Film Schools, Los Angeles

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My dream school for ages was UCLA Film, Theater, Television. (i've wanted to direct since age 8)
Now the place scares me so much, because they don't accept film applications til junior year, that my top choice is now USC Cinema-Television (provided i get a huge scholarship). If, however, I don't get in or can't afford it, I don't know what to do. My choices, in order are:
1. usc
2. ucla
3. chapman
4. loyola marymount</p>

<p>i'm pretty much a shoe-in for valedictorian, so i know i can get in to the schools themselves, but film applications are a whole other game</p>

<p>if usc is out of the picture and i get accepted to chapman film and basic ucla, should i:</p>

<p>a)go to ucla for 2 years, try to get into their film program, and if i dont, transfer to chapman</p>

<p>b)go to chapman for 2 years, then apply to transfer into ucla film (which has worse chances than option a), and if not just complete my degree in film there</p>

<p>c) go to either school for 1 to 2 years and then attempt to get into usc film (but the money thing, if i get the scholarship, it'd be harder to get scholarships when i didnt just graduate high school)</p>

<p>d) go to usc as another major and try to transfer into the film program the next year, and after 2 yrs try to transfer to ucla film, or even chapman film</p>

<p>e) just go to usc (if i get the scholarship) and major in something else, and try for grad school (i really want to be through with school and making movies. it'd be nice if that meant an actual job)</p>

<p>i pray that i just get usc film with full scholarship, then i wouldn't have to worry about this mess, but it pays to be prepared i guess</p>

2

<p>How come NYU isn't in your list? Also consider Northwestern - they have an awesome communications department.</p>

3

<p>because he/she probably wants to stay around LA and nyu and northwestern would probably be as expensive as usc unless he/she gets scholarships..</p>

4

<p>You would probably have a better shot at a big scholarship award at Chapman than at USC since the latter gets so many applicants from across the country. Chapman is much lower on the radar, but it's film school is up and coming. In fact, they just opened a $41 million state-of-the-art studio complex including studio facilities the size of two Home Depots, 34 film editing rooms, four sound stages, a 500-seat theater, a motion-capture animation studio and plans to create a "filmmakers' village" on 10 adjoining acres. It is certainly worth looking at.</p>

<p>Here's a link. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-filmschool/26aug,1,765%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-filmschool/26aug,1,765&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If it doesn't work, go to latimes.com and put "chapman film" in the search window. The story is recent, so it's still available to be read for free.</p>

5

<p>It is almost impossible to transfer into the USC film program, either from within USC or from another school, so I wouldn't even view this as an option. Admssions is HIGHLY competative, virtually as hard as trying to get into Harvard.</p>

6

<p>hmm, some people said the chances were better to transfer from within usc to the film dept.</p>

<p>i am a she; i want to stay in the LA area</p>

7

<p>Many famous actors/directors came from NYU :)</p>

8

<p>once again, film schools in LOS ANGELES
i know NYU is a good school but i absolutely love LA and i'd like to stay near hollywood</p>

<p>chapman is a really good film school, i know. when i visited usc they seemed to consider chapman as more competition than ucla. that's why it'll be so hard to choose where to go if i don't get the usc scholarship/film school</p>

9

<p>If u wanna make it big, go to NYU for TISCH...
u can sip vodka on the rocks with those big names in film industries.... like
spike lee, ang lee, woody allen, coppola, scorsis, and u name who...</p>

