USC Directing MFA vs Columbia Film MFA — Which path is better for building a career as a feature director (esp. with A24-style films)?

[deppjay07]

Hi everyone,

I’d love to hear some insight from people here who have either attended or deeply researched these programs. I’ve recently been accepted into both USC’s MFA in Directing and Columbia University’s MFA in Film (Directing concentration) for the upcoming semester. I’m an international student, and while I’ve done extensive research on both schools, I still feel uncertain about which path would offer better real-world opportunities and networking access—especially considering my specific goal: building a career directing feature films in the vein of A24—intimate, auteur-driven, visually bold work. I’m fully aware that success as a director depends far more on your work, perseverance, and timing than on where you went to school. But I also recognize that the early networking ecosystem, access to the right people, and being in the right city can tilt things either way in the beginning.

A few key questions I have:

• What’s the realistic scope of networking and career launch opportunities in LA vs NYC today for someone who wants to direct narrative features?
• Does USC's stronger industry pipeline outweigh Columbia's deep screenwriting and directing pedigree, especially considering the changing landscape of indie films?
• Have any recent grads from either school actually transitioned into A24-type features or similar indie/art-house success?
• As an international student, where will I be less "invisible" or more likely to connect with gatekeepers?

This is less about picking “the best school” and more like a reality check from folks who know what it’s like on the ground right now. I’m grateful for any honest feedback from alumni, current students, or industry folks.

Thanks so much!

 

[Patrick Clement]

Congratulations! Two great choices! What an embarrassment of riches. I attended the CU Film MFA so happy to speak on that. I've also posted ALOT about my experience so have a look at my posts.

Columbia is a sink or swim program. Its based in NY indie film and so you're really kind of pushed out of the nest. If you are expecting the industry to be banging down your door because you attended Columbia you're going to be disappointed. The program operates on one floor of a very old building. There is a small soundstage but its not a technology based program. I think USC has like VR labs and all sorts of crazy shit. CU is "scrappy." You're going to be lugging gear into ubers and climbing stairs. Its focused on DIY indie filmmaking.

Having said that, you will spend most of your time writing and doing character and structure work. CU is a STORY SCHOOL. Using A24 is a strange example because A24 is a STUDIO, but the "A24 type film" is def closer to CU than USC in my opinion. When I was applying to MFAs Columbia overwhelmingly had better stories in their thesis films, if sometimes technically underwhelming. I think story is THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS and so that's partly why I chose CU.

I'm pretty sure USC has a pitching model and so you can graduate from USC holding a boom pole. If you're not one of the chosen few, you're going to be paying lots of money to work below the line. I wanted to write and direct and so CU was a better fit. I shot two shorts in my first year and FIVE shorts overall, including maybe a dozen "exercises." I was able to write and direct two thesis films. I belive CU gives every thesis $10k now. I think. I also graduated with three feature screenplays and half a dozen pitches/outlines. Two of my screenplays won awards from the dept. As part of my award I was matched with producers. One of those producers ended up producing my first feature which will be out later this year.

BURY ME WHEN I'M DEAD | Sublimity

My classmates were majority women and people of color including maybe 1/3 international students. This was also a huge plus for me. There were 50 screenwriting/directing students and 25 producing students so the class size is THE LARGEST of the top five. Five years later, out of the 75, four of us have made features, one is writing for Disney, my BFF is high up in Amazon studios, two of them are working in development in LA, two of them are teaching at a university level. One of them was shortlisted for the international oscars a couple years ago.

Honestly my only piece of advice is to focus LESS on industry advancement and ask yourself what you want/need to be a better filmmaker. Its not going to do you any good to worry about "networking" if your work sucks. Make incredible work and the connections will come.

Little side story one of my classmates spent their entire time at CU talking about connections and industry and basically phoned in their time at CU because they were going to move to LA and had all sort of "connections." Take a guess how it went.

Congrats again and best of luck to you!

 

[bg29736]

Congratulations! Two great choices! What an embarrassment of riches. I attended the CU Film MFA so happy to speak on that. I've also posted ALOT about my experience so have a look at my posts.

Columbia is a sink or swim program. Its based in NY indie film and so you're really kind of pushed out of the nest. If you are expecting the industry to be banging down your door because you attended Columbia you're going to be disappointed. The program operates on one floor of a very old building. There is a small soundstage but its not a technology based program. I think USC has like VR labs and all sorts of crazy shit. CU is "scrappy." You're going to be lugging gear into ubers and climbing stairs. Its focused on DIY indie filmmaking.

