So you want to be the next Spielberg or Peter Jackson or maybe just Oren Peli, who directed the hit "Paranormal Activity" for less than USD 15,000. It makes sense to look in a Los Angeles film school since most of the industry is right here. But the most important question you have to ask yourself is: how much are you willing to spend?
The first school that should pop out of your mind is the renowned USC - where the giant names George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Bryan Singer and Judd Apatow came from. How much would a year cost you? That would be more than USD 30,000 - not including supplies and room and board. That's two "Paranormal Activities". While it is true that they have great professors, some of the classes would be too full - with over a hundred students in them.
Do not discount the American Film Institute in your list as a good Los Angeles film school. A year's tuition would cost you around USD 40,000! To some people, that amount is nothing compared to the fact that you would have the reputation of graduating from the same school where Darren Aronofsky, Ed Zwick as well as Terrence Malick came from. But with a graduating class of more than one hundred, there is not much space for one-on-one activities.
The cost of education at UCLA differs according to your residency: if you are from California, then you need about USD 6,000 per year, otherwise, you should prepare at least USD 20,000! Even though you'll be under the tutelage of such luminaries as Peter Guber and Joe Roth, classes are still so large.
Another notable school that provides an undergraduate degree on film and television is Loyola Marymount. Their fee is around USD 34,000 per year. Student-teacher ratio is small, around thirteen-is-to-one.
Now there's the Los Angeles Film School, founded in 1999. It has renowned guest speakers like Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. Tuition fee: more than $41,000, with a student body of 595. A recent graduate co-directed the feature film "Gamer" which stars Gerard Butler.
All of these programs are prestigious, but they're also the typical classroom atmosphere. None of them offer true one-on-one mentors where a student can observe a professional at work on a regular basis and learn on the job.
Women in Film does provide such a program yearly which sounds promising but a search on the internet found no success stories listed for the program.
CBS, interestingly, offers a mentor program (in fact, they offer two mentors) for television writing. One of the mentors is a senior-level writer for one of CBS' current drama or comedy series. Over the course of the program, the participant gets creative feedback on their writing as well as advice on their career goals. The second of the mentors is a reputable CBS network or studio executive from whom students get to meet regularly to discuss their work, get comments and support regarding their career. This program and the Women in Film program are both free to participants.
Many a Los Angeles film school seemed lacking on effective one-on-one mentoring programs; if they had this, then there are possibly more stories of renowned achievements from their students.
Film Connection Los Angeles Film School
6253 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
(800) 755-7597
This article was added on Saturday 09 January, 2010.
