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The most important thing someone should know before graduating from film school IS? by Yoko Okumura

Lessons fly at us in abundance when we eager-beaver film students seat ourselves across from industry professionals and with as much eloquence as possible drool at the insights they are willing to share with us.

Making movies is hard work. Somehow these people have endured and sacrificed to get to where they are and are still pleasant human beings. Unlike the rep these industry professionals receive sometimes, everyone of our guests have been genuinely nice people. How do they do it? That is what we aim to dig up at Life After Film School. Come hell or high water at the end of the hour I will walk away with nuggets of information to apply to my aspirations.

Interestingly enough the biggest lesson I've learned in my career at LAFS is that the majority of successful film makers did not attend film school. Do you hear that? That is the sound of my student loans crying. Okay that is not the biggest lesson, but it was certainly a big impression which stuck with me and has been the cause of many sleepless nights. Should I quit school and start shlepping for the industry? Would that be a head start?

I have been fortunate enough to work as a camera assistant/camera utility for the last year or so. All the great people I've met on many sets (many people who did attend film school) have also attested to the sentiment that I should quit film school. Couple months ago I found myself on the set of Martin Scorsese's new film for several days doing camera utility. This was not first unit so Mr.Scorsese was not there, but he was instead hooked up to a live feed from New York on a monitor. I stood there and watched him eat lunch as he waited for us to set up the shot. He ate pizza on his couch. This is a man. Merely a man. Flesh and blood like you and I. Yet somehow when this man eats pizza he is able to create a gratifying life moment for a young little film student like myself. Everything he has accomplished during and after film school has made him into an entity, an icon. How does he do it? Raw unbridled talent, yes. But he also went to film school. Martin's life after film school seems to be going pretty well and I'd like him to finish the sentence the most important thing someone should know before graduating from film school IS?