Hey, thought I'd start up a new thread where all admitted students who have made their final decisions about what film MFA program they will attend in Fall of 2008 can meet/discuss/get to know each other beforehand.

So, where will you be attending in Fall '08?

Thanks for starting this, louv. I was just about to do the same.

I'll be at UCLA for Screenwriting. You?

Alas, no final answer for me yet dharmagirl...still waitin'. But I'd still very much like to talk about this, especially since I plan on making films regardless of school admissions, and it's always good to get to know talented filmmakers in the area, etc.

Congratulations on UCLA! That's a great program.

AMAZING HOW THIS fORUM WAS CREATED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO ALREADY. I bet you this is gonna be the hot topic for the next 4 weeks or so.
I got accepted to Columbia and am waiting to hear back from Chapman and AFI. Unfortunately the deadline for the Columbia decision is April 16th...
I've called and tried to get that deadline postponed so i can hear back from the other schools, haven't gotten an answer on that one yet.

It might have to come to putting down a deposit (I think it's 800$ in Columbia's case) and just biting the bullet in case plans change.
It suck but I guess it's a drop in the bucket compared to what's coming.

Thoughts on that issue?

whoa, sorry, my bad...I didn't see any forums like this one, for students who know for sure where they're going.

$800 is a hefty deposit, sheesh. I'd be disappointed to be out so much money if I were waiting to hear about other schools and ended up bailing out of Columbia. I guess, in the end though, you have to go where you think you'll be happiest. I'd wait until last minute to mail your deposit/confirmation, esp. if AFI is going to inform you on Apr. 15th.

I just sent in my deposit to Columbia today. Yay! Also, the deadline for Columbia was pushed to the 23rd so hopefully you guys will have heard from everywhere by then.

Was accepted into NYU's Tisch Asia campus today. Am waiting to hear back from AFI's Directing program. Hopefully it'll be any day now.

Birdman, are you waiting on AFI before making a decision like myself?

Congrats, Bandar!

Congrats Bandar,

I'm actually waiting to hear back from Chapman and AFI. I'm actually pretty sure, Columbia's better for me than AFI - so really I'm waiting for Chapman.
Still curious if I got in, though, as I've mentioned before - I have a hunch that AFI will be a no.

Good luck to you amigo

So I passed on AFI today. It was a hard phone call to make. What a wonderful school.

Looks like I've narrowed it to two: USC or UCLA. My guess is, I'll be joining A Plan Unfurled, Placebo, and, of course, Jayimess, as a Screenwriting Trojan in the Fall. And, sad though I am for AFI, I'm getting psyched about USC...

Good luck to next year's Fellows! Invite me to share the hills with you.

And, to whomever gets in off the waitlist, you're welcome.

Yrs,
Icarus

I have narrowed it down to Columbia or USC. Columbia seems to be winning.

Weird and cool, trajan9. I can't imagine there's a ton of overlap between Columbia and USC in terms of applicant pool.

I assume this is a situation where "the part of me that wants X from film school" is beating "the part of me that wants Y from film school"?

Keep us posted.

--IA

Glad to have you aboard Icarus!

(looks like USC managed to survive the dreaded death list after all...haha)

Yeah, my list is pretty lame.

--IA

It looks like I will be a Directing fellow at AFI this fall!

Congrats again, Bandar! That rocks pretty hard. I had a feeling you'd get in.

Thanks Louvonsalome,

Let me know when your acting class is and we can meet up afterwards. I live off of Lankershim and Chandler (The Gallery Apartments).

