Chapman Fall 2011

[Winterreverie]

*peeks in at the future Chapman Alums*

Good luck to you all.

 

[Gordino]

Anyone out there contact Chapman lately and see where in the process they are with admissions? Historically speaking it looks like the first people start hearing from them in mid-March. I was just curious to see if we can expect the same?

 

[MacyK]

Just had my Skype interview with Alex Rose. It went well - definitely wasn't very formal. We actually talked about science/conservation (my background) wayyy more than we talked about film, which was interesting. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing. Overall, it seemed very positive. She said they won't be admitting right away, but they're just starting to meet people and we should be hearing in just under a month or so. Then gave me the contact info for people to talk to about housing, etc. If other producers have had interviews, I'd love to hear about them!

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

That's great news, MacyK!! The phone tag you had with her last week actually turned into a Skype interview this week! You must have finally spoken with her this past Monday as you expected/hoped you would, and you used that time with her on the phone to schedule the Skype interview with her for only two days later. That's simply amazing! It's also amazing that you're the only producing applicant who has been fortunate enough to get an interview with her in the past many years. And, considering that your Skype with her wasn't a very in-depth, film-oriented, conversation with her anyway as it turned out, it sounds like she has already made her mind up about you and the Skype was just a formality in your case. After all, if she hadn't already made up her mind about you beforehand, why would she want to go through all the trouble of playing phone tag with you, then take additional time out of her busy day to personally schedule a mutually convenient time for a Skype interview with you (even though she could have asked her graduate assistant to contact you and schedule time with you for the Skype interview in the first place), and then spend even more time finding out how passionate you are about your background in "science and conservation" (vs the kind of in-depth discussions that AFI, UCLA and Columbia applicants go through in their interviews)? Based on all of this wonderful news, you really shouldn't be wondering if your conversation with her is a good or a bad thing. It's really obvious to me that there's a desk and chair already reserved for you at the Dodge College building with your name pasted on the back of it.

It's also possible that since you never visited the school, and Chapman's graduate assistant who would have conducted the tour with you didn't have a chance to "informally" interview you and then write up his/her comments about you afterwards, that your Skype interview with Alex was a way of compensating for that since all of the other applicants only get the informal interview on their tour. If so, that would be another good indicator that you're getting in!

