Is there even a point?

October47
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:31:21 +0000

Here’s the advice I’ve heard about film/tv:

You’ve gotta love it.

You’ve got to absolutely, positively, 100% love it- even worship it! You absolutely can’t be doing this for the money, or for job security, or the benefits, or because you’ll be able to find a great entry level job straight out of college and make enough to pay back all those loans. Because that’s extremely difficult.

But it does happen. And if you absolutely, positively, 100% know this is what you want to do with your life and- better yet- that this is the ONLY thing you know to do with your life, go for it! It might take years, it might take decades, but it CAN happen. Film is just something you have to be patient with. You can’t ever give up, no matter how many 'no’s you get or if your family doesn’t really take you seriously for it.

You could even start off with another career, or similar career, while working on your filmmaking inspirations on the side. After all, there is debate about how reliable a film degree actually is, even in Hollywood, and there have been some who would rather see someone who have actually had life experience and have a real story to tell rather than someone who took the typical path to film.

Like with all majors, there will be hundreds of new aspiring filmmakers graduating and making the move out to Hollywood (or whatever location). What can you offer that’s different? How are you going to get there?

The best thing to do is decide what exactly is it that you would like to do in film. Production work? Directing? Writing? Acting? Learn as much about the art as you can and do as much work with it in school as you can. The great thing about film/tv is that we can get a ton of experience while we’re still in school. There’s no entry level position for going out with your own camera and shooting movies. You don’t have to go through 4 years of college just to have to do 4 more to make your degree mean anything.

What happens is in your hands- well, at least during college. It’s all about how you apply yourself, what you’re going to do to get to where you want to be. Shoot films, do as much work as you can, get internships, learn about Hollywood. The only way you know you’re going to fail is if you don’t even try.