Why hear what I have to say about film school? Two reasons. First, I attended The Los Angeles Film School in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. Private school. $32K for one year of education—not including room and board in LA.
Secondly, I’m an active independent filmmaker. I have a film in post production right now called RECKONING. Have a feature film in development. I’ve also worked on a couple studio films. And you can hit up my IMDb. So with that out of the way, let’s cut to:
Simply hit up your favorite AI (mine is Perplexity) to get fast estimates on updated tuition costs for film school. Average in-state hits around $6,100 per year. Average out-of-state around $16,650 annual. Private schools range from $30K to $100K annual. None of this includes room and board.
This all adds up to a lot of money really fast—so a growing consideration for many aspiring filmmakers is online education. But it’s film school, not an accounting program. Doesn’t film school need to be hands-on? Don’t you need to network with others and all of that jazz?
The answer is YES. Learning the craft of filmmaking must be hands-on. You need access to gear. You do need to network. Can you get this hands-on experience with an online film school?
This is a larger topic, but the fast answer is YES. You can get hands-on experience with an online film school—if you’re enrolled in the right school. See, there’s always an “if” right? But it’s true. And as someone who went to that private LA-based film school, I can tell you that film school gave us access to all the gear we needed: Cameras, lighting, dollies, mics, field recorders, sound stages, editing workstations and the list goes on. So how can you get all of that with online schools?
Here we breach the larger topic, but it’s WILDLY important if you’re thinking about film school, whether online or in person. So please stay with me. In fact, if any of this doesn’t make sense hit up the contact page as those messages go directly to me. So here we go with point 1:
It was super cool to have access to gear at LAFS: Cinema cameras, Sound Devices field recorders, Fisher dollies, Sennheiser shotgun mics and Avid workstations—to name just a few things. But after I graduated, all of that shiny gear went bye-bye. I was on the streets of LA with $62K of school debt and no film-related job in sight. But why? Was I a slacker in school? Nope. My instructors would have said the complete opposite. Then why the dismal situation after graduation?
This singular point is what EVERY aspiring director must wrap their head around, because it’s the truth and there’s no getting around it. Ready? The entertainment industry doesn’t care about your film school education. They don’t care that you were top of your class or had a cool thesis film.
If you don’t believe me, simply start calling studios right now. Tell them you graduated from SCHOOL NAME with honors as a directing major. Then ask them if they have any jobs. They might let you be a PA and get coffee. Maybe.
I know this sounds harsh, but it is the harsh reality awaiting every directing major after graduating from film school. So why bring all this up? How does it apply to hands-on training?
If you want to be a director, your objective after film school is to begin making movies. But it’s on your dime. You have to do a lot of it Rebel Without A Crew style, because you won’t have money for day rates. You also won’t have access to all of that hands-on gear you had during school.
See where this is going?
This is what Write & Direct was created for. We teach aspiring filmmakers the craft of filmmaking from development through post production. You will actually make a movie from idea through final sound design and color grading. Everything. We show you how to do it step by step. And you’ll purchase the gear you need to do it. Now wait—that sounds expensive! Actually, it’s a no-brainer:
To purchase a solid computer with industry leading NLE, DAW & grading capabilities, 6K cinema camera, DJI Ronin gimbal, Aputure lighting, Sennheiser mic, Sound Devices field recorder—and everything else you need—all of this film gear plus the cost of Write & Direct tuition will ring in LESS than attending a single year of out of state film school. It will cost tens of thousands less than going to a private school.
With this online film school and equipment model, once you’ve completed your thesis project and you graduate, you’re JUST GETTING STARTED. The gear doesn’t go away. You can continue to do the single most important thing for your filmmaking career: Make movies.
Okay, okay. This sounds interesting. But what about networking? Teachers with industry connections. Fellow students—what about all of that?
Another important topic. One of my teachers was an honorary member of the DGA. He went to school with M. Night Shyamalan. Another teacher worked at Universal Pictures (Law & Order) and taught at the school at night. Cool connections! Did nothing for us. Teachers see WAY more students than there are jobs available. And often, teachers have their own dreams cooking. Teaching is just paying the bills.
But networking with fellow students, that’s good right? It can be. If one of them is loaded with millions and can fund your movies after school. Yes, I did work with a couple students on their indie feature films after school. But one was 100% for free and the other paid me I think $3500 total for 6 months of work. And my very first indie feature after school? Found that on Craigslist.
I’m not saying there can never be a connection through a student—that absolutely happens. When I got an editorial PA gig on a Bob Odenkirk film, Universal called me because they needed a PA on Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift. I was already working, so I hooked up one of my classmates. But as cool as that sounds, it was a PA job. Had nothing to do with directing.
My latest film RECKONING is an example of how you can network anywhere. I shot this film in the mountains of NC. My crew was made up of local teens who thought it would be fun to work on a film set. You can network and find wanna-be filmmakers ANYWHERE now. You don’t have to go to LA. You don’t need to go to film school. When you’re the director, you’re a creative magnet. People will flock to your passion. To your drive.
You can’t go wrong with Write & Direct. In fact, even if you wanted to spend $30K on film school, going through Write & Direct first will definitely put you at the top of your class. But what it will really do is teach you the craft in a unique way that I believe will open your eyes to the process AND the lack of need to attend a film school in person.
This belief is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Try the school out. If it’s not the perfect solution for you as an aspiring filmmaker, we’ll refund you 100%.
Hope to see you on the other side!
If your answer is yes, Write & Direct is your inciting incident. It's your catalyst in the journey to becoming a filmmaker. There's nothing else quite like it. Enroll today or find out more below:
