5 Reasons To Go To Film School And 5 Reasons Not To

3. It's Impossible To Teach Directing

Expanding one specific aspect of the previous point, in my experience at film school I have found one obstacle more frustrating than almost anything else: it is actually impossible to teach directing. And not for lack of trying: NYU, as well as most other major film schools including USC, UCLA, AFI, and others, tout a writer-director-focused curriculum at their center, and offer a wide variety of directing classes. However, when you think about it, teaching directing is a ridiculous conceit in and of itself. Directing is a ridiculously subjective experience: everyone does it differently and has their own personal methods to express their vision. No two people are the same in their approach, and besides discussing the history of directors and their personal styles, there is no "theory" to fall back on for a lesson plan. Beyond that, most of the heavy lifting directors find themselves doing is very private and intimate work with their actors in order to attain truthful performances. However, I cannot even begin to express how awkward and counterproductive attempting to do this private, intimate work with actors in front of a room with 30 other people watching and judging you. Unless you have private coaching sessions with you, your actors, and an instructor, teaching directing is a pointless waste of time - effort much better spent taking an acting class, or something else that would provide you with better skills to communicate with actors.