Let me just say this: relish the college film school years. Screenwriters - savor the moments of staying up late, incessantly trying to crank out pages for the next day's class. Love the fact that you're working on a script that no one is paying you for - which means you can write whatever you wish. Filmmakers - indulge in your experimental shorts and your ripping-out-the-heartstrings dramas that don't have an ounce of un-earned explosions or male bravado. Write what you want. Film what you want. Edit it how you want. Roll credits YOUR WAY. College is like sitting in a first-class seat on an airplane: you have all the leg-room you could need. That's right. You can stretch out your legs. Of course, you don't have all the equipment or resources you could ever need, but that's a different story. In terms of writing and creating what you desire, the freedom is always there.
So what is post-college "film school" ie: the real world like? First, I'll start with the awesomeness. You can meet tons of talented, enthusiastic, business-savvy people in the industry. You get to talk about stories you're super passionate about (sometimes you even get to work on them!) And you get to learn some of the ins and outs from those around you. But nothing is ever perfect. No, it's reality. And reality isn't perfect, as we all know. There is a sort of understanding that comes with the new, young writer territory: you have to be very selective about what you choose to write. Unlike college, you can't just tell your professor your idea and then go home that night and start crafting a possible masterpiece. Now, post-college, you must run your idea or ideas past your representatives and they have to check if there's anything similar already in the pipeline. You have to think about "marketability." If your idea is
perceived as nearly impossible to get purchased or produced, you may need to think about possible movie stars who could maybe attach themselves to the project - if the project ever gets to them, that is. It's a whole new world post-college. You have to be as practical as you are creative. You have to think before you act. Don't get me wrong. There was a lot of thinking in college. For screenwriters, it's: character dilemma, character arcs, point of attack, midpoint, second act crisis, and the list goes on. But now, before one can even get to all that "fun" formulaic stuff - that, of course when written - shouldn't feel like formulaic stuff - one must really ponder and check with one's team if it's even a good idea to pursue a particular story idea. This may seem disheartening for writers and filmmakers who just live to tell the stories they want to tell, but the truth is, it's just part of the game - a game that contains a few unwritten "rules and regulations" as we may say. In this case, one must be
strategically creative. At least at this stage.
But there
is a silver lining. If given the opportunities to meet with people who may want to work with you, you may come across stories that already exist (in source material or scripts others have written), and the stories may be really great (or you see great potential) and you may have an opportunity to pitch ("audition") to work on them and craft them yourself and make them the stories you live to tell. In other words, there are opportunities for jobs after college - actual writing gigs that producers and studios could offer you. In college, there - most often - are not. So let's recap: College is fantastic because you get to follow your creative bliss wherever it takes you without regard to the "cha-ching!" factor or whatever else is out there. Post-college is fantastic because there are projects out there that need to be written. And you may fall in love with them during the process and you may eventually get paid to write them.
It's been awhile since my last interview for
Life After Film School, and yet I still think about the insightful conversations that were had, the very small and very big lessons that were learned, the odd and interesting tidbits that were shared by our guests. And there's one consistency across the board: although this industry is anything but easy, it's totally like nothing else. I can concur with that. And it's only the beginning.
