Latest Film School Reviews

My time at FSU's College of Motion Pictures Arts has truly been a dream. As my number one film school to attend since I was in middle school, being at FSU Film has been everything I could've wanted and more. There were many factors that made me want to attend this particular school and are still reasons why this film school means so much to me.

Going in the order of the listed pros, the Film School provides classes with a great teacher to student ratio. This allows the content to not only be fully understood, but also for students to participate in class and ask questions that are then quickly answered. The small class sizes assists in allowing individuals to find their voices as filmmakers with the guidance of faculty and professors.

All of the equipment we use at FSU Film, whether it is cameras, lighting, or editing equipment, is industry standard. This creates a sense of confidence within both myself and my classmates while we are on set. It is such a comfort knowing that the practices and principles we are utilizing each and everyday on set is a similar fashion to what is being done in the industy.

The Alumni Connections is one of the largest pulls that made me want to attend FSU. The curriculum provides students the opportunity to connect with alumni. From working with older/younger classmates to bringing in Alumni for presentations and classes, the FSU Film school creates more than just a connection to classmates, but a connection to a film family.

Finally, the conservatory approach to learning may be one of my favorite aspects of the Film School since I started attending it. Being able to consistently be on set and have the hands on experience that the school provides gives me the opportunity to learn set protocol and production operations. The information and theories that are taught in class then gets to be put into practice on set.

Overall, I am very happy with my decision to come to FSU Film! I would absolutely recommend this school to anyone looking to pursue a BFA degree in filmmaking.

The UGA low-residency MFA in Screenwriting program is outstanding. While I would have loved to participate in a full-time program such as the MFA in Film at UGA, that wasn't feasible for my situation. I was a 45 year old military spouse and mother, located over 100 miles from campus. The low-residency program allowed me to strengthen my writing skills and built community with other writers, while developing relationships with mentors I would have otherwise not had access to. Since graduating, I directed an award winning proof-of-concept short film that I wrote in the program, and directed another web series pilot written by a fellow alum. In both instances, I was mentored by other alumni, and I brought on multiple classmates to be part of the process. Being part of the UGA MFA family means you always have a connection to the industry and someone to collaborate with.

If you want to be a professional film producer, there is no better entryway into the industry than NFTS in the UK!!

I graduated from MA Producing at NFTS, and it remains one of the best experiences of my life. NFTS doesn't teach filmmaking, it makes films. The school runs like a studio in miniature: ten students per discipline, ten fully funded films a year, with students never putting in a penny of their own money. Classes are led by working producers, not retired ones. The internships at leading production companies built real relationships and, for many of us, jobs after graduation. Tuition is 26.000 GBP, halpf what you need to pay in the US. The most important film school in the UK, and one of the best in the world. NFTS doesn't prepare you for the industry. It puts you in it.

This place is more than just a film school. t's a community that challenges, inspires, and prepares students for real careers in the film industry.

I was apart of the inaugural cohort of the UGA MFA film program right in the heart of Athens, Georgia. It's grown a lot since I was there, but I learned a lot and even moreso was able to really focus on my craft as a filmmaker and cinematographer. After graduation, things were slow like with most, but now I can say just about every gig I have gotten in the past 4 years has been somehow tied to the connections and contacts I made through my time at the University of Georgia.

The vast majority of my professors have been outstanding, especially the female ones. They truly care about your success and the outcome of your projects. While we don’t have an excessive amount of equipment, it is a great start to make a fantastic piece. I have never felt so supported by a group of students as I have in my classes. Our alumni network is also growing, I’m excited to see where this program goes in the upcoming years!

Overall, I'm very happy with my time at UNO. I started taking courses before going back to school full time and I also liked this path, but the University was not so helpful in transferring credits after the fact. Alas. I received a graduate assistantship which awarded me free tuition and a stipend while in school. I taught introductory level courses for 2.5 out of 3 years and also found this to be very rewarding to my education. I was transitioning from another profession and this program was the perfect thing for me to pause, learn how to make films, learn how to be a student again, and reshape how I want my career to look moving forward. This program is absolutely a "what you make from it" kind of program. You can glide through with little effort, or you can work hard on as many projects as possible and build a great film foundation for yourself. I don't like giving the program a star rating, so I'm forgoing that for a longer review here.

