Everybody Else's Guide To Getting Into College: Opportunity Alert: SF Film School Students Delivers Hands-On Opportunities

This is an opportunity alert! I often engage strangers--mostly students--in conversations about what they want to do with their lives. This inevitably leads to career conversations. Most want to do something they enjoy while earning a decent living.

Surprise!

Bigger surprise...most don't want to spend the next 8-12 years learning about it; they want to get to it. There's nothing wrong with that.

So, here and there I'd like to feature opportunities to do just that--get to it. These are opportunities to get hands-on training in less time than it might take to earn a bachelors, masters or professional degree.

Keep in mind that skipping the 4-year (or more) education could mean foregoing a higher paycheck or a higher-paying first job. Of course, talent and luck can pull you ahead of even the best educated counterparts (though, we want to be sure not to get eaten up with ego).

Anyway, if your goal is to "get to it", there's no substitute for career/technical education, apprenticeships, internships and entry-level jobs.

So, here goes. Our first Career Education Opportunity alert...

San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking

This small specialized school in the heart of San Francisco offers small class sizes, relatively low tuition rates (and financial aid), and, most importantly, an opportunity to build a portfolio you can use to find actual work.

The school's programs focus on the the three major areas of filmmaking--screenwriting, digital filmmaking and editing and film acting. The core program is the digital filmmaking program which is available as a 1-year program during which students create a working portfolio of narrative fiction, documentary, commercial-length and special effects films, and work alongside a professional production crew on the set of a feature-length film. The filmmaking program is also available throughout the year as a 5-week intensive workshop during which students complete a short film, from screenwriting, to casting and directing and editing.

Other cool bits include the fact that the school's campus is basically a big soundstage with lots of state of the art equipment.

Here's what it takes to get in:

1-YEAR DIGITAL FILMMAKING PROGRAM ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

Completed application form
High School Diploma or GED equivalent
Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) Entrance exam required of all students
Students with English as a second language will be required to submit a passing score on the Test on English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) from a qualified testing center

APPLY NOW DOWNLOAD THE 1-YR PROGRAM APPLICATION

5-WEEK DIGITAL FILMMAKING PROGRAM ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS