fall 2026 film school applications - Has anyone gotten interview invites yet? (1 Viewer)

[Pryde Pierce]

Fun! Anna is great but sadly leaving at the end of the year. Marquita teaches Story Incubator which is a first year development class for your second year work.

Good to know! Thanks! Sad to hear that Anna is leaving.

 

[sgreina]

UCLA (screenwriting) sent out interview requests mid-January and I did mine last week

 

[anasta.sia]

Hi! New here, but figured I'd share. I applied to NYU, CalArts, Chapman, AFI and UCLA. So far, I received interviews for NYU and CalArts. One is the upcoming Friday (CalArts) and NYU for next Wednesday. Has anyone done any interviews at these schools yet? Just wondering for the type of questions...

I don't have high hopes for AFI and UCLA, but I think I have a strong chance at Chapman. Has anyone received an interview?

I applied to the Directing programs.

Thank you!

 

[munozcine]

Hi everyone. I just received an interview request from UCLA Narrative/Directing earlier this evening. Time slots are from February 19th to the 23rd.

 

[featherless]

Hi everyone. I just received an interview request from UCLA Narrative/Directing earlier this evening. Time slots are from February 19th to the 23rd.

same! did you get a confirmation email when you selected a time slot?

 

[munozcine]

same! did you get a confirmation email when you selected a time slot?

no lol!! I'm still waiting... how about you?

 

[featherless]

no lol!! I'm still waiting... how about you?

i didn't either, but the email said "You will receive further direction the day before your interview." so i'm guessing they'll reach out later??

 

[munozcine]

i didn't either, but the email said "You will receive further direction the day before your interview." so i'm guessing they'll reach out later??

that's cutting it real close... I'll reach out to their admissions office.

 

[featherless]

that's cutting it real close... I'll reach out to their admissions office.

checked with admissions and they confirmed that my registration went through. strange that there wasn’t an automatic confirmation email.

 

[egg]

I will update my stats soon too. Any one else receive an interview from Chapman yet (for Directing)?

also waiting on one! fingers crossed



Based on most responses im seeing - i assume there have been no AFI or NYU invites sent out this past week?

 

[WallyWood]

Sending best wishes to everyone awaiting invites, responses, or interviews.
I BELIEVE IN YOU!

My interview for AFI Directing Fellowship was scheduled for Feb.3 but due to an overlapping shoot, it was rescheduled for the 5th. They were extremely accommodating and flexible with that schedule conflict.
I was interviewed by two incredibly impressive women in the industry. One of them, I actually remember watching her TV show on Disney.

Similar to responses above, my questions were balanced between general and application-specific with a casual 'vibe check'.

Generally speaking, I have no idea how I did. I started off nervous, but by the end, I wished I had another hour and a beverage in my hand so I could flip the script and ask them more questions. A question that I found challenging to answer was that some of my portfolio/submissions weren't solely classified as narrative work, but I stressed my willingness to be a narrative director, referred to projects that do reflect my narrative strengths that weren't included in my submissions, and clarified why my submission film was subject to my natural resources to answer the prompt to the best of my ability. I did my best to show my narrative abilities in the film.
You can watch one of my submission films here: BULLSEYE - AFI
To me, it was important in my submission to share the tonality of stories I want to continue telling, which is very personal. Hoping they see and feel that emotion over my narrative ability being displayed in the film.
My favorite question was being asked about a story burning inside me. I have two scripts completed that I'd want to make while at AFI. One that would be a thesis film and the other a cycle film for the Sloan Foundation Scholarship. It was a blast to share my thesis idea with them, which they responded well to.

I didn't apply to any other programs and frankly don't desire to attend any others. Heart has always been set on AFI. Regardless, I'm grateful to have even received an interview and have that experience. The application process pushed me in so many positive ways, and attending AFI would easily be the greatest opportunity in my life. Easy. Seriously praying to god I get in, but I gave it my best shot, and that's all you can do. Overall, great experience. So professional, grounded, and fun to talk to these women. I'd be honored if I got to learn from them.

Hope everyone gives themselves a pat on the back for even trying. Putting yourself out there isn't easy and something to be proud of- I know I am. Keep creating film-friends! I reiterate: I BELIEVE IN YOU!

 

[munozcine]

checked with admissions and they confirmed that my registration went through. strange that there wasn’t an automatic confirmation email.

Just received the confirmation email lol

 

[goldilocks]

any of you that haven't got an interview yet been invited to screenings at afi since the december deadline? and, what do you make of that? like doesn't that seem to suggest they are still interested in you? can't imagine they'd invite you to campus if you weren't in serious consideration.

 

[featherless]

any of you that haven't got an interview yet been invited to screenings at afi since the december deadline? and, what do you make of that? like doesn't that seem to suggest they are still interested in you? can't imagine they'd invite you to campus if you weren't in serious consideration.

i’ve been getting the invitations, but no interview invite. i’m not sure what to make of them. maybe they’re sent to everyone? hopefully it means something

 

[luckylayda]

I have sent a follow up email asking a question after my AFI Directing interview but did not receive a response yet. Is this normal or do they usually reply?

 

[egg]

Any tips on UCLA (UCLA PRODUCTION / DIRECTING TFT) interview i have this week(thurs 19th) !! i have the flu so I'm very off and trying to prep a few days in advance.

 

[kingofsweaters]

I have sent a follow up email asking a question after my AFI Directing interview but did not receive a response yet. Is this normal or do they usually reply?

When did you send it? And you don’t have to share the exact question but what was it? They usually respond but can be slow so I’d keep waiting. They also might not respond depending on the question and if it’s about results, etc. which is why I asked about the question.

 

[kingofsweaters]

Sending best wishes to everyone awaiting invites, responses, or interviews.
I BELIEVE IN YOU!

My interview for AFI Directing Fellowship was scheduled for Feb.3 but due to an overlapping shoot, it was rescheduled for the 5th. They were extremely accommodating and flexible with that schedule conflict.
I was interviewed by two incredibly impressive women in the industry. One of them, I actually remember watching her TV show on Disney.

Similar to responses above, my questions were balanced between general and application-specific with a casual 'vibe check'.

Generally speaking, I have no idea how I did. I started off nervous, but by the end, I wished I had another hour and a beverage in my hand so I could flip the script and ask them more questions. A question that I found challenging to answer was that some of my portfolio/submissions weren't solely classified as narrative work, but I stressed my willingness to be a narrative director, referred to projects that do reflect my narrative strengths that weren't included in my submissions, and clarified why my submission film was subject to my natural resources to answer the prompt to the best of my ability. I did my best to show my narrative abilities in the film.
You can watch one of my submission films here: BULLSEYE - AFI
To me, it was important in my submission to share the tonality of stories I want to continue telling, which is very personal. Hoping they see and feel that emotion over my narrative ability being displayed in the film.
My favorite question was being asked about a story burning inside me. I have two scripts completed that I'd want to make while at AFI. One that would be a thesis film and the other a cycle film for the Sloan Foundation Scholarship. It was a blast to share my thesis idea with them, which they responded well to.

I didn't apply to any other programs and frankly don't desire to attend any others. Heart has always been set on AFI. Regardless, I'm grateful to have even received an interview and have that experience. The application process pushed me in so many positive ways, and attending AFI would easily be the greatest opportunity in my life. Easy. Seriously praying to god I get in, but I gave it my best shot, and that's all you can do. Overall, great experience. So professional, grounded, and fun to talk to these women. I'd be honored if I got to learn from them.

Hope everyone gives themselves a pat on the back for even trying. Putting yourself out there isn't easy and something to be proud of- I know I am. Keep creating film-friends! I reiterate: I BELIEVE IN YOU!

Hi! I enjoyed your film. I wanted to comment just to clarify some things I noticed so that you’re set up for success and not disappointment if you get in. I gather from your post that you consider yourself a writer director which is great, but depending on how set you are on that rather than directing other people’s work AFI could be a bad fit. I do not in anyway want to dissuade you. I’ve just personally seen in my cohort a lot of dissatisfaction from the directors who consider themselves both because AFI is not set up for aspiring auteurs. You will have a writer on every cycle film including the one you wrote and the expectation is to collaborate with them and the rest of the team. It will not be your sole vision. I want that to be clear just in case for both your wellbeing and the writer’s wellbeings.

The other thing is the Sloan and thesis. I’m not sure which Sloan scholarship you mean, but I assume you mean the tuition scholarship. In which case do you mean that script would be to meet the writing requirements if you get the tuition scholarship? Or are you thinking about the Sloan fellowship? Which is a completely different but related award. In either case Sloan is about writing and you won’t submit a film for it so I just wanted to clarify that in case you didn’t know, but you very well may.

More importantly I wanted to say that it’s great that you have a thesis script you want to make, but I will caution you not to get too attached to it. The way thesis works is in Feb of first year a submission pool opens for the scripts and anyone from any discipline can submit, these are anonymized and reviewed by a panel who selects a much smaller group of approved thesis scripts in April/May. So, it is very common for directors to not have the script they wrote and want to do in that final pool and they will have to choose one of the available scripts for their thesis. You can rewrite it but it does have to stay close to the original intent and the original writer will be credited as a writer. So, all that is to say just be prepared to not do your script. You may well get to and that’s great, but it’s far from guaranteed. Which comes back to my original point of making sure you’re comfortable doing other people’s work as a director if you’re set on AFI. The directing program is truly almost exclusively about directing despite certain alumni being regarded as auteurs it is NOT an auteur friendly program.

 

[luckylayda]

When did you send it? And you don’t have to share the exact question but what was it? They usually respond but can be slow so I’d keep waiting. They also might not respond depending on the question and if it’s about results, etc. which is why I asked about the question.

I sent it on January 30th. It was about the directing curriculum.

 

[kingofsweaters]

I sent it on January 30th. It was about the directing curriculum.

Weird. Who did you email? Admissions? Feel free to PM me and I’m happy to answer your question if I can. And I can always ask the directors if I don’t know.