The program has been around for a long time and, at the height of the streaming boom, there were UNO undergraduate and graduate alumni working on every major film project in New Orleans and beyond. UNO has a good reputation of producing students that are ready to work on sets that understand protocols, technology, gear, you name it. It's a small school, but if you've met someone on set that went to UNO, I can almost guarantee that it was probably a positive working experience.

Another positive thing that was hard to articulate in a list is that New Orleans is a major film hub and there are (usually) a lot of film productions happening in town. This is great and they usually take (and want!) student interns. When I was in school, this was the case because it was in the middle of the production boom. Nowadays, production has slowed (as it has everywhere), so it's hard for me to say how many interns they are taking on the few productions that are happening now.

All in all, I enjoyed my time in the program. But I'm also happy to answer more specific questions in a DM.

I had an incredible time in the Creative Writing MFA program at AULA. Each of the mentors are working writers or retired professionals, and are very generous and patient as they navigate their own projects. They are able to bring their expertise and guidance to our writing and career plans. The entire program strives to be encouraging and celebratory of each other's work. My cohort and classmates have made life-long bonds and creative career collaborators.

Boise State University's film program is a very new program which only began in 2018. Since then they've grown exponentially and gotten much more funding which has allowed them to acquire new gear, studio space, and professors. You study a wide variety of subjects, from film theory, genres, to hands-on production, directing, writing, sound, and Post-Production. You have to take a certain amount of different classes, so you have to pick and choose what you are most interested in, although there is not a lot of depth if you want to really focus in on one concentration. For instance, there is only one cinematography class, without an advanced class. There are more writing classes than anything else, with Screenwriting 1 and 2, writing for TV class, and playwriting. The professors all care about everyone individually and are always willing to help anyone with their productions, scripts, or ideas. The class sizes can be big, especially in the early years when you have to take the film theory classes, but dwindle down once you get into more specific classes like Directing, which usually has between 15-18 students. Overall, if you live in Idaho or a surrounding state, it is a good program to check out and you will definitely come out of it with film knowledge and production experience.

Overall, my time at LMU was a genuinely good experience. One of the biggest draws of the program is the atmosphere. Unlike the hyper-competitive environment you might find at a place like USC, LMU fosters a friendly, highly collaborative culture. The small class sizes make it easy to build a tight-knit network; I’m still in close contact with some of my peers, and we actively collaborate on producing short films to this day.

I specialized in editing. There were only five editors in my cohort of forty-something people, and I found that I vibed the best with the editing professors compared to the other disciplines. The editing faculty is genuinely invested in our success and teaches practical, industry-standard workflows that directly translate to the real world. I felt thoroughly prepared for post-grad work, and one of my professors actually referred me for my first job. Today, I'm working as an Assistant Editor and Additional Editor on documentary projects, and I credit a lot of that foundation to LMU.

The experience for directors, however, is a different story. Over half of my cohort were directors, and navigating that track really comes down to the luck of the draw regarding who you get assigned to as a professor. While some are incredibly nice, supportive, and knowledgeable, others display blatant favoritism and aren't actively making their own films anymore, leaving them out of touch with the current industry. Because of this inconsistency, I found that my director peers were generally not as well-prepared for entering the industry and did not receive the same level of career support that we experienced in post-production. Additionally, the curriculum really pushed directors to write their own scripts; while they started encouraging more collaboration with screenwriters later on, I think this is an area where the program still has a lot of room for improvement.

If you want to focus on post-production and build a collaborative network, LMU is a fantastic choice. If you are applying as a director, be prepared for a larger track where the quality of mentorship, curriculum structure, and industry preparation varies wildly.

