FILM SCHOOLS

Despite the ever-looming threat of a "New Media" styled takeover of the American entertainment landscape, our nation’s passion for great film storytelling persists. Whether you’re a fan of movies who wants to bone up on theory or an artist-in-training who’s looking to develop a career in the movie industry, film school may be for you.

The vast majority of top rated film schools are located in and around the Los Angeles area. This makes sense, given that the city is the nation’s film and television production epicenter. The so-called Big Three film schools in L.A. are the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and the American Film Institute (AFI). Both USC and UCLA offer undergraduate and graduate programs in film studies and production.

Of course, you need not move to L.A. to get a great film education. New York University (NYU) offers a top-tier education in the entertainment industry’s arts, as does Columbia University in New York City. Ithaca College in western New York state, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University in Chicago, and Emerson College in Boston. These places also provide stellar schooling in film theory.

Do you need a film school education to "make it" in the entertainment industry? This is a question that’s hotly debated, even among established industry professionals. Some argue that the film school experience is invaluable, in that it provides students with great connections/networking opportunities as well as a creative environment in which they can practice their skills and collaborate. Others suggest that budding creators can just as easily break into the industry by working their way up the Hollywood food chain as an assistant or by creating work on their own and leveraging new media venues to get their work seen.