# Getting into film school



## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

I'm trying to remain positive, but I'm going to entertain my negative side. Has anyone ever applied to several film schools and did not get into any of them? I'm just starting to get the jitters. To be fair, and as I've shared in this forum, I don't have alot of experience, and to be truthful, after seeing some of the other stuff in here, I feel really underqualified. But don't schools take into consideration that many of their applicants are applying to school because they want to get these skills? I mean if everyone is so skilled, why bother applying to school in the first place?


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## Calliegrl03 (Feb 26, 2008)

Hey! Hey!
Don't worry, ji. It's all about the passion when it comes to film school. If you're passionate about storytelling, then you will be fine. I've wanted to go to film school since I was 12, but a series of events prevented me from going sooner. I'm glad that things worked out the way they did. I know I am ready for it. I think you are too. It seems that you're really passionate about filmmaking. You have three other schools that you applied to. Let's see what happens, okay.

Good Luck!


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

Thanks for the pep talk. Yea, I've wanted to go for a while. I kept putting it off because I felt it was impractical, then last Fall I said, so what, just do it. And now I'm not sure I have either the skill or the ability.


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## Calliegrl03 (Feb 26, 2008)

If you have the passion, then you have the skill and ability. My friend gave me the same pep talk last year after we graduated from college. Just keep writing and shooting, yaar.


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## Maseiya (Feb 26, 2008)

wannabe2, to quote a film professor who used this as a reply to my own insecurities when I told him about them, "Just do what you do. Don't waste time worrying." Well, I still worry anyway, but I understand what he means. If you love filmmaking, go ahead and just do it. If you want recognition for your abilities--fine, but realize that shouldn't inhibit you. People who do what they love doing do it because they've made that choice. People who wish, or dream more than act, or regret a lot of things... waste precious time. They sit doing nothing, and that's a choice, too.

I don't want to sound harsh, but I'm not so good with words that I always say what I mean. Please understand that I've definitely also gone through the same insecurities that you're having now... and I don't just mean with grad school. All of life is uncertain, and imperfect, and generally not what we expect, or desire.

If you feel you don't have enough experience, go out and get more. If you feel you don't have talent, go ahead and acquire the skills anyway through hard work. (Hard work nearly always  triumphs over talent from my experience.)

Don't dwell on the negative stuff, especially if those things serve to block you from doing what you want to be doing. Release that negative thinking, and those negative emotions, and just do what you have to do.

I'll share one last tidbit that I got from David Mack's _Kabuki: The Alchemy_ comic, that has also helped me whenever I feel like I can't move on:

_There is no having made it. Forget about that. You are always making it. That is the entire point. The making is where you always want to be._


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## FLFilmFan (Feb 26, 2008)

i dont want to be the douchebag that gets all lecture-y, but i have to.

i have been through the same circumstance as you.  as an undergrad i felt i HAD to go to film school and when my school of choice denied me, i felt like i was going to die.  and in my opinion i have a lot of experience for my age and i have had a lot of recognition (www.andynguyenfilms.com)

i have been passed over for people with little/no experience.  i was depressed for a while because i have wanted this for so long and when it didnt come i was surprised.  i think i was more concerned of being a member of an institution rather than pursuing why i really want to be in the film industry.

only you can say how you are going to make it in the industry, whether it be through film school or through climbing the ladder, only you know.  these staff and admissions committee can see past all the experience and see you for who you are.  the only problem is to open yourself and make them know not what you have done, but what you will do.

film school or no, it matters more if you want to be in this industry and have the passion for it.  which includes but isnt limited to six figure debt, wiping people's butts, replacing people's tires and pa'ing on those sets that know so much less than you.

its all an experience, but you'll die while your stories live on.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

Thanks all. I do so want to be a filmmaker. I've delayed that ambition for so long, and now that I really am willing to take the risk, I just want to get started. Which means, for most, getting into film school. I'll keep the faith. And thanks for the quote. It does help.


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## Maseiya (Feb 26, 2008)

I agree with you, I'm one of those people who want to really "begin" with film school.

Besides the money issue and other factors, "film school" is, what, 2 to 3 years?

And 2-3 years in the right film school, I hear, is equivalent to 10 years in "life school".

But that's just what I hear from other people (online and IRL), and since I can't do both at once, I'd rather do film school as well. =)

Good luck, wannabe2, Calliegrl, and FLFilmFan. We're our own football team and cheerleading squad, aren't we?!

*is shot*

*hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*


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## redpokiepenguin (Feb 26, 2008)

Haha it feels great to hear you all express serious self doubt because I've been trying to pretend mine doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it definitely does and as the days tick by I can feel myself slowly going insane. 