<p>if u can make it in NY, u can make it ANYWHERE....</p>

10

<p>Francis Ford Coppola went to UCLA and lives in California</p>

11

<p>Famous alumni of UCLA's School of Theatre, Film and Television:</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles_people#Arts.2C_film_and_literature%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles_people#Arts.2C_film_and_literature&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Catherine Asaro - Nebula Award winning science fiction novelist
Sean Astin - actor
Nancy Austin - management consultant and author of The Assertive Woman.
Carroll Ballard - film director; directed The Black Stallion and Duma
Elizabeth Berkley - actress
Jan Berry - singer; songwriter and member of Jan & Dean
Mayim Bialik - actress, Blossom
Jack Black - actor
Shane Black - screenwriter; wrote Lethal Weapon and Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
Lloyd Bridges - actor
Alison Brown - Grammy Award winning banjo player
Carol Burnett - Emmy Award winning comedian
Charles Burnett - film director
Nancy Cartwright - Emmy Award winning actress; voice of Bart Simpson
Doug Chiang - Academy Award winning film production designer
Judy Chicago - artist and educator
James Coburn - Academy Award winning actor
Eleanor Coppola - Emmy Award winning documentarian
Francis Ford Coppola - Oscar-winning director, screenwriter; co-wrote and directed the Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now
Alex Cox - film director and screenwriter; wrote and directed Repo Man and Sid and Nancy
Julie Dash - film director; wrote and directed Daughters of the Dust
Don Davis - film score composer; worked on The Matrix trilogy
Gerald Davis - painter
Agnes de Mille - dancer and choreographer
James Dean - actor and Hollywood icon
Brad Delson - guitarist of Linkin Park
Dr. Demento - radio DJ, famous for the Dr. Demento Show, syndicated since the 1970's
Ryan Dusick - Grammy Award winning drummer of Maroon 5
John Fahey - experimental guitarist
Dave Farrell - bass player of Linkin Park
Will Forte - actor and comedian; cast member of Saturday Night Live
James Franco - actor
Jill Gibson - singer and artist
Greg Ginn - guitarist of Black Flag
Greg Graffin - lead singer of Bad Religion
Catherine Hardwicke - film director and screenwriter
Mariska Hargitay - Golden Globe Award winning actress
Mark Harmon - actor
James Horner - Academy, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award winning film score composer
Anthony Kiedis - singer and frontman of L.A. funk/rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers
David Koepp - screenwriter
Justin Lin - filmmaker; co-wrote and directed Better Luck Tomorrow
Heather Locklear - actress
Meredith MacRae - TV and film actress
Mickey Madden - Grammy Award winning bass player of Maroon 5
Jayne Mansfield - actress
Ray Manzarek - keyboard player of The Doors
Frank Marshall - film producer
Danica McKellar - actress
Scott Mechlowicz - actor
Darius Mehrjui - film director
Jim Morrison - lead singer of The Doors
Niels Mueller - film director and screenwriter
Alexandra Nechita - painter
Randy Newman - musician; Academy, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning film score composer
Victor Nu</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
Francis Ford Coppola went to UCLA and lives in California

[/quote]
</p>

<p>oops my bad....</p>

<p>i thought he lives in NYC, cuz i remember he co-directed "The New York Story"with allen and scorsis...... maybe his daughter lives in NYC....</p>

<p>:rolleyes:</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
Admssions is HIGHLY competative, virtually as hard as trying to get into Harvard.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The two aren't comparable. Maybe USC's film program has very low admit rate but the quality of the applicant pool is not anywhere close to those for Harvard. Actually one of my best friends went to Harvard undergrad and did his MFA at USC's film school. He was a TA for few classes there and he told me he wasn't impressed by most of the undergrads there.</p>

14

<p>chapman does in fact have an up and coming film program with state of the art facilities. president doti's stated aim is to emulate USC across the board, and his raising sixty eight million bucks just in the past year testifies to that. but USC keeps upping the ante as the kingpin of the film world with its alumni having won at least one oscar for something like thirty straight years. yes, both new york university and our bruin friends have fine programs but still nothing close.</p>

<p>keep in mind that as a private chapman's tuition is hardly inexpensive. but it does make for a solid backup plan if the land of trojans say no thanks. once known as the university of spoiled children there may not be another university in the world moving up so swifty in academic quality across the board. some now claim it has surpassed every campus of the university of california system, and that's saying plenty.</p>

15

<p>Usc>ucla>nyu....</p>

16

<p>Yes, drj, next year, USC >>>>>>>>> Harvard.</p>

17

<p>So, does a student have a better chance of being admitted to UCLA's film school if they are already a student there than if they apply to transfer in? It seems like if you were a current student you could make yourself available as volunteer crew a lot, and that would likely help your chances. It's a pretty risky choice, though, if you have an acceptance in hand to another film school!</p>

<p>Also, something to consider, makkuroi, is applying for an Army ROTC scholarship. It would pay all your tuition & fees + a monthly stipend. That's what my son is planning to do. He loves military stuff, so he isn't just doing it for the scholarship, though. There is an obligation of 4 years active duty (as a commissioned officer) or 8 years in the Reserves after you graduate.</p>

18

<p>in response to timely, yes the chances are better if you are in ucla already, but it's still 15 out of about 500 who actually get it, so they still aren't good. i'm surprised, when i was there the film school staff person i talked to didnt mention anything about being involved in other people's projects helping your application, but surely it must, even if it's just having more experience</p>

<p>I'm glad there are programs like ROTC for people, but I'm a 5'1" ballet dancer and a conscientious objector to boot.</p>

19

<p>I was referring only to the admit rate, which is as low as harvard's admit rate. I think you read too much into my statement.</p>

20

<p>yeah, with option d you're just fooling yourself. I knew a lot of people who tried this, and none of them succeeded. If they don't like you the first time, you'd have to do something flat out AMAZING in that next year or two to change their mind.</p>