On the other hand, what Alex Rose told you about them not admitting anyone for another month is somewhat contradictory to what they've actually been doing in past years for those applicants they're absolutely sure of (i.e., before the April 1st regular application deadline arrives), such as "Stagemom's" daughter last year, for example. Going back several years on Chapman's application blog indicates they have notified the first round of people of their acceptances starting any time from March 21st (at the earliest) to March 26th (at the latest). Therefore, it's hard to make out whether Alex Rose was hinting that you personally won't be hearing for another month because they want to continue looking at people who apply after the April 1st deadline passes. Or, alternatively, does this mean that Chapman has decided to push back its acceptance notifications long enough to give all of their 'priority' deadline applicants -- who are, most likely, Chapman's biggest "fans" by being the ones who would really love to go to Chapman (or, even more so those who might choose Chapman over any other school they may be accepted to) -- a chance to hear whether they have been accepted to UCLA, AFI, Columbia U., Cal Arts, etc. What would you do if you were accepted to AFI, UCLA or Columbia and you really wanted to go to Chapman because you have decided that it's the best place to be? Would you take your chances and tell any of these other fantastic schools that you need another month to make up your mind because you really want to go to Chapman and you don't expect to hear from them until mid to late April? Is there a reason why the MFA programs at these other schools aren't good enough for these fortunate people; if these people really want a graduate degree in filmmaking, should they just pass up any other offer they get pass? If that's the case, then you definitely deserve a spot at Chapman merely because you didn't apply to any other grad school. However, it doesn't work that way for everyone. Just because people apply to the other grad schools doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't choose Chapman over these other schools. I believe that the only masters film program that has a worldwide reputation of being so incredible that it would warrant someone saying "it's that school or nowhere else for me," and that would be USC's Peter Stark producing program. In my opinion, USC's film production program is also great, but it doesn't necessarily beat the production MFA's at the other top graduate schools, including Chapman. Given the fact that you haven't applied to any other grad film schools, you would never have the (fantastic) problem that other applicants might have. You are not going to find yourself in the unfortunate position of being "forced" to turn down a spot at UCLA, USC, AFI or Columbia U. because you didn't feel that their MFA programs weren't good enough for you, and that Chapman is the only one for you. However, for those applicants who are gifted and fortunate enough to be notified that they are also accepted to one of the other grad schools, and then they hear that Chapman puts off its decision for nearly a month, what do they do if they really would have chosen Chapman over any other school because of it being an incredible place? Should these applicants turn down the other offers in the hopes that they will make it into Chapman one month later? What would you do if you were in this position? Since you only applied to Chapman, you may not know that USC has already announced their acceptances to their Peter Stark producers program, that AFI has announced that it will notify its producing program applicants on March 15th (next week), UCLA has told its interviewees that it will be announcing its producing program acceptances some time during the week of March 13th, and that Columbia has told the interviewees of its producers program that it will announce its decisions either the week of March 12th or the following week. Given that it is highly likely that many of the applicants to these schools are passionate and talented enough to be accepted to these schools as well as to Chapman, and given that Chapman might benefit greatly by "marching" to the same time schedule, at least for its 'priority deadline' applicants as these other prestigious schools, why in the world would Chapman intentionally throw away its chances of "siging" the students who are so talented that they are able to get into these other schools. Could it be that the odds are so low that an incredibly talented student who is accepted into these other schools would ever choose Chapman over these other schools? Could it be that Chapman's view on this is that they don't see the need to rush into their acceptance/rejection decisions if they don't stand a chance of getting any of the people who are accepted to the other top-tier film schools? I'm sorry to say that by postponing its decision on the priority deadline applicants Chapman continues to shoot itself in both of its feet, and this line of thinking will never elevate Chapman's stature as a film school, especially in the minds of film school academicians. Personally, I feel that, for many, many, reasons, Chapman is an incredible place to learn the art of filmmaking, but I just don't understand why they keep making a mockery of their so-called 'priority' deadline! If someone who takes the time to apply by their February 1st priority deadline is good enough to be accepted, they should give higher 'priority' and respect to these applicants by notifying them either way or waitlisting some of them (if that's absolutely necessary). On the other hand, if a priority deadline applicant isn't good enough for Chapman, these applicants shouldn't have to wait until the so-called 'rejects' from the other schools rush to submit their applications by the April 1st regular deadline date. As much as I really hate to say this given my belief that Chapman has so many positive things going for it, their admissions strategy is terribly transluscent and shallow: it is a strategy that destines Chapman to always be in the list of 'top 10' film schools instead of being elevated, in everyone's mind, into the 'top 5'.

In the final analysis, Alex Rose's statement that they "won't be admitting right away" doesn't surprise me because if it's true, it proves that there's one thing that Chapman has that none of the top five film schools have and that it is consistently unpredictable. Unfortunately, I am sure that this is a bad thing, and I surely do hope that you're wrong about that -- for your sake and any other students who really want to be accepted to Chapman, but who won't be able to wait another month!

I would really like to hear whatever comments you wish to make about Chapman. But, most of all, why didn't you apply to other graduate film schools? Why just Chapman?

I'm sure that many followers of this blog would love hearing your opinions and advice.

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Gordino,
You should give Chapman's graduate office a call and leave a message. One thing is for sure, no one even knows how they make decisions to interview some people and not others for any of its disciplines. It's amazing that if you look up UCLA's, Columbia's, or "AFI's" film schools in "Wikipedia," you can see how many applications they received last year and what their acceptance rates are. I wonder why Chapman's Wikipedia listing doesn't disclose that information?

You're absolutely correct about people starting to hear from them in the third week of March in prior years. However, MacyK's Skype interview with Alex Rose appears to shed some light on that subject for this year. Sit tight and try to relax. You've done the best you could and it's in the hands of the decision-makers now.