Wannabe2, I'm honestly just like you. I studied engineering in undergrad, ENGINEERING! Everyone I talk to looks at me like I have three heads and I can guarantee them to say, "Why do you want to do film?" Plus the extent of my experience is running around with a camcorder goofing off. So...here's to inexperience!

But I have tons of friends applying to medical school and they're going through the same stuff we do. I would never apply, it looks like absolutely hell. Anyway, the quote i got from them is, "It takes only one." Because if you get into one, regardless of if it's you dream school or not, then already you're one step closer to what you want to do. I find that thought comforting. It's not take on the world by myself tomorrow, but rather a baby step.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

Hey redpokiepenguin:

Out of curiosity, where did you apply to? 

Glad there's someone in here who hasn't already directed an indie film and applying. I know the bar for admissions for any program is continually raised, but what gives? What's the point in applying to film school if you already know how to direct a film?


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## Jayimess (Feb 26, 2008)

The point is to get better.

I go to USC, and we all fight self-doubt EVERY DAY.

It's the nature of an artist.

And for the record, my class includes a neuroscience Ph.D, a corporate attorney, a dude who went to med school, a physics major, and on and on.

Here's what matters:

Are you determined?

Can you tell a story?

Do you have stories to tell?

If you conveyed that the answer to ALL three is YES, then you can get in.  There's no other magic formula that I know of.  Ivy League, yep, we've got some.  Open enrollment state schools, yep, we've got some.  Tiny colleges that nobody's heard of, yep, those too.

I dropped out...no, FLUNKED out and stayed out of college for five years, then came back and got 4.0s in business classes.

At one of those open enrollment state schools.

If I could get into USC, UCLA, and AFI, so can you.


So stop feeling sorry for yourself, and go out and make a movie.  Watch a movie.  Write something.

Just try not to focus on that which is out of your control...namely an application process in which your active role ended three months ago.

Film school trains you, sure, but you either are a filmmaker or you're not.  Schools don't make filmmakers, they make them better.

Which one are you?  Filmmaker or Not?



*this concludes the locker room pep talk*


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## redpokiepenguin (Feb 26, 2008)

That was quite inspiring Jayimess. I know that i'll look back at this and probably say, "why did i freak out so bad? Oh right, I had nothing else to do."

Anyway wannabe2, i applied to the big 5, minus columbia, tacked on chapman and fsu, threw in some b-schools for good measure and called it a day. So in short: 
AFI, USC, UCLA, NYU (tisch and stern), Chapman (Argyros and Dodge), and FSU.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

Jayimess, thanks, do appreciate the locker room pep talk. I would say at my core I am a filmmaker. My fears are that I do not have enough of a background in my resume to put me to the maybe pile. We'll see. Also, I'm almost a tad older than what I perceive to be the standard applicant pool of candidates. We'll see what happens. I hope I conveyed my vision adequately. And in the words of Forest Gump "that's all ah huv to say bout that". 

I'm also a non traditional student. Took 9 years off then went back to school. NYU was a bust, but let's face it, they are so expensive, who can pay those prices except for one of Spielberg's kids. WHO THE HELL HAS THAT  KIND OF DOUGH? But not feeling sorry for myself. Just want to get this dream a rolling. Know what I mean? But WOW you were accepted to all of the top schools? Very impressive. Did you work in the field for a while first? As with redpokie, my portfolio piece was something I pieced together. Very amateurish. 

But as you said, we'll see. It's out of my hands.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

An apt point though is how does one tolerate this pressure. What about the pressure of actually making a name for yourself in the business. geez.


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## redpokiepenguin (Feb 27, 2008)

omg this website is driving me insane...it's so touchy. 

anyway! nonconventional is probably going to work in your favor. From what i've figured out, being the conventional student for awhile, is that until i stopped and thought about it i was just following what everyone else was telling me what to do. And from looking at my friends from undergrad now they are just following what they "should do." 

Personally pressure or no pressure it's far more interesting on this side.


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## Jayimess (Feb 28, 2008)

> Originally posted by wannabe2:
> I'm almost a tad older than what I perceive to be the standard applicant pool of candidates.
> 
> 
> Did you work in the field for a while first?



I have met first year MFA students ranging from 21 to 46 this year.  I'm at the young end of the older cats in the SW program, and I'm 28....as I said, I dropped out for five years.

Experience?  I interned at a TV station as a planning and field producer/director for the morning show, and worked on a bunch of little films I like to call "inside joke" shorts...where failure to enjoy the film is met with the retort," well, it really happened, you shoulda been there, it was just like the movie."  I took some live broadcast classes my first go at college.

