HOW FILM CONNECTION WORKS FOR THE ASPIRING FILMMAKER
At Film Connection, we’ll put you with an industry professional where you’ll learn first hand what it takes to build a career in the film business. Our programs and workshops run the gamut of filmmaking, from writing screenplays that capture the imagination while maintaining the structure, to getting a film sold and made, to making final edits before it hits the big screen.
And you don’t have to move to Los Angeles or New York to do it. With mentors located throughout the country, with us, you can stay close to home while learning the ropes. We even offer one-on-one online film education, enabling you to receive direct instruction from a working filmmaking professional right from your home. Whether getting trained in-person or learning filmmaking through direct online instruction, you won’t have to uproot your life in order to start building your dream career.
Film Connection doesn’t offer “normal” classroom education in which you spend a few hours in class with other students, listening to lectures, taking notes, and learning about filmmaking in an abstract and removed manner. With us, you will be receiving a one-on-one education as you work on real-world projects. If you’ve decided to train in-person, you’ll be working with a professional and training on their industry-standard equipment. But be forewarned, this isn’t time for daydreams, it’s time to work!
You probably won’t be working on the next summer blockbuster, or blocking shots for an Oscar winner (though our student externs have worked on some very big projects like Black Panther and Ant Man 2). You will, however, be working with a professional who’s downright passionate about filmmaking. With us, you could be re-writing a 45-second scene that takes place in a grocery store for a small independent film or assistant directing on a commercial or music video. The Avengers it isn’t, but you’re learning hands-on and you have the chance to make connections with the working filmmaking professionals you meet along the way.
THE FILM CONNECTION DIRECTING APPROACH
Once the script is locked down and financing is in place, it’s time for the director to go to work. As an extern working directly with a film director, the Film Connection directing training approach will give you the opportunity to learn from a working filmmaker in a film production company.
While some directors also produce their films and even do some of the writing, their main responsibility is to blend together all of the creative aspects of the production into a single cohesive unit.
Being a director is probably the most demanding position in the industry. Because they have a hand in almost every aspect of the film, most directors actually come from other filmmaking jobs, such as Director of Photography (DP), film editor, screenwriter, producer and line producer. When it comes to film, having a broad understanding of the process can only help.
In addition to mechanical aspects of filmmaking, the director also has to play mediator at times. There are a lot of creative minds and strong opinions (egos) involved during the process. The ability to work with many different personalities – and get those personalities to work with each other – is one of the most important roles of a director.
At Film Connection, the education you’ll get is completely real-world because your education in film is on real projects, training with an experienced filmmaker.
Of course, there’s more to making a film than writing a script or directing people on the set. Editing, line producing, storyboarding, lighting, and of course the generous talent of the actors, all come together to create a finished project.
At Film Connection, you’ll learn what goes into making a film and what needs to happen during pre-production, production, and post-production. Choose the in-person option for your film directing education, and you’ll learn in an immersive environment, working directly with people who do this for a living. They work hard to make careers in the film industry, and you’ll work hard to earn actual hands-on experience, make industry connections (if you’re taking advantage of the opportunities in front of you), and earn your certificate of completion.
Learning what it takes to become a professional director is a career choice which requires heaps of dedication, a seriously fierce work ethic, and the ability to really go the distance. If that sounds like something you’