What I Really Want to Do is Direct

The first rule to remember is that there are no rules. Yes, it's a cliché… but it also happens to be the truth. When I graduated from college my film professor's last bit of guidance was this: If you want to be a director… go direct. Easier said than done, but what he meant was that directing is a craft you can only learn through practice. There is no textbook that can prepare you for the trenches on set - and everything you learn has a valid counterpoint.

So, how do you get into that coveted canvas folding-chair? Any way you can. If you get the opportunity to direct something and it's your first time - DO IT! Bad script? Who cares. Low budget? Big deal. GET. IN. THE. CHAIR. Still easier said than done? Here are three places to put yourself where you can get one step closer.

Film school

On the flip side, film schools like USC and NYU offer their students a well-rounded production experience. For example, students at NYU Tisch School of the Arts are required to take intensive course work not only in directing, but producing, writing and acting as well as editing and sound mixing. Students are also encouraged to expand their horizons by taking courses in other departments of the Tisch School, as well as the College of Arts and Science. Keep in mind that these reputable film schools receive over 1,000 applicants a year for the undergraduate program and less than 300 are admitted. Then there's the MFA Programs! For example, NYU's MFA program is a 3-year card where you eventually make your own thesis film - and this is what we're after, isn't it? To make your own full-length film? Well, they only accept 40 out of over 800 MFA applicants. But, if you're determined to apply with the BIG film schools, your best shot at directing as an undergraduate is at UCLA where, if you pay, you play. At UCLA students are required to complete a film (or video production) in their senior year.

The BIG School Plus

Perhaps the greatest advantage to the top film schools is Brand Name Clout. With famous one-name alumni like Lucas, Scorsese, Lee, Stone and Coppola these Universities have strong reputations and powerful Hollywood allies. They have good equipment, excellent professors and intern programs to help their graduates land jobs in the industry. The schools are expensive, but you have trained pros looking over your shoulder, teaching you every step of the way. So, despite the high cost, some might argue that it's more cost effective than spending $20 Grand on your own film without any guidance and/or instruction. Rest assured, should you elect to go to film school and rise to the top, certain doors are open for you.

Other Options

BIG film schools are not the ONLY film schools. For example, The University of Arizona and The University of Texas, Austin both have very good media/film departments. These second tier Film Schools might not have the Lucas Building and generous endowments from their famous alumni, but they cost much less to attend and tend to guarantee one thing: you will direct your own film, if not several. Another advantage is that you will learn the hard way. Competition is still tough, with students scrambling just to get in to the film classes and once in, scrambling for equipment. But you get more hands on experience, which allows you to make more mistakes, which makes you a better filmmaker. At the second tier schools, you might find yourself learning how to shoot with more of a guerilla mentality. This is not the way it's done professionally, but it prepares you for the worst case scenario and will test the limits of your resourcefulness. Just know, at the end of the year when you submit your film to the Student Academy Awards, the fact that it's from a second tier school already marks one strike against it. The BIG film schools are staples at several prestigious award ceremonies and despite the great work that has come out of some of the smaller film schools, 8 times out of 10 the award goes to the BIG film schools (which is not to deny the quality of the students or programs). But for the other 99% of you out there who don't make that studio deal straight out of college - BIG film school or not - when that diploma is in your hand and your film reel is under your arm… it's all up to you.

Know Your History

Regardless if you chose a BIG or small film school, they all offer film theory and this is the greatest reason to consider attending. Too many of today's new directors fail to understand that story should motivate style, especially the commercial/music video directors who make the jump to features (Spike Jonze being the best exception). I hate to sound like an old man, but if you get yourself in the director's chair, know your history. Cinema is a language and it was created by pioneers like Edwin Porter, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. De Mille, Buster Keaton and Sergei Eisenstein (to name too few). Over the years the language of film has evolved with contributions from masters like Yasujiro Ozu, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg (again, to name too few) all of whom understood the language and history of film. Iconoclasts like Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Pollack and Oliver Stone all knew their history and understood their medium before breaking, bending or challenging the rules. You may make a splash with some flashy techniques, but in the end people can tell if you know your shit or if you're a flash in the pan. Aside from being incredibly entertaining, studying film history is a remarkable way to see a creative interpretation (or documentation) of a country's social, political and economic history over the 20th century.

Do You Really Need Film School?

All of this said, why are film schools considered obsolete by some? Perhaps obsolete isn't the right word because there is no substitute for good teaching. A good teacher can change your life. But if you're going to go to college, major in something other than film. A solid Liberal Arts education is much more useful in the real world - and at times - even in Hollywood. The word obsolete only comes to mind recently because today the tools needed to sharpen your skills as a director are more accessible than ever. Go to any bookstore and you can find dozens of books on directing and film theory, dissecting some of the best films in the last 100 years and their directors. Then, for about 1/5 of the cost for a semester at film school you can buy a Sony DV camera and a Macintosh and you're halfway there! Just need that STORY, right? Well, more on that later… We still have two more places to visit so you get closer to sitting in that chair.

'I used to tell people to go work at a cable station and put your things on the Public Service time, because that was a way of getting to an audience and finding out. Now you can get a digital camera, go out and shoot anything you want, edit it on an i-Mac and seriously get a sense of what all those processes are and you're doing it for zip money. And not only that, but you can even stick it on the internet and get an audience.' Pen Densham

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