Chapman is great enough in so many ways that it is definitely worth getting anxious and impatient over.

To what discipline did you apply? Did you apply to any other graduate film programs?

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Gordino]

FilmSchoolDad,
I applied to the production program for directing. I'm reluctant to call mainly due to experiences in calling other schools for news and getting the standard "suck it up and wait it out" line. I may call them later today just to see where the production admissions are at.

I also applied to USC and UCLA, though at this point it's not likely that I got into those programs. Chapman is my first pick though I have to agree with ya, their admission policies seem to be in some disarray.

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Gordino,

You make a valid point about not calling the graduate office as it would probably not tell you anything that you don't already know. They will take whatever time they need to make their decisions.
I feel that a more important question you should call about is whether they have made all of their decisions yet as to which of the priority deadline applicants they will interview. As you probably know, it has been stated on this blog and on Chapman's blog for the past many years, that interviews are usually only for the directing applicants, and that the screenwriters and producers program applicants never get interviews. However, it seems like they are opening up the interview process to producing applicants this year (per MacyK), which may be a good thing because it definitely puts Chapman on the same playing field as some of the other top grad schools, such as UCLA, AFI and Columbia. If only Chapman would do something that would elevate its so-called 'priority' application deadline to be more meaningful than just using it as the sole criteria for giving Fellowship rewards (which has also been contradicted by some people on this blog who got Fellowship grants even though they had applied by the April 1st deadline).

Therefore, calling Chapman to find out if they have made their decisions about who will be interviewed and/or who will not be interviewed, and even more importantly, what is the expected time frame they will be conducting their interviews might give you a much better insight into the current status of their admissions process for the priority deadline applicants.

If you do call, let us know what you find out!

 

[brian herzog]

Ola, i just found this thread and feel you guys could probably give me some advice. I havent applied yet to chapman, i'm cutting it close, but am about to film my 20 min short for the directing film production MFA. Do you know if they may find all the people they need in priority, or will they still review my app when its sent in a couple weeks. Also, please let me know what kind of skills and experience you guys have. I do small videos but having been doubting the possibility of acceptance, due to a lack of experience in the field. ANything you can tell me will help greatly.

 

[notroberttowne]

I'll leave the other questions to others, but about applying late...

If this year is like the past, the school will not cap admissions. They may say they're only accepting 14 people, but if they get three more strong applications they will take 17. In the last two years they've taken about four more each year in directing than they intended to take... so I don't think they'll have the full class from the priority deadline necessarily.

 

[Gordino]

I talked to Mrs. Diosomito today and she said nothing's been decided upon yet and that decisions will start to go out at the end of March. So...pretty much what we already knew.

 

[Hokie08]

Thanks for the update, Gordino.

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Hi Gordino,
That's good news! I wonder what MacyK has to say about what you found out today. Could it be that Mrs. Diosomito could be contradicting what Alex Rose told MacyK?

 

[saintelmosfire71]

Last year, I only made two applications: MFA Screewriting at UCLA and Chapman, after getting an interview and later a rejection from UCLA, I gave up any prospects of attending grad school in the fall (UCLA was my first and only choice but I applied to Chapman just because I have an extra copy of college transcripts, lol) and I got admitted and was notified in May. So, I went to the campus and gave myself an informal tour and was impressed by their facilities. Right now, I'm a first-year Grad, second semester student and if I'm to give my assessment of the program, I'd say I'm satisfied, but as of this time, I've observed that because of Chapman's top-notch facilities, there has been more focus given on the technical side of filmmaking and after watching a lot of student film production/shorts, IMO, majority of it could've used some improvement on the writing. I wish Chapman would focus more on the story, while they encourage writer-director and other discipline (cine, editing, sound, etc) collaboration, majority of the non-writing students like and prefer writing their own material and have the "auteur" attitude in filmmaking. So to all still waiting, don't get too anxious, in our batch last year, some were even notified of acceptance in August, a month before the fall semester started.

