This isn’t a boring Charleston film school classroom. This isn’t an overcrowded college laboratory. This is life. Real Life. YOUR LIFE.

Making movies is hard. Really hard. You need to know people. People you can count on. You need to earn people’s trust and you need to prove that you’re capable and trustworthy.

How do you meet people? That’s the question, right? How do you get in with the right crowd?

The Film Connection Film School in Charleston, WV, that’s how.

The Film Connection, unlike most film schools, is just that. A Film School. A school where you go to learn the craft of film. A school where you gain experience in how to make a movie. So, really, it’s a film job. But… y’know. Still a school.

Get Real World Film Production Experience in Charleston

The Film Connection is ostensibly an externship program. We pair you with industry pros who are currently doing the work that you wish you were doing.

We also assist you in creating the projects that you want to create. We pair you with a screenwriter, to help you polish your ideas. We team you up with an editor, to help you assemble the footage you shoot. And we introduce you to two mentors who will assist you in any way possible.

And the ultimate goal of the program? Getting you ready for the biggest meeting of your life. What’s that? You haven’t been told about the meeting?

At the end of the program, we fly you out to Hollywood and set you up with a meeting with a studio exec who COULD green light your movie.

Yeah, think about that for a second.

Is that the sound of your head exploding? I thought so.

Meet Our Mentors

Adam Weber

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Daniel Lir

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Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs

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Alejandra Huerta

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Daniela Larsen

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Our Charleston Film Industry Mentors Help you Build Real World Connections

Located in west-central West Virginia, Charleston is both the state capital and largest city of the state, with a greater metro population exceeding 300,000 people. The neighboring city of Huntington lies an hour west, along the Ohio River and Ohio State Line, and is home to another 50,000 people. Together, these cities offer plenty of diversity for filming locations, with backdrops both urban and rural. Entertainment industry notables with ties to this region include comedian Soupy Sales, singers Michael W. Smith and Kathy Mattea, and actresses Conchata Ferrell and Ann Magnuson.

Don’t Spend More on your Film Education if You Don’t Have to

Thanks to generous incentives offered to filmmakers by the state of West Virginia, numerous films, television shows, documentaries and specials are filmed throughout this area.  Among the films shot in and around the Charleston-Huntington area are We Are Marshall, Chillers, and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, to name a few.

With our many professional connections and relationships forged over the years, FILM CONNECTION can hook you up with film industry professionals in ways other film schools can’t match. With our unique mentor-extern approach, your instructor is actually a real-world professional in the film or TV industry, who gives you one-on-one training on real film and video shoots. Discover why many of our graduates get permanent jobs in the industry. Enroll in our Charleston-Huntington Film School today, and let us get you started on the road to your dreams.

Learn the skills you need to take your idea from paper to the big screen.

Real world film education by filmmakers for filmmakers, optimized for today!

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Success stories

Since he started his extern program with Uptone Pictures in Raleigh, NC, Grant Gilbert has been taking…

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Please take the time to read the experiences of one of our own, Korey Hehn of Pineville, OR…

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The Film Connection program provided me with an opportunity to "see it and believe it"!…

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