I think you should make five short films.

You will have more knowledge after that then if you don't make five short films.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Okay, but what do you think of the program?

I think it's a great way for the people running it to make money.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I'm not going to be cynical right away, since I don't know anything at all about the programme. At almost $8,000, it is clearly NOT a proper college degree. It is more like an evening course (twice weekly, for six months). As a concept, the programme sounds interesting enough. The question is, how is it executed? Do they really have knowledgeable instructor(s) with properly structured curriculum? If you do spend that much money, will you get your money's worth of actual knowledge?

The only way to find answers to these questions is to seek out those who already took this programme. Do some googling; you'll find some pretty horrible stories about this place. Apparently, they would take your $8000 and find you internships on some third-rate TV and movie projects (i.e. the stuff that you could find on your own).

I agree with you Vasic.

Any program that makes the claim, "Learn from the pros in Hollywood"
yet does not mention anywhere on the site the name of a pro makes
me suspicious. And their top claim, "No Relocation Cost - Learn in your
city of town!" seems unattainable. I mean, seriously; how many production
companies offer "Real World Experience/Hands on Experience " in Kearney,
Nebraska? And if you are in Maine (or Bath, England) are there really many
Hollywood pros there to mentor you?

And by the way: the quote, "No Relocation Cost - Learn in your city of town!"
is correct - typo and all.

JayLethal84, eight months ago you said:

quote:

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Originally posted by JayLethal84
I am 100% serious and dedicated, this is not a hobby for me.

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But it seems you havent even made one short film. In eight months.

Now Im not saying you arent dedicated - I know you are. One hundred
percent. But it just seems to me you should have made a few movies in the
past eight months instead of reading books.

I know we each learn differently. If the way you learn is spending $7,500
on a course, then this one might be best for you.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

In all fairness, some people need kick in the pants, and a film school with a lot of hands-on can do it for them. Then there are people (like I used to be in my 20's and 30's) who, before getting a piece of gear, get the manual and read it cover to cover (even memorizing some parts). When I was young (and didn't have a family), I used to do exactly that: thoroughly read the manual of any equipment I was about to use. Eight months (most of them winter months) is enough to read several books. Now that the weather is better, the time has come to apply all that stuff from the books. Surely, there is a camcorder somewhere in the household, which should be enough. If you don't have an idea for a story, search the internet; simplyscripts.com has tons of unproduced scripts, some no longer than two pages (up to full features), and there are many more sources of amateur unproduced scripts, treatments, synopses or stories.

Twenty years ago, we had to go to libraries or seek out to meet, face to face, like-minded enthusiasts. Today, It would take me no more than 5 minutes to find a great script to produce, and perhaps 30 minutes more to find cast and crew to work with me for free (Google, CraigsList, ReelAct, etc). It is really difficult to come up with an excuse not to actually stop thinking and hoping, and start shooting.

Thanks guys for the advice. Certified Instigator, the reason why I haven't started making any short films is because during those last couple of months I had to deal with some major personal problems that really affected me. I lost my job and had to move out of my apt, and was almost homeless. Thank god, just recently I got hired at a good job and I found a cheap place to live. I feel like now I can start doing what I wanted to do.

So sorry to hear of all your hardships. Glad things are turning around.

Can you afford the fee for this program? Do they actually offer you experience
in a real production company in your city so you can stay where you are and
not have to relocate? Are there production companies where you live? If there
are, to you really need to pay these people to get you in the door at one of them?

Are there production companies where you live? If there
are, to you really need to pay these people to get you in the door at one of them?

Yeah I really thought this over, and you are completely right. I'm going to look for some production companies in my area and try and get an internship. Thanks.

Getting an internship sounds like a great idea and I hope the search is going well. You could also try to do work experience, such as for a week through a tv studio, ad studio etc to get some hands on experience and contacts. Also, to get good at what you're passionate about, work on making films at every free chance you have, even if you have half an hour to quickly film an idea, get filming and work on editing and learning and improving all the time. All the best 🙂

I love creating music