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Hi saintelmosfile71,
Thank you for your comments. I remember reading your posts on Chapman's "Fall 2010" blog last year. Your comments, and giving more focus to the story/screenwriting elements of filmmaking (instead of just their unbeatable facilities), are very much appreciated. Your comments seem to be right in line with those of "notrebrettowne's" comments. (As you probably know, he's a 2nd year screenwriting student at Chapman.)

Did you originally apply to Chapman by their February 1st "priority" deadline? I assume you would have given that UCLA's application deadline was the earliest (November 1st). However, could it be that you ended up at Chapman because SO MANY of their applicants weren't accepted to their MFA production/producing programs, and I guess it took Chapman as long as May in your case (and longer, for many applicants) to get to your name on their list. You went for the best screenwriting program in L.A. (Columbia is probably the best on the East coast), but you ended up at Chapman. Are you sorry you're there. If you're good at screenwriting, don't you feel that you bring your talent to Chapman? Or, is it something else?

Nevertheless, from reading the Chapman blogs for many years, it seems like they are fairly quick to decide upon who they really want, and they make their announcements in March on those, with the producer's program coming first (it appears). And, then, they announce their production choices in April and subsequent months, depending upon how long it takes people to make a decision about their acceptance offers. Am I correct about this? If you're not sure, could you ask around among your first year classmates who are in the producing or screenwriting programs when they were notified, and then get back to us on this?

Also, could you give us some insights about your experiences with working with the first (or second year) producing students? Are they happy with their selection of Chapman? If so, why? If not, why?

Your comments are very much appreciated for anyone trying to make their decision as objective as possible. THANKS!!

 

[saintelmosfire71]

Hey filmschooldad, yeah I applied before the Feb 1 priority deadline, I think I submitted my application in January. In our batch, most of the first acceptances were announced in April and the discipline were mixed, but I noticed that majority were producers followed by directing, cine, editing, sound and film studies. As for screenwriting, the first acceptances were in late April. My interview with UCLA was in March and the rejection was in April.

I am happy with Chapman but if I were to be given a choice between UCLA and Chapman, I'd pick UCLA. I took a directing certificate in their Extension program and though it's separate from their film program, I've developed a fondness with the place already. It's just that at UCLA, they allot some of the MFA screenwriting slots for their Professional Program graduates. I got an acceptance offer to their PP after my rejection to the MFA program. It is their way of getting to know the student since the faculty in the PP and MFA are the same. And to me it was a choice of either waiting 2 more years (one year for the PP and then another year to reapply for the MFA) or go to Chapman and have an MFA degree by that time. I simply chose the latter. Most of the professors I've had so far in Chapman were really good and have extensive industry background.

Again in our batch, there seems to be an equal number of directing, screenwriting and producing student ratio. The producers in our batch are always busy and they seem to enjoy what they're doing and since their program is 2 years, most of them are asked to produce some 2nd and 3rd year films. My working experience with producers have been good, especially when on set, they're always on top of things.

 

[rob0683]

I am interviewing for the joint MBA/MFA program on March 31st. Has anyone interviewed for this dual degree program before?

Does anyone have any advice on what they might ask? Any help would be much appreciated and best of luck to all of you as well.

Thanks!

 

[Mike_V]

Right now, I'm a first-year Grad, second semester student and if I'm to give my assessment of the program, I'd say I'm satisfied, but as of this time, I've observed that because of Chapman's top-notch facilities, there has been more focus given on the technical side of filmmaking and after watching a lot of student film production/shorts, IMO, majority of it could've used some improvement on the writing. I wish Chapman would focus more on the story, while they encourage writer-director and other discipline (cine, editing, sound, etc) collaboration, majority of the non-writing students like and prefer writing their own material and have the "auteur" attitude in filmmaking.

In reply to your comment about chapman focusing more on the technical side and about other emphasis students writing their own stuff, I'd have to wholly disagree with you.
I suggest you come to one of Paul Seydor's class (the morning ones) and you'll see that Paul spends alot of the time in class tearing the students apart when he finds that the story is really lacking. Alot of the professors in production workshop 3 and 4 will ask more of the story and character over the technical aspects of it.
As to the note about Directors or other students writing their own script, this is often due to the fact that many of them had bad experiences with some screenwriting students. This is to note that it goes both ways, sometimes the director can't work with the screenwriter or vice versa. From my personal experience, the screenwriter I worked with (as an editor) essentially told the production team that (paraphrasing here) he wasted his summer working on a script that he hated and would rather work on his other stuff that is better. Especially because he believes that the script is already bad and he simply gave us his works piece.