Having said that, you will spend most of your time writing and doing character and structure work. CU is a STORY SCHOOL. Using A24 is a strange example because A24 is a STUDIO, but the "A24 type film" is def closer to CU than USC in my opinion. When I was applying to MFAs Columbia overwhelmingly had better stories in their thesis films, if sometimes technically underwhelming. I think story is THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS and so that's partly why I chose CU.

I'm pretty sure USC has a pitching model and so you can graduate from USC holding a boom pole. If you're not one of the chosen few, you're going to be paying lots of money to work below the line. I wanted to write and direct and so CU was a better fit. I shot two shorts in my first year and FIVE shorts overall, including maybe a dozen "exercises." I was able to write and direct two thesis films. I belive CU gives every thesis $10k now. I think. I also graduated with three feature screenplays and half a dozen pitches/outlines. Two of my screenplays won awards from the dept. As part of my award I was matched with producers. One of those producers ended up producing my first feature which will be out later this year.

BURY ME WHEN I'M DEAD | Sublimity

My classmates were majority women and people of color including maybe 1/3 international students. This was also a huge plus for me. There were 50 screenwriting/directing students and 25 producing students so the class size is THE LARGEST of the top five. Five years later, out of the 75, four of us have made features, one is writing for Disney, my BFF is high up in Amazon studios, two of them are working in development in LA, two of them are teaching at a university level. One of them was shortlisted for the international oscars a couple years ago.

Honestly my only piece of advice is to focus LESS on industry advancement and ask yourself what you want/need to be a better filmmaker. Its not going to do you any good to worry about "networking" if your work sucks. Make incredible work and the connections will come.

Little side story one of my classmates spent their entire time at CU talking about connections and industry and basically phoned in their time at CU because they were going to move to LA and had all sort of "connections." Take a guess how it went.

Congrats again and best of luck to you!

Hi! I’m lurking on here and your insight on Columbia is super helpful. I was also accepted to their screenwriting & directing MFA and am really drawn to the program for all the reasons you mentioned. I have to make my decision suuuuper soon and my main concern are the financials; I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about taking out large loans to attend Columbia?? I also got into UT Austin’s screenwriting MFA which is a lot cheaper, but I was really hoping to write AND direct (which I guess I can do at any time without school, too). I received a very nice $50,000 scholarship from Columbia after a faculty member went to bat for me, but it’s still significantly more expensive.

Did you take out loans? If so how has repayment affected life after graduation? I keep hearing not to go into debt for an MFA, but there’s something special about Columbia that makes me want to justify it lol. I know I should be thinking practically about the financials but the opportunity to deep dive into writing and directing are hard to say no to. Would love your perspective on this!

 

[Patrick Clement]

Hi! I’m lurking on here and your insight on Columbia is super helpful. I was also accepted to their screenwriting & directing MFA and am really drawn to the program for all the reasons you mentioned. I have to make my decision suuuuper soon and my main concern are the financials; I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about taking out large loans to attend Columbia?? I also got into UT Austin’s screenwriting MFA which is a lot cheaper, but I was really hoping to write AND direct (which I guess I can do at any time without school, too). I received a very nice $50,000 scholarship from Columbia after a faculty member went to bat for me, but it’s still significantly more expensive.

Did you take out loans? If so how has repayment affected life after graduation? I keep hearing not to go into debt for an MFA, but there’s something special about Columbia that makes me want to justify it lol. I know I should be thinking practically about the financials but the opportunity to deep dive into writing and directing are hard to say no to. Would love your perspective on this!

I took out $300k in GRAD PLUS US Government loans and I don’t regret it at all. I don’t let money make decisions for me, despite being a low income student.

The grad plus loans have no cap and allow you to borrow the full cost of attendance, including housing and living expenses. They are also currently allow income based repayment (although the fascist GOP and Trump are fighting to change that) Don’t do private loans.

Grad loans allowed me to be a full time filmmaking student for five years. What a gift. I replied to a post some years ago from a student who wanted to work a part time job while attending. Find that post I went into details.

Finally, all I can say is when you are laying on your deathbed are you going to regret not pursuing you dreams? Are you going to worry about a stupid student loan?

 

[Justanotherfilmfan]

I took out $300k in GRAD PLUS US Government loans and I don’t regret it at all. I don’t let money make decisions for me, despite being a low income student.

