<p>When selecting colleges to apply to, is it advantageous to choose one with a good film school in addition to good theater? I’m thinking in terms of acting opportunities, not curriculum. </p>
<p>It strikes me that acting in student films could be a huge time sink and source of stress, but on the other hand, I can see that it would be great to graduate with a “reel” in hand. Do student film acting credits help a career or do they just make casting directors roll their eyes?</p>
<p>You do student films for the experience and to hopefully get some decent footage. Not for the prestige although grad thesis films from USC, AFI, NYU and Columbia actually look pretty good when you’re just starting out. Gotta start somewhere, right? CDs will only roll their eyes if they’re looking at an actor who’s been out for a few years and all he has are student films and ULB indies that don’t show up on IMDb. And what makes them roll harder and faster is when the actor tries to dress them up on his resume to look like they’re more than they are. But it’s really all they expect from a greenie fresh out of college. </p>
<p>Going to a program that shares a campus with a good film school can be advantageous, but you can make your own stuff, too, if you can find the time. A lot of people are doing that now due to the relatively inexpensive cost of equipment and its user friendly nature compared to how it used to be. You can even get union eligible through the SAG-AFTRA New Media Agreement by producing your own web pilot if you can get a union actor on board. A friend of mine who’s new in town with top rep and whose career is off to a fast start got in that way. As it turns out, she really didn’t even need to go to the lengths she did to produce something of quality. To quote her off Backstage …
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<p>BTW, the new “triple threat” in Hollywood is considered to be the actor/writer/producer …</p>
<p>How did IMDb become the main arbiter of what’s legit and what isn’t, I wonder!</p>
<p>That’s fascinating about the New Media Agreement and SAG members, which is an area I know nothing about and will now research. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>My son is at Ithaca, and I hadn’t known it had much of a film school until it recently showed up on that Hollywood Reporter list, which may or may not mean anything. Still, I am glad he will get plenty of opportunities to act in student projects for the experience.</p>
<p>I find those self made films and that IMDb criteria pretty odd since I’ve seen a group of parents write some gawd awful scripts with the goal of featuring their kids and their friend’s kids and getting IMDb credit for these. Plastering the videos all over facebook and acting forums and putting themselves in all sorts of lame IMDb surveys and posting photos of themselves in their self made red carpet premiers. We’ve actually turned down many roles from a few of these Mommy CDs and steered clear of these films keeping the resume thinner and more selective. I don’t believe that any reel is better then no reel. Even with student films these days, and Indy films, you can be selective. Most of these students have Vimeo clips or Youtube clips available. Do not agree to be in anyone’s student film unless you’ve seen their work, get a look at the script, got a sense of their work ethic, have a concept of what kind of production assistance they will have, equipment and what kind of casting choices they have made in the past. Be sure you agree to what they have the character doing in the script. You can and should be selective.</p>
<p>My son, still in high school, has done a couple of student films. Do I put them on his resume for college?</p>
<p>Absolutely yes, as long as you ID them as a student film with the name of the college that it was for and do not make any representations that it was something other than student films.</p>
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There will be a new edition of Self-Management for Actors coming out next month that I think will give you the lowdown plus a lot of other advice about producing your own stuff. Just know that the biz is in constant flux and everything will have most likely changed again by the time your son graduates if he’s a freshman. The books are often out of date by the time they hit the shelves …
Definitely don’t agree to do one without seeing the script, but on the other hand, why should they ask you to be in their project without seeing all that from you as well? It’s not like there’s any shortage of flakey actors and they’re the ones putting the money into the project. Gotta start somewhere and everybody involved is there to learn. </p>
<p>I’ve never encountered any of these “Mommy CDs.” LOL But I can’t say their existence surprises me. I never did much in the way of student films and ULBs myself, but from what I’ve heard from those who have is that the main problem can be getting a copy of the completed project. There’s apparently a simple contract around that people use in which a copy of the completed film is considered payment for their services that’s enforceable in small claims court. Plus, in college, you can just get aggressive, apply social pressure or even get the film student’s professor involved if necessary. Another thing I’ve heard of happening with ULBs is that there are some unprofessional film boys around who’ll wait until an unsuspecting actress gets on-set to spring a ‘revision’ on her that involves nudity. Of course, anybody with common sense will walk, but it happens. But you do have to be careful about who you get involved with in this stuff and NEVER go to anybody’s house or apartment for an audition if you don’t know them.</p>
<p>My D has done extra/small featured work in one feature film and 2 music videos. The feature film promised IMDB credit and SAG eligibility and the other two promised copies of product. The only thing she got was the SAG form and we had to fight to get that. We learned very quickly that promises mean nothing.</p>
<p>
Yeah, [what’s</a> that '80s song?](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8E_dkESwzg]what’s”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8E_dkESwzg) 
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<p>You don’t even want extra work to show up on IMDb. That really does make CDs and just about everybody else roll their eyes. And use “Principal” instead of “Featured” on your resume if you have a small speaking role. The problem is that while “featured” is the officially correct term, it’s been abused by background players to try to puff up their resumes to the point that people assume that’s what it is. And DO NOT list background work on your resume. It’s considered unprofessional. And as far as the SAG form, do you mean a voucher? You can still gain eligibility by collecting three of those, but what an awful way to go about it. It’s almost hard for me to believe that they can still get non-union people to do that the way they get treated like cattle.</p>
<p>FBF I don’t know anything about the business but from what they told me on the film, because she was playing a choir member in a church and was “singing” that is why she got the eligibility and would be in the credits of the movie. Who knows if that is even true.</p>
<p>Ah, okay. They had to Taft-Hartley her as featured since she was using a special skill. I don’t know why it takes the union so long to process the paperwork and get the eligibility letters out, but that often takes months which is probably where your struggle was. All the producers can do is submit the forms and they’re supposed to take care of that before shooting. They might [owe</a> her residuals](<a href=“http://www.sagaftra.org/content/residuals-faq]owe”>http://www.sagaftra.org/content/residuals-faq), too. Has the film been released yet?</p>
<p>Ooh, I just followed fishbowlfreshman’s link to the SAG-AFTRA website and found all kinds of interesting information there. It doesn’t pertain to my son’s experiences yet, but it’s definitely a place to acquire knowledge. Thanks for that. I’m definitely bookmarking SAG-AFTRA.</p>
<p>Prodesse, how do you keep up with all of these FBF links, I think we need to have a thread designed specifically as a FBF study group to discuss all these worthwhile links. “Theatre/Drama Subforum Master Class with Fish” I wish I had time to follow through. Makes note to self to devote a day to click on Fishlinks.</p>
<p>LOL! One of the pluses of this CC forum is that people are here who are at many phases of a theatrical career. As the mom of a BFA freshman, I am glad to help other moms through the audition process, and I still get great info and perspectives from the different participants here. I hope someday a CC person will win an Emmy and say in his or her acceptance speech, “Hello to all my friends on CC and thanks for the great advice.” Mostly I am glad we are all anonymous, but it would be fun to follow everybody’s careers!</p>
<p>HA! could you imagine? How many actors lives have been influenced by the conversations here on CC at various stages of their careers. The HS students who were uncertain and the freshman getting advise on how to handle certain issues as well as references to various studios and workshops to guide your summers and post undergraduate decisions; study abroad info etc etc. I can just hear it now, someone thanking the folks on CC in an awards speech.</p>