USC film school acceptance

Apparently USC film school is hard to get into. Even harder to get into than Harvard Law. The acceptance rate for USC film school seems to be at around 4% while for Harvard Law the rate is 11%.

Since the acceptance rate was so low, when I first came to USC I expected most of the film students to be very enthusiastic about film-making. It was too much expectation. One of the first film students I met had not even selected film production as his first choice major. And he was not the only one to have never touched a video camera in his life. Another student could name all the Oscar Best Picture winners all the way from 1928 to the present. But he had never ever even tried to write a script or make a film of any kind. Smart but lazy and very arrogant.

Of course not all students I met were like this. There were some very brilliant and talented filmmakers at USC, but that was very rare(to be blogged about later). The majority of USC film school students were people who treated USC like a golden ticket into the multi-billion dollar industry of Hollywood. These were people who expected to direct AAA feature film titles, merely because they graduated from USC film school.

That...
is pretty ridiculous.

Just think about it. Who in their right mind would give someone $30 million to make a film just because they had a USC film school sticker on their resume?!? If there is such a producer I would love to meet them, cause I have a GREAT idea for a film.

Seriously, no one would even give $100. That's because artistic or filmmaking talent is not judged by a degree. A Bachelor of Arts degree can be an indication of talent, but that is not always the case.

Talent is indicated by results. Results like:
-Directing a short film
-Editing a music video
-Producing a feature film
-Having your film play at a festival
(Not results like, "I got an A+ in my film theory class")

So, what do you have to show your talent? A film school on your resume or a feature film?

What has "resulted" from your filmmaking talent?


Don't even comment. Just go and make films.