance to direct.

Here’s a better idea. Save your money and make your own movie. While Chapman’s idea is light years ahead of most film schools, it’s still retarded to pay all that in tuition just to get a chance to direct a movie that costs less than your tuition. And remember, only about 10 out of the thousands of undergrads in school actually get to direct.

LA Film School is a hardcore experience. They do provide good equipment and no BS classes and a furious class schedule. It is like boot camp. Unfortunately, it is again a ridiculously expensive boot camp. $42,000 a year to use cameras you could buy for much less.

NYFA in Hollywood is a joke. You can read about it here. In the end, film school grads are not taken seriously in the city of Angeles. Who is? People with work experience.

Our advice: skip film schools in Los Angeles and just got on some real film sets instead.

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