Film School is a Giant Waste of Your Time and Money
Don’t go. You’ll graduate with a worthless degree and less knowledge than if you took the money and made a feature.
Do NOT get a degree in screenwriting. It’s worth even less than a degree in Film Production (which is already pretty worthless). Buy Syd Field’s ‘Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting’ for $11.78 (or get it cheaper used) and then buy Fade In Software for $80 and then subscribe, for free, to GoIntoTheStory.
I just saved you a bunch of money. How much?
“The average annual out-of-state cost for a bachelor program in Playwriting and Screenwriting is $50,423 with an estimated average four year degree total cost of $201,692. The most affordable bachelor program is offered by Metropolitan State University at an annual $25,504 out of state total cost.” (Source: CollegeCal.org)
That is stupid. $200,000?! (Even $100,000 is ridiculous.)
I just saved you $199,910 with the two suggestions above. (Or more if you take on student debt). Thank me in your Oscar speech.
Think of all your favorite writers. Odds are none of them spent an exorbitant amount of money on a school to teach them to write.
It’ll take you about five minutes to learn everything you need to know in order to write screenplays and then you can get on it with instead of wasting four years and a lot of money. If you already have that money, then use it instead to fund your ability to live while you write. Take a risk. If you don’t have that money and were intending to pay for college through working three jobs and taking on massive student loans that will cripple you for the rest of your life, be glad you didn’t.
Don’t get a degree in Film Production either. Just trust me, it’s not worth it. You can buy a camera, lens and editing software for under $10,000 and have (possibly) better equipment than the school you’re going to. You’ll learn more shooting and failing on your first short film than four years of “school.”
Let me tell you what you’re going to get back for your $200,000 investment. Ready? Nothing. You’ll get nothing, except maybe an alumni invitation to join an agency mailroom, which HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FILM PRODUCTION. No one is impressed with your USC diploma because half the town went to USC. You know what half the town has not done? Make a movie. And that’s where your focus you should be.
It used to be that film school was literally the only place you could learn to make films. Hollywood had done away with its apprenticeships and there were few resources available to those interested. It used to make sense.
But if there was ever an education topic where the internet has made in-class room participation obsolete its filmmaking. EVERYTHING you would ever need to know about filmmaking can be learned, for free, online. Everything. Need to know how to green screen? There are hundreds of videos on YouTube that tell you how. You want to find out about ANYTHING ELSE? Millions of videos can show you the way.
If you take the time to practice, to learn and to find interesting stories to tell and then ball all that up into a solid feature film you will get more from that than your time at school. It’s almost a guarantee.
Please, please, please don’t go to film school. These institutions are laughing all the way to the bank and the student debt load will cripple your ability to take risks, be creative and discover your voice as a filmmaker. Those are the qualities intrinsic to those who succeed in this industry and they cannot be taught.
They can only be learned from the experience of NOT GOING TO FILM SCHOOL!
DON’T GO!
And if you are going, drop out.
It’ll be the best thing you ever did. I promise.
For more knowledge on how to produce quality feature films on a micro-budget look no further than my 6K Filmmaker course.
This comprehensive program delivers a deep dive into the world of professional filmmaking, teaching you everything from intricate pre-production planning to efficient post-production workflow, all tailored for the revolutionary 6K format. Whether you’re a budding filmmaker seeking to explore new creative horizons, or an experienced storyteller ready to master the latest technology, this course is for you. Crafted with insights from my personal experiences, from the atmospheric scenes of LAYOVER to the charged encounters in CIUDAD, this course is the result of the knowledge and wisdom accumulated from years on set. Don’t wait to follow your cinematic dreams. Check out the 6K Filmmaker course today and start your journey toward telling unforgettable stories!
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Joshua Caldwell is a director, writer, producer, and MTV Movie Award Winner. His debut feature film LAYOVER was made for $6000 and had its World Premiere to sold out crowds at the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival where it was nominated for the prestigious FIPRESCI New American Cinema Award. In 2015, he directed the first season of Hulu’s SOUTH BEACH and the Paramount Pictures feature film BE SOMEBODY. In 2017 his latest film, the action-thriller NEGATIVE, had its World Premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival and will be released in the fall.
For more visit Joshua-Caldwell.com!