The grad plus loans have no cap and allow you to borrow the full cost of attendance, including housing and living expenses. They are also currently allow income based repayment (although the fascist GOP and Trump are fighting to change that) Don’t do private loans.

Grad loans allowed me to be a full time filmmaking student for five years. What a gift. I replied to a post some years ago from a student who wanted to work a part time job while attending. Find that post I went into details.

Finally, all I can say is when you are laying on your deathbed are you going to regret not pursuing you dreams? Are you going to worry about a stupid student loan?

just because it's important for applicants to be aware - 300k in grad plus loans is about 45k that you'll be paying ONLY in interest every year, correct?

 

[scaldwellkerson]

Congratulations! Two great choices! What an embarrassment of riches. I attended the CU Film MFA so happy to speak on that. I've also posted ALOT about my experience so have a look at my posts.

Columbia is a sink or swim program. Its based in NY indie film and so you're really kind of pushed out of the nest. If you are expecting the industry to be banging down your door because you attended Columbia you're going to be disappointed. The program operates on one floor of a very old building. There is a small soundstage but its not a technology based program. I think USC has like VR labs and all sorts of crazy shit. CU is "scrappy." You're going to be lugging gear into ubers and climbing stairs. Its focused on DIY indie filmmaking.

Having said that, you will spend most of your time writing and doing character and structure work. CU is a STORY SCHOOL. Using A24 is a strange example because A24 is a STUDIO, but the "A24 type film" is def closer to CU than USC in my opinion. When I was applying to MFAs Columbia overwhelmingly had better stories in their thesis films, if sometimes technically underwhelming. I think story is THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS and so that's partly why I chose CU.

I'm pretty sure USC has a pitching model and so you can graduate from USC holding a boom pole. If you're not one of the chosen few, you're going to be paying lots of money to work below the line. I wanted to write and direct and so CU was a better fit. I shot two shorts in my first year and FIVE shorts overall, including maybe a dozen "exercises." I was able to write and direct two thesis films. I belive CU gives every thesis $10k now. I think. I also graduated with three feature screenplays and half a dozen pitches/outlines. Two of my screenplays won awards from the dept. As part of my award I was matched with producers. One of those producers ended up producing my first feature which will be out later this year.

BURY ME WHEN I'M DEAD | Sublimity

My classmates were majority women and people of color including maybe 1/3 international students. This was also a huge plus for me. There were 50 screenwriting/directing students and 25 producing students so the class size is THE LARGEST of the top five. Five years later, out of the 75, four of us have made features, one is writing for Disney, my BFF is high up in Amazon studios, two of them are working in development in LA, two of them are teaching at a university level. One of them was shortlisted for the international oscars a couple years ago.

Honestly my only piece of advice is to focus LESS on industry advancement and ask yourself what you want/need to be a better filmmaker. Its not going to do you any good to worry about "networking" if your work sucks. Make incredible work and the connections will come.

Little side story one of my classmates spent their entire time at CU talking about connections and industry and basically phoned in their time at CU because they were going to move to LA and had all sort of "connections." Take a guess how it went.

Congrats again and best of luck to you!

While I disagree about your opinion on USC, I will never say it’s perfect. USC is actually cheaper than CU, and has so many scholarships and a huge international student body (although most film schools do I presume at this point).

I will say that with the “style” of film you want to make USC isn’t for you, but being specific about making A24 type films is an odd reason to want to go to film school to learn and grow more as a filmmaker. Amanda can care about story and go to any film school. I’ll say if your putting a huge investment into yourself know what you want your output to be, but indie filmmaking isn’t for everyone because the output can take a lot longer in the road you want to forge. It’s also hard work, and surprisingly, USC students work much harder as independent filmmakers because the school doesn’t give us money to make films.
The writing classes and professors are excellent, there’s no real limit on the type of thesis you would like to make so the down side for USC is that it is harder to navigate because there are no tracks. LA is also a different type of city to live in because you need a car to work in the industry here, you can’t rely on public transportation in the same way as NY.
If you want a post graduate network of people working and making money/careers in this industry, USC is unmatched. If you want to use emerging tech to push your storytelling forward, USC is also unmatched. If you want to learn more about television while you’re learning about film, USC is also great for that. But for your specific criteria, you can do that anywhere, but only you know what specific stories you want to tell and how you want to tell them, the only factor that really determines that is post grad life, school is for learning and growing