July 5, 2011

Tip: Don’t Let Your Kids Go To Film School

The Portable Film School book

Is it time to go back to past generation dreams of “my son, the doctor”? (Or daughter. Past generations could be a tad sexist.) Not sure about that, but we do have a tip for parents: don’t let your kids go to film school.

That’s the impression one gets from an article in today’s New York Times. Film school applications are way up, but jobs in the industry are way down. In fact, colleges are creating film and TV programs to meet demand, according to the Times.

The fact that applications are up doesn’t surprise me. There will always be a large percentage of middle class white kids (and let’s face it, most of them are white, although the main barometer is more about class than race) who want to make movies. I’m certainly guilty of this desire. In fact, I identify more with the nudnik kids in the article than I do with my own real-life situation as a parent. I still think of myself as a kid, despite my (ahem) advancing age and decreasing hair-line.

Would I want my own kids to go to film school? No. I won’t stop them, and who knows what the world will look like by the time my own offspring are ready to go off to college. Maybe they won’t even want to go. Maybe they’ll be plumbers. That would certainly be cheaper, and they’d have a better chance of getting a job that pays a living wage.

Because part of the fun of film school is that you get to pay tuition AND subsidize your child’s career afterwards, since the job they get likely won’t pay enough for them to do stuff like pay rent and eat. Isn’t that great?

I’m being unfair, of course. Lots of people go to film school and go on to have wonderfully lucrative careers. And it’s not like your college major determines what you eventually pursue as a career. The Times article talks about graduate school, and also discusses students majoring in film as a path towards critical thinking, or something like that; it was a little unclear. I chose to interpret that part of the story this way — your child might major in film, but don’t worry, they may still go on to get a real job.

Because I may still feel like a dopey kid who wants to make movies. But I’m a dad. My concerns are just a wee bit different than they used to be.

The Portable Film School: Everything You’d Learn in Film School (Without Ever Going to Class) image via Amazon

For Film Graduates, an Altered Job Picture [New York Times]


This post was written by Daddy

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