Antioch is a program that can work for anyone willing to put in the dedication. Being low-residency, this program allows students to build communities while also networking within their chosen career path. Instructors are available for one-on-one projects, feedback, and career advice as they're all currently working in the film/television/stage world. The residency occurs twice a year for ten days, and this is where students are given the opportunity to attend insightful seminars, meet writers they look up to, and engage in social events organized by the incredible staff. If you're looking for a community of working writers, Antioch is the place to go!

I loved this program with my entire being and would do it again without hesitation.

The faculty are award-winning filmmakers who have led the industry for decades, and they all know each other. That network is real and it works. I was pulled onto a show immediately after graduation and have been working ever since. Given the current state of the industry, that is not something I take lightly, and I owe it entirely to them. They will help with union applications, bend over backwards to find you work, and become genuine friends in the process.

The alumni network is just as strong. Graduates are close with one another and most are actively working on major projects across film, television, and theatre, from Marvel and DC to HBO productions to Broadway. You are not just joining a program, you are joining a community that looks out for each other long after graduation.

None of that comes free. This program will not hold your hand. It demands serious soul searching and personal growth alongside the technical work. They treat you with sincere respect and hold you to a professional standard because they expect you to be a working professional when you leave. If they have to carry you through the degree, do not expect that grace to follow you after graduation.

They do have favorites. Those favorites are always the students who show up with more work than expected, put in the extra time, and push themselves without being asked. Be that student.

Pros:

• Faculty are working legends with deep industry connections
• Alumni are close knit and working on major projects across film, TV, and Broadway
• Graduates find work fast, a genuine rarity right now
• Real post-graduation support including union applications and job placement
• The department head will go out of her way to find the biggest working names and get them in front of students. If you want to learn from someone or you have a program you want to know, she will get it for you.

Cons:

• Extremely demanding, not for the unprepared or faint of heart
• No hand-holding, you will sink or swim on your own effort
• Three years, expensive

The film program at the University of Utah left a lot to be desired. For a program that could leverage Utah's growing film industry and stunning locations, it felt surprisingly stagnant. The faculty skews young, which isn't inherently a problem, but when that youth comes paired with limited experience on large-scale productions, it shows in the depth of instruction. Students looking to understand how professional sets actually operate may find themselves piecing that knowledge together on their own.

One moment that stuck with me, for all the wrong reasons: a faculty member assigned Birth of a Nation (the 1915 original) without the kind of critical framework that inflammatory material demands. It was a jarring choice that raised more questions about the department's judgment than it answered about film history.

As a design student, I found myself gravitating toward the theatre department, which offered far more meaningful opportunities for growth and collaboration. The film department simply didn't serve that creative track well.

There is one genuine silver lining: designers are rare in the program. If you want hands-on experience on student films and lots of it, you'll have no shortage of projects to work on. For a certain kind of self-directed student, that access could be genuinely valuable.

But as a well-rounded program? There's meaningful room to grow.

The access to free professional equipment with little resistance is awesome. A lot of film schools do not allow easy access in this way, and the SDSU inventory is on par with the other film schools in socal, for an extremely reasonable price. Additionally, you actually get to make a short film every semester here (one semester is a documentary if you play your cards right and don't double up your schedule), whereas the other public film schools DO NOT do that.

Ultimately, the school is what you make it. You will learn from your peers and your own mistakes 10000% more than from the professors. There are a handful of amazing new professors with more experience, but when I was there it was 70% old men with no recent film industry experience, whose advice I found to be useless and outdated now that I myself work in the film industry. I truly believe this is now changing over time (and may have already), and my hint would be if you see a woman's name listed as professor: TAKE THAT CLASS.

Their career assistance has been unfortunately lackluster for me thus far, I have gotten work and jobs from putting the work in by myself (despite my persistent efforts in asking them for help), but again they are working to change this and believe it will be a lot better moving forward. Their alumni network is vast, they just need to learn how to use it, and to really do the work in having more alumni outreach to the recent successful alums, not only the older ones from a billion years ago, because I've found the recent alums from the last 5-6 years to be far more engaging and helpful.

