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Originally posted by mttguy:
They suggested that instead of going into debt $100k at USC, I could potentially invest the money in a film and probably do fairly well.

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I still get a bit baffled by the retort, "don't go to school, spend that $70K on equipment and a film." Few 18 year olds are ready to make a film. But they're ready to go to school. And then people say, "well don't study film, study English literature." Again, it doesn't really compute for me. Study what you want, but if you already know you want to make films, you might as well feed your passion by studying it every waking moment. College can be a lot of work!

I think people expect that taking some non-film liberal arts education will give a person enough depth to make a movie or something. But reading Chaucer won't give a person that depth--if she's got depth and something to say, she'll find something interesting to say in her films regardless of her choice of college major. Just like going to film school won't make you a filmmaker either. But it will help you discover if you're really one or not rather than waiting until AFTER college to do it. Let's face it. Most DVXUsers are at least a bit obsessed with filmmaking. Who wouldn't want to think it, study it, and do it every day as part of the education they're going to be getting anyway? I wish I did (and yes, I do work and get paid in the Industry and did NOT go to film school nor have I family in the business--then again the "Industry" I refer to is in Canada.) If school really is not what you learn but simply "learning to learn" (I wonder if I remember 1% of the details my undergraduate education), then you might as well spend that time doing something you believe might really want to pursue through your life. There's a lot to know. If filmmaking is for you, start studying it now.

I wonder if anti-film school folks are actually just nervous that not having gone to film school forces them to play catch up. Me thinks they dost protest too much (see I studied Shakespeare!). Hey, I felt a bit threatened not having been a film school grad myself. But I also recognize that so many of my colleagues in the business who pursue their independent projects on the side will never make a film I want to watch--they really are better suited to being a focus puller or a producer or a post-production supervisor. Filmmakers are probably born not made. But I think most of those born to it, get a sense early on that it's what they want to do (even if they don't necessarily act upon it right away). Those born to it have nothing to lose and everything to gain by going film school.

But all that said, one thing I believe entirely is that the old rules are changing. I've never heard of Coppola's girl with a betacam metaphor, but if it hasn't happened yet (that might be debatable), it's only because Coppola was vastly ahead of his time. The Industry that most people consider to the industry in LA is decentralizing. That's the digital revolution for you. The stuff people traditionally had to learn in film school is now available everywhere via the Internet. At this point all roads lead to Rome. The Industry is going to look profoundly different 10 years from now. Filmmakers that will be catching our attention will be coming from everywhere and from more varied backgrounds. I mean, think about it. How old is the DVX? Three years? Things are just getting started. Very exciting times.