Film TV School

So you probably idolize filmmakers like Steven Speilberg and George Lucas and other such big names in Hollywood right now. Well, they have one thing in common: they both went to prestigious film TV schools. And does this mean that you have to go to film TV school, too, to see your dream of directing your own film come true?

Well, yes, and no. Actually, there's a whole debate going on around this particular issue. After all, other Hollywood big names like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese never had any formal training in filmmaking. So ultimately the choice is yours. But to help you make that difficult decision, here are some questions to ask yourself.

What does earning a degree from a film TV school mean for you?

Besides dishing out a whole lot of dollars (indeed, a single two-year program can really cost you), a degree from a film TV school would at least ensure that you have the right credentials to teach filmmaking. No, it's not a guarantee that you will earn big bucks with your films and get famous in Hollywood. Of course, you could be headed that way too, provided that you do all the right things with your one or two-year film TV school program.

Those who graduated and ended up doing exactly what they set out to do, emerge from their film TV schools with a good short film that they wrote and directed, plus a good screenplay, feature-length preferably, written by them and which they hope to direct. Why does this strategy work? Well, for one thing, it proves that they have talent. And for another, it proves that they can do more than just one short film.

Will film TV school help you achieve your career goals?

Don't use the time you have in film TV school figuring out your future. Before you even decide to enroll in a film TV school, it is important that you already have a solid map of your career. Too many film school graduates come out of film school only to get stalled because they didn't know which parts of film production they want to build a career on.

You could enter film TV school with only a general idea that you want to work with movies, but if that is the case, is going to film school really that important? For instance, you have a degree in filmmaking but you realize that what you really want to do is to edit films. In that case, you would have been better off with a junior editing job and work your way up the professional ranks than learning all the technical aspects of filmmaking in a film school - things that you don't really need to learn with your career goal in mind.