Columbia is a great place to develop taste. It is not a good place to learn how to make. They explicitly state that their goal is to teach you what great filmmaking is, not teach you how to create it (as an undergrad). The MFA program is fine but the network is very, very poor. Barnard, however, was incredibly supportive in their filmmaking courses. Columbia students who are frustrated may look to Barnard classes for better equipment and training.

If you want to be a pro, there is no better entryway into the industry. If you want to be an artist, maybe not the best school for that. USC is not so flexible with pushing creative boundaries. It polishes students into "pro-ready" talents with a network to immediately dive into. It is definitely competitive and can be cutthroat, like Hollywood. No school is perfect, and most will not make the leap, but you have no better chance to "make it" than to go to USC.

I am eternally grateful to everything USC has done for me, especially as an international student; it has closed learning gaps that would have taken forever to fill. The faculty is extraordinary, and the support from people in the school is unlike anything I have seen in other schools—an extraordinary experience and honoured ot be a part of the best film school in the world.

FTMA was an integral part of my development process as a filmmaker and a human being. Through this program, I learned discipline, follow-through, TRUE teamwork and collaboration, and respect for ALL walks of life. I created life-long relationships with my professors, including Zeke Hawkins, student Oscar winner, Roger S.H. Schulman, screenwriter of Shrek and BAFTA winner, as well as Todd Barnes, multi-time director/producer at Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, I've had the opportunity to travel abroad twice to make films and content, as well as attend Sundance Film Festival as a volunteer. I think the faculty at FTMA really care about learning inside the classroom as much as outside the classroom. There's at least 1 supplemental workshop per month, where professors bring in current industry professionals to shed some light on their careers and make personal connections with students. Through these events, I have been able to network and secure my first on-set, union jobs in NYC. Beyond all of that, I received my MFA which allows me to teach filmmaking at the University level. Here, I found my life's passion and have been teaching in higher ed for the last 5 years. Truth be told, I don't think I would be the same person I am without FTMA and their community.

Obtaining my MFA is something that I have considered for many years. However, it never seemed like the right time. Antioch made it the right time because the environment is supportive and brings the best work out of its students. The only competition is the competition between the levels of work writers produce. It is truly a place where creatives can thrive.

Antioch's MFA in Dramatic Writing is unlike any program I've encountered. What sets it apart immediately is the mentorship model — your mentors are working writers, actively engaged in the industry right now. I had Joy Kecken, Angela Harvey, Ross Brown, and John Cariani( who is an a playwright and actor) and together they’ve worked on shows like, Swagger, American Horor story, Kindred, Law & Order, the marvailous MRs. Maisel , The Black List, Cloak and Dagger, The good Wife, The Wire, Home land, The Princess Diaries, All My Children, The Cosby show, the facts of life, the suite life of Zack and cody, Webster, Step by step. … literally the pool of knowledge is endless) The feedback is rigorous and honest, and they genuinely push you to go deeper than you thought you could.

One of the most transformative parts of the program was the field study component. Which is basically, finding a way to give back to your community or the worl, and factoring in the arts to all walks of life and how you, as a creative and help cultivate and conect with the world and the betterment of it. Benign in California which is a Hollywood space that seems to be all about money, profit and connections, I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to go inside a prison and help produce a play with incarcerated participants. I cannot overstate how profoundly rewarding that experience was: it reminded me exactly why storytelling matters. Watching people connect through performance in that environment reinforced everything I believe about the power of art to humanize, heal, and create change in the world.

I was blessed and lucky enough to be able to receive a scholarship from the school of $10,000 from the Eloise Klein Healy Scholarship Fund. Which really goes to show how community focused this MFA is.

Antioch takes social justice seriously as a creative lens. The program understands that what we write and what we put into the world carries weight — and it asks you to sit with that responsibility. For writers who believe their work should mean something beyond the page, and should be impactful, this is the place to grow. I think that is sooo important and should be taught in other schools. Connecting with people, with your audience is how you make great writing. While here I learned to really dig into my authentic voice and dig even deeper to find the message behind the voice. What am I saying and why.