Hi people!
I write you from Barcelona, I've been following your forums last days and I have to say it has been really useful for me. However, now I have to take a hard decision and I thought it was better to post it directly. I hope maybe some of your opinions would help me.
I have been accepted on AFI/directing and Calarts/Filmandvideo and I did last sunday a very good interview in UCLA where I think I have a good chance to get into.
It is obvious that all three programs are completely different and I Know I could seem an schizophrenic if I say I don't really know what to choose. However, I have to say that I love cinema in its very different forms, from classic genre movies (like John Ford westerns) to Harun Farocki videoessays or chris marker documentaries, passing through personal storytelling movies such as Cassavettes or Pialat. Until now I have made some documentary-essay films and also some personal stories that looked towards reality in a documentary way, mixing professional and non-profesional actors (most of them people that I know really well like my family). Nevertheless in my last films I have switched to genre little by little in order to face some of the subjects I wanted to deal with, specially to fantastic, mixing it with spontaneous performances. So these are my points in favour and against each school
AFI was at the beginning my first option. I liked the idea of learning the studio way of working, the great opportunity to collaborate with great writers, cinematographers, producers, etc. I thought it was really interesting for a european to discover what has made american filmmakers the best storytellers in the world, the way of working that has produced so many myths of my childhood and youth. I though that if I wanted to explore the path of genre no place it would be better than AFI. However, I saw some of the thesis films last thursday that I didn't like at all (except one that was really good) and I spoke with some people giving me advice about the non-collaborative ambient in directing. I know that AFI lets lot of freedom to their students as long as you respects good storytelling, but I am afraid that I won’t be able to develop my skills if i don’t find fellows who are interested in my proposals. I also discovered that in AFI you just can use actors of the SAG so I won't be able to continue working on mixing actors with non-actors. The good point is that I have an scholarship for two years (tuition and expenses), and AFI’s programme is just for two years. I also loved its situation in Hollywood Hills since I would like to live in Silver Lake, Echo Park or Downtown.
UCLA had from the beggining the problem that it lasts 4 years to finish it. It seems to me a very long time to be in a filmschool and I will have to find another scolarship in spain in order to pay the last two years. Moreover I find that since I don’t consider myself a great producer maybe I will have some problems to rise money to make my films. Neverthless I am aware that the possibility that I will have there improving my skills on cinematography, editing and writing will help me a lot to find some job in spain in the hard period after finishing school and before I get to shot a feature (I consider very difficult to get to direct a feature only with my thesis film in AFI; I don’t know if that has happened never but I think that if it has, it was very few times and with people with lots of contacts in the industry). I also loved their emphasis in storytelling, in the way of independent cinema, that won’t give me any problems in order to continue developing my film language. And there’s also the good fact that it is a class of 20 people only, but with the bad point that people wouldn’t work so hard for your projects like in AFI, since each one has their own films to do. I didn’t liked at all Westwood, but I think I will manage to live somewhere else.
And then there is Calarts. It wasn’t one of my first options at the beggining, but after visiting it last week and speaking with a friend that is studying there I changed my mind. I know that it has not the reputation of the other two schools, but since anybody looks to your film degree in any industry, I think this is not an argument for any decision. I loved the atmosphere there, not so much because of the look of its “arty” students, but because the collaborative and challenging relationships that seems to be created there. The fact of sharing lots of talks and experience with people who dedicates to other arts (music, drama, dance, etc) seems to enrich owns background much more further than those dully conversations between students that only speak about filmmaking and forget that there’s life out of school, that there’s lot of things going on out in the real world (I don’t say it has to be like that in all film schools, I just speak about the experience of some friends). They provide you a very good technichal training in most of the fields of filmmaking and they have good equipement (it seems to be much better than UCLA). They have great teachers that are (in my advice) some of the best documentary/experimental filmakers in the world right now (like Benning, Menkes or Andersen) not just as guest lecturers, but as residents professors that teaches very challenging and innovative courses. They allow you also to take courses of the directing programme, with a strong focus on directing actors and storytelling, so I could continue working on some of the staff I have been on lately. However it is clear that in the sense of storytelling there’s very little comparation with the other two programmes. And that’s the worst point, because I feel that if I have this opportunity to come to america I should focus on what americans know how to do better. I feel that in Calarts I will be able to continue developing my skills, but I will miss this wonderful opportunity to give it a “turn”. There is also the fact that in Calarts I won’t have access to the very few contacts that the other schools could provide me. Another bad point is that the master lasts three years, and I also would have to find money for my third one. Finally there is the fact of th very beautiful campus that includes a lot of installations (including a cinema with 35mm projections of great movies everyday) but that it is far away from LA. Not so much to go for a walk or a drink in the weekend, but too much to live in LA and drive through the horrible traffic for 1-hour-trips or more twice a day.
Well I can understand that if you have arrived to read all this very very long post, maybe you get too much tired to answer it. However, any more information or impressions on this dilemma will help me a lot.
Thank you very much to all.

Carlosbusy,

I found your post to be very informative. Let me be the first to say that I attended all four nights of the AFI Thesis Screenings, and found the Thesis films to be extremely good! (For the exception of the last night - Thursday, in which I only enjoyed one film).

But again, it is not other people's work that will make your work as a filmmaker good, please remember this. Do not judge a program based on the films that you see coming out of there, if you did that than it wouldn't say much about you as a filmmaker, for you would be following another's lead. You should aim to create your own legacy at a program that you feel comfortable in.

If you want my advice, just follow your heart and know the types of stories that you would like to create. If it is experimental documentaries, then you should probably pursue CalArts. However, if you would like to sway into Narrative fiction, I would encourage you to pursue AFI, since that is their main philosophy. If you want a little of both, perhaps UCLA would be a great match for you (considering you will be able to find the other 1/2 of the tuition you would need).

Hope my post helps you.

quote:

Originally posted by Icarus Ascending: My guess is, I'll be joining A Plan Unfurled, Placebo, and, of course, Jayimess, as a Screenwriting Trojan in the Fall. And, sad though I am for AFI, I'm getting psyched about USC...

I'm so excited for you guys. Second years get assigned to mentor first years (mine didn't really do anything, but so be it) so I can't wait to meet you all. They threw us a party after orientation last year, so we'll probably be doing the same for you lovelies!

Yay yay yay! Fight on! (yes, I said it!)