What Kind of Major is This?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

Hey guys! I am currently a junior with an interest in “stories.” Stories in any medium or language, such as novels, television, film, plays, poems, graphic novels, etc. However, I’d like to focus in television and film due to the large audiences and networking aspect. And this is not a desire to become famous or get rich quick; stories are simply my passion (if anything, I’d work under a penname or some such).

The past year I’ve been looking into only colleges with well reputed screenwriting programs (such as USC, Tisch, etc). However, I’m not too sure that’s what I want anymore – I don’t really think I have the skill to write.

Instead, I’d rather discover other truly talented writers and give them the opportunity to become something. I’d also like to do the organizing and budgeting and “let’s make it happen” side of television or films. But especially the finding and hiring part – especially new folks trying to make it, whether they be writers, directors, editors, sound/lights/anyone. I’m not really sure what this is all called – a producer?

If anyone can give me information on (a) what kind of major that is, (b) which schools are best known for that, and © perhaps maybe the air/feel/type of interaction of each school, it would be greatly appreciated.

(d) I’d also like to get a better idea of the way business works in the television and film industry. For example, do you build a team and everyone works together on each project, or do you find someone to fill in each spot for each individual job, etc? What’s the crew dynamic and how can you begin that during college.

Any information at all would really be helpful. I’m only beginning to look into life beyond high school.

Thank you,
Cass

2

Cass, it doesn’t look like you are getting any response to your question. I don’t really know much about the area that you are considering but I can tell you about my son’s experience. He is a first year producing fellow at the American Film Institute, a 2-year graduate program. His program sounds like what you are talking about. I don’t know if this type of program exists at the undergraduate level. As an undergrad film major at a small LAC, he took theory, history, screenwriting, production, etc., and most importantly, got practical experience with three internships in his field.

As a producing major at AFI, he is involved in budgeting, finding the locations, cast and crew, working on sets, and I am sure hundreds of other jobs that he hasn’t told his parents the details. He sometimes work from 7 am until 11 pm. Most weekends are spent working on either his own or his classmates films. I just talked to him a few days ago and he said that he HOPES that he can come home for a week this summer but will probably be in LA working on his thesis film and an internship most of the summer. He loves what he is doing but it is very time consuming–and expensive. It is nearly impossible to work even part-time while in this program.

Good luck in your career search.

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@cassiarole - Ohio University in Athens Ohio may have the reputation as a party school, but the Scripps College of Communications - especially their Journalism department - is one of the top rated communications schools in the country. Part of the Scripps College is the School of Media Arts and Studies. When my son was there, they had a major in Film/TV Management. That has now, it seems, been folded into their major in “Screenwriting and Production.” Check out this page: http://mediaschool.ohio.edu/swp and see that there are courses that would meet your interests. And, depending on your grades and ACT scores, could be very affordable, even for an out-of-state student.

btw, I just posted kind of a long history of my son’s career after graduation: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1756088-film-school-is-your-grad-still-working-in-a-restaurant.html

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Thank you guys so much!

I’ve been looking into the colleges everyone says are the “best,” such as USC’s SCA for Film Production or Critical Studies. Could anyone elaborate on the difference between the two? All I seem to be getting is that Critical Studies focuses more on the history and theory while Production is practical knowledge?

USC’s Stark program also seems to be /exactly/ what I’m looking for. Does anyone know of other schools with programs like that for undergrad? I’m not going to be able to afford grad school, and places like Tisch or Loyola and Emerson are already pushing it…