<p>Hi everyone. My daughter’s 18 years old, about to start college in Philadelphia to study Film, and I can feel her nervousness practically radiating off her. She’s not nervous about college, but she’s terrified that she won’t be able to sustain herself once she’s out. </p>
<p>Now, I know, Film isn’t exactly the steadiest career option around. But I just can’t believe that this kid is going to be living with me, or doing the infrequent paycheck to infrequent paycheck thing after she gets out of college. She’s been getting paid for her video editing skills since she was 14, and she has an extensive list of regular video clients across the country (a University being one of them), she’s had at least one internship every year since freshman year of high school, had 2 senior year, worked 2 jobs this summer, has worked on a movie set. </p>
<p>Now, I don’t want to discourage her drive, but I also fear that she’s driving herself insane. She was never a fabulous student, but she’s gifted with a camera and has only seen success in this field thus far. Her paranoia seems unfounded from her personal experience. I don’t know what to do with her, I’m worried that trying to steer her will only convince her that I believe her to be incompetent. But she’s also only 18, and cannot navigate the world totally unguided. Does anyone else have a kid like this? How do you center them?</p>
<p>She is doing exactly what she should be doing. If she is working in the field that she loves, she will continue to get jobs. Tell er to always keep a listing of her contacts, so she has a good source for networking as she moves through college.</p>
<p>What’s the alternative for her? Accounting? Engineering? I can’t imagine she’d want to study something she isn’t otherwise interested in only because it has pretty good employment prospects. My daughter was an English major and she was working in a good job in very short order after graduating. Like yours, she always worked from the time she was 15 years old. Kids like that don’t seem to have a lot of trouble finding good jobs.</p>
<p>Tell her to worry about this in 4 years. She can study what she loves to learn about, and do continued internships. College doesn’t have to be vocational and often jobs don’t match major. There is even time to change what she is studying a couple of times. Hope she can relax. Maybe she’s too accomplished already and there’s nowhere to go but down, in her eyes!</p>
<p>You know many many people make a very good living in their film careers. They support families, buy homes and even save for college. The movie industry is strong and I haven’t read any doom and gloom articles about its demise.
She has picked an industry that is robust and by all accounts has a future.
The only thing is that is some of the jobs change with technological advancements and her skills will have to stay current unless she opts to go in to management.</p>
<p>What does studying film in Philadelphia look like? Is it debating the merits of artistic French cinema of the 1960s? or is it how to operate the latest digital video editing equipment? A co-op program like Drexel (do they offer a film major?) would keep her much closer to the work side of the business (and increase her comfort level) vs a liberal arts approach to film education.</p>
<p>This is a switch – usually it is the parent sweating whether the kid with a film major will be able to earn a living. I would say that some concern on her part is justified. A little “edge” of worry about this will keep her hustling for film jobs on the side, which is not bad. </p>
<p>If she thinks she might want to start or run some kind of film company some day, encourage her to pick up a few business classes while in college. Basic accounting, marketing, finance, business law – all of them come in handy every day when I run my business (which is not at all related to film, but dead useful stuff for any small business owner). It could open a few more options for jobs when she graduates in case she is having a hard time, too. It is those spaces where disciplines come together (like film & business) where there can be a lot of opportunity.</p>
<p>Most students heading off for freshman year have a bit of concern about getting started in a new situation, as well as excitement. Is it possible that it is easier for your daughter to discuss future transitions rather than the immediate one? I’d remind her that settling into a career is a process and that as she gets started with school, hearing about her impressions or dilemmas would mean a lot. It can be very helpful to help break these global worries down into bite-sized pieces. If she is re-thinking her major once she is in school, that can be worked through as well. </p>
<p>We have 2 recent grads (one grad school, one undergrad). They have both interned to the max and optimized their learning, but are in extremely competitive, yet generally low paying fields. We do a lot of cheerleading with the job hunt in full swing. If she winds up deciding that job security means more to her than pursuing the film degree, she wouldn’t be the first to re-think things once they entered college. It is great that she has pursued the field vigorously at this point, and continuing that effort will impact options. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>I’m in the camp that a little bit of worry is good. Being completely cavalier about it is both unhelpful and unrealistic. It’s likely this will push her to continue to pursue opportunities during her education that will make her employable when she graduates. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is that especially if she pursues a variety of coursework as an undergraduate to the best of her ability, she always has the option of choosing a different path later on via graduate school. I say this because one of the students in the clinical area of my psychology graduate program has a degree in film and worked in the industry for several years before deciding he wanted to become a clinician. </p>
<p>I remember at that age feeling like I was definitively choosing my future when I selected my (first) major and (first) undergraduate school. That’s a really daunting decision to make. If she is as passionate as she seems to be about what she does, she will make her way. If not, it’s nowhere near the end of the line.</p>
<p>Your daughter will be fine. She will be around other film students who will give her the benefit of their experiences and she may be leaps and bounds ahead of them in the business sense. She’ll be able to decide for herself LATER, what she likes and needs. The other students may give her advice about a minor in business or economics. She’ll learn from professors and others what her potential will be.</p>
<p>If you’re the best at what you do, you will always find work and money. If she sticks with what she loves she will always prosper! She sounds like she has a promising career ahead of her. Will it be as lucrative as law or medicine? Maybe not, but who knows!?</p>
<p>My brother, who has done some screenwriting and film but never “made it”, does well enough with his local commercial video/commercials small business.</p>
<p>It is normal to feel jittery about the future. If she has had success in her chosen field since she was young, then she probably will continue to do so. College will be the time for her to explore what she loves and also what she may not like. 4 years is a good amount of time and she may even change her mind. Just be supportive and the rest will fall into place.</p>
Tell her to take a few business classes on the side (perhaps a minor in business?). This will enable her to develop a foundation to start her own business, if she chooses to do so, and will give her ‘marketable’ job skills outside of film. </p>
<p>I would also ignore the “Life will be grand so long as you follow your passions!” advice. It’s inane and does NOTHING to make any level-headed person less worried about the future.</p>