I made my first film after I applied, and it's done extremely well, but that doesn't matter because I applied as a screenwriter.

With the first act of the first script I ever wrote.

So, no.  No field experience per se.


BUT.

If you get in this year with your "very amateurish" app, do not be that a-hole that goes, "I can't believe I got in, I just threw it together."  People hate that person.  You don't seem like you would be, since you're nuts enough to be on this site, but just wanted to state it for the record.

If you don't get in, try again.  One of my classmates applied THREE times before an acceptance letter came, and I think she's amazing.

That said....

I spent eleven months working on my applications for seven film schools.  The process taught me that I only actually wanted to go to three, and I was applying to the other four because I thought I would improve my odds of getting in somewhere, anywhere.  But once I started mailing them out, starting with UCLA in November, I realized that NYC wasn't where I wanted to be, neither was Florida or Texas.

So, I spent all of this time polishing my writing and studying for the GRE and wondering if I had a chance in hell and and and, and then the deadline for USC, my last, my most desired, and most in depth application, was hours away.


I threw everything USC specific out then rewrote it all and mailed it at 1154pm.

And I got in...and I go here.  And I love it.



I spent many a day comparing my original materials to the ones I sent, and lamented my choices again and again.

One of my classmates, who I met on this site, asked me if I still post here, and I told him I did.  I came here looking for info for my hometown pal who's asleep in the other room dreaming of her interview at AFI tomorrow...but then I saw the insanity we all went through last year, and I decided to try to help.


Because it's gonna all be okay.  I never thought I had a chance...and sometimes, it's better that way.

Forgive me for babbling, I have been rooting for a nervous applicant all day, and just read a bunch of scripts, so I'm a little empathetic zombie right now...I've just been there, and looking back, the worry makes you almost hate yourself.

It shouldn't.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 28, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up. I could imagine myself saying that, but really out of humility rather than bragging. But now that I know, I won't blurt that one. As I always seem to find myself the center of social blunders advanced notice is always appreciated. 

It is encouraging to learn that someone is 46 in your cohort. I'm racing toward the 40 myself, and am hoping this film school thing isn't a more expensive substitute for a midlife crisis car. 

If not this year, maybe next year. I'll think about it.


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## redpokiepenguin (Feb 28, 2008)

hah well Wannabe, it's official nyu finally rejected me today. *tear* but I really didn't want to go to nyu. My top choices were always chapman and usc. I just wanted to go back to new york because i miss the city and my friends that are still there. oh well.


thanks for the insight jayimess. I feel that when i get called back for interviews it's a serious fluke. At the same time, however, I'm proud of my work, as amateur as it looks. 

It's tough though. Always wondering if I do have the passion, drive, and potential talent to do this. Sometimes I should just turn tail and run back to investment banking or consulting.


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## wannabe2 (Feb 28, 2008)

Ugh, and look at spreadsheets all day? God bless if you do. Definitely more money, but I'd rather run into traffic.


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## Jayimess (Feb 28, 2008)

You can turn away, and do something you hate/dislike/don't mind all day, and wonder if you could've made it on your deathbed, or you can chase your bliss, and fail or succeed, you know you tried...

I don't think there's anything wrong with humility, it's arrogance that sucks, WB.  One of my closest classmates, on the fast track to being seriously wealthy in a job she hated, had a "chase your bliss" moment on an airplane 2 weeks before the deadline, looked up USC online, hurried and applied, and she got in.  Nobody resents her...it's the "oh, I can't believe I got in, I just threw it together, didn't even try" attitude that people seem to be offended by...but like I said, your very presence on this site belies a deeper interest than that.

I really love film school, you guys.  I don't think I could be happy back home wearing a suit to the office and fighting for money and glory in an industry I had no interest in.

Instead, I may be broke for the rest of my life, but I'll be a financially starved, creatively fulfilled artist, instead of financially stable, creatively numb automaton.


But that's just me.


Back to homework...


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## wannabe2 (Feb 26, 2008)

I'm trying to remain positive, but I'm going to entertain my negative side. Has anyone ever applied to several film schools and did not get into any of them? I'm just starting to get the jitters. To be fair, and as I've shared in this forum, I don't have alot of experience, and to be truthful, after seeing some of the other stuff in here, I feel really underqualified. But don't schools take into consideration that many of their applicants are applying to school because they want to get these skills? I mean if everyone is so skilled, why bother applying to school in the first place?


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## Glenn Jason (Mar 1, 2008)

Jayimess, I'm a lurker but I just wanted to say, I love your posts =) Applied to NYU, Columbia, AFI, and USC. (Interviews at NYU & Columbia.)


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