So alot of this comes to the point where directors and producers often want to do work that they can put their vision into, not someone else's vision that they're forced to work on. This is from the perspective of an editor.

EDIT: This is also to add that my observations are based on what I experienced and what I've heard other key creatives talk about in class about their experience in working on a fall cycle film. Obviously we're looking at 2 sides of the coin here (Screenwriter's and Production Team POV).

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Hi Mike V,
Thank you very much for your objective opinions. I agree that it works both ways, and everyone is entitled to their opinions, which are based on their experiences.
I would very much appreciate if you would tell me about the producers program at Chapman and what you've observed about the collaborative process between producers and directors and producers and screenwriters. I realize that you're not in the producers program, but what are your feelings about it nevertheless?

 

[Mike_V]

Well, in terms of producers, they work very closely with the production team (specifically the director) from pre production till mostly picture lock. In our editing classes, Paul requires that the producer and director be there in class at the screening of their films.
I also have to note though, some producers are very hands on and will work with everyone to get the story, but some (and I will not name names here) prefer that as soon as the team is done with production that he/she couldn't care less to do anything about post. BUT! In general, producers seem to be very involved with the process from start to end.
In relations to producers and screenwriters, I couldn't tell you that because I don't deal with screenwriters in general because my comments in pre production are always filtered by the director who is usually the point person.
I hope that helps.

 

[FilmSchoolDad]

Mike_V,
Thank you very much for your insightful answer. However, in general, have you observed a mutual respect between the production team (specifically the directors) and the producers? In other words, for the most part, have you found that the collaboration between the producers and directors is effective, or have you generally found the directors to be too hands-on, thereby limiting the producers' ability/freedom to get their job done to the best of their ability during the pre-production, filming, and post-production phases?

One of the reasons why I am asking this question is that there have been some comments made in the past on the AFI Fall 20XX blog about AFI's excessive focus on the director (almost to "god-like" status it has been said) at the expense of the other production team members. It has been said that, psychologically, this atmosphere at AFI has empowered directors, which has a tendency to under-mine or decrease the importance/role of the producers in particular because directors "don't need them as much" as they need the cinematographer and editor. The same kind of negative comments have also been made by past screenwriter fellows at AFI. I realize that you're not an MFA student at AFI, and you don't have any first-hand knowledge about that program. However, your comments about this in regard to your experiences and the experiences of your classmates at Chapman are important to consider.

Also, a few other MFA film students currently attending Chapman have indicated on this blog that Chapman's administrators (i.e., the so-called "third floor" at Dodge) are insensitive and non-supportive about the production process, and they contribute to production scheduling and completion problems. Would you care to provide any of your insights into any of this. Obviously, this forum is not intended to create negativity in the minds of Chapman's current and future MFA applicants, but an objective commentary by you as one of Chapman's current students would be helpful to a prospective student's decision-making.

Anyone who knows Chapman's physical infrastructure knows that it is probably the best of all film schools anywhere. No other school has the state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that Chapman does; no other school has one (let alone two) color correction suites that cost more than $1 million. In addition, industry-insiders are realizing that Chapman's MFA program is up-and-coming, thereby enhancing its reputation. However, what do you and your classmates feel are the intangible positives and negatives about Chapman?

Finally, I would greatly appreciate if you would enlighten me about your observations regarding Chapman's relatively new mentor's program? What have you observed/experienced? How would you rate this program? How do you think your classmates would rate this program if they were asked? Do the mentors have stature in the industry? In other words, how effective is this program? The other top film MFA programs have had mentors working with second and third year students for many years. How does Chapman's program stack up?

Thanks, again, for taking the time to give your comments on all of these things.