The Problem with Traditional Film School and Why the Film Connection Rocks

Degrees Are Irrelevant in the Film Business

Traditional Film Schools love Diplomas, Film Connection loves real world experience

Unless you desire to be a film accountant, a college degree or diploma is not a job prerequisite. Degrees and diplomas carry little, if any, weight when it comes to getting hired in the Film Business. Unfortunately, the goal of Traditional Film Schools is to grant you a diploma. That's why they're called diploma mills.

With the Film Connection, the goal is always to get you connected so you can get yourself hired. We do this by concentrating on what’s necessary for you to learn to make yourself attractive to those that do the hiring in the Film Industry. The Film Connection believes the best way to learn a job is to do the job. By learning your craft from your personal tutor (your mentor), a real, working film professional, on real-world film and video shoots, you gain real-world experience and real-world connections that no college campus can duplicate.

That’s because in film schools everything works perfectly. In the real world, Murphy’s Law holds true (“If something can go wrong, it will”) and if you haven’t experienced that sinking sensation of having things fall apart in the middle of a shoot during your training, you just plain aren’t ready to be hired. Industry pros know this. That’s why they don’t hire someone just because they have a diploma, and are reluctant to hire people fresh out of film schools because they haven’t been seasoned by the real world yet. So it begs the question: why would they hire a Film Connection apprentice? Because they're the ones that trained you.

Your favorite director either did not go to film school or has publicly stated that it was a waste of money.

While we don't have anything against traditional school, we do have a problem with Traditional Film Schools. Why? They just don't work.

Below is a list of some of the most celebrated film directors of all time. Guess what? None of the went to film school, but all of them had connections.

Quentin Tarantino – “Resevoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill 1 & 2”
Steven Spielberg (Majored in English at Long Beach State, not in Film) – "Jaws", "ET", "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Steven Soderbergh – “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Traffic,” “Ocean’s 11”
Robert Rodriguez – “El Mariachi,” “Spy Kids,“Sin City” (also author of the book “Rebel Without A Clue”)
Richard Linklater – “Dazed and Confused,” “Before Sunrise,” “School of Rock”, "Slacker"
Spike Jonze – “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”
John Houston – "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "The Big Sleep", "Maltese Falcon"
Alfred Hitchcock – "The Birds", "Psycho", "North by North West", "Rear Window"
Clint Eastwood – "Unforgiven", "Million Dollar Baby", "The Hereafter", "Mystic River"
Sydney Pollack – "Three Days of the Condor", "Tootsie", "Out of Africa"
Fritz Lang – "Metropolis", "M", "You Only Live Once"
Ridley Scott – "Gladiator", "Bladerunner", "Thelma and Louise"
James Cameron – "Titanic", "Aliens". "Avatar"
David Fincher – "The Social Network", "Fight Club", "Panic Room"
Peter Jackson – "Lord of the Rings Trilogy"
Robert Altman – "MASH", "Nashville", "Shortcuts", "McCabe & Mrs. Miller"
Bob Rafelson – "Five Easy Pieces", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Blood and Wine"
Raoul Walsh – "White Heat", "High Sierra", "The Tall Men"

Learn Filmmaking by Doing

The Film Connection has been offering it’s learn by doing film program for over 25 years. We know it works, and we know why. With The Film Connection you learn real stuff, real quick. This is because our program let’s you learn the job by doing the job, under the direct, personal, one-on-one, tutoring of a working film professional who is making a living in the film specialty that interests you. The Film Connection is a viable Film School Alternative because it works, it saves you a lot of money, and gets you exposed to the job market in under six months while you learn exactly what your favorite director knows about filmmaking.

Why Film Connection Film School Alternative Works

Real World Experience
One-on-One Private Tutoring on Real Film Shoots
Leaning Environment comes to you in One on One Private Filmmaking Lessons
Learn From A Working, Professional Filmmaker, not a Teacher
Learn in over 100 Cities in the United States and Canada
Six Month Structured Course Curriculum
Affordable Tuition, No Application Fee
Full Time, Part Time, Night, and Weekend Film Classes available

What It Takes To Succeed In The Film Business

It takes a special breed of person to succeed in the Film Biz. It’s about dedication, focus, passion, ability to handle the unexpected, and a whole lot more. The best description of a person who is right for the business is this: Are you the kind of person who gets home at 3AM after working a 20 hour day, and when your alarm wakes you in two hours at 5AM for a 6AM crew call, you can’t wait to jump out of bed and get to the shoot? If you are, Film Connection is perfect for you. It is this passion that will lead you to success in the film business.

Because the real success stories are the people who wake up on their own at 4:45AM and already out the door at 5AM. And wanting it to never stop—you have to want that too. And it’s not about the money. It’s about the work. It’s about being a part of creating something out of nothing. It’s the satisfaction of having pulled off something great, something that you know you have a right to be proud of…and it’s this passion for the work that is essential to success.

Applying to the Film Connection

We only accept one out of every twenty applicants (5%) to Film Connection. We don’t want to waste your time. We don’t want to waste our mentors’ time either.

The good news is that because the Film Connection’s admission standards are so high we have an exceptional record of job placement (currently 74% of students who complete the entire Film Connection six month curriculum find employment in the film industry within a year of graduation.)

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