Is Film School really needed?

             Although Film school helps, whether it is needed is a huge question I have. I am an up and coming film director and I question my major a lot. I mean all you can get with a degree  is a film job and you don't need a degree to get a film job. Also some of my favorite directors never even attend school like Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, and James Cameron for starters. How did they make it? Well they made film. The best way to get better at anything is to practice. This concept of practice making perfect is the exact reason why film school can help but is not needed.

            A lot of great directors have attended prestigious film schools like, George Lucas (USC), Tim Robbins (UCLA). Others great directors just went to college, Steven Spielberg (CSU), Spike Lee (Morehouse). What all these men have in common is that they work hard and developed skills to get good at film. The most important part of film is doing film and making sure you become elite. This is why school can help but is not needed because the only thing that can really make you good is you. There is a famous saying “it’s not what you know it’s who you know”, and in film it is who you know and how good are you. Some people have the connections and no skill, some people have the skill and no connections and unfortunately most people have no connections and no skill. All these directors practice and practice and that’s how they became good not because they went to a school and thought that it will teach them what they needed to know to get good.

            I am not here to bash film school, it can help in a numerous amount of ways. Instead I am trying to promote future directors to start doing the most important thing which is directing. I am a striving screenwriter and director myself and I know there is no “path” to success but with practice there is a path to getting better. Everybody loves the glamor of college but the glamor of hard work is much better. I can't stress enough that in order to be good at film you must practice film as much as you can. James Cameron once said, “There are many talented people who haven't fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or they were too cautious, and were unwilling to make the leap of faith.”

            Our generation needs to learn that film is not something that you sit down in a class room, watch a movie, and listen to a lecture and become good at it. You must strive for opportunities and continue to get better as a film student. I hope I have inspired and helped you all, like how I have been inspired and as the great Steven Spielberg once said, “You have many years ahead of you to create the dreams that we can't even imagine dreaming.” You have done more for the collective unconscious of this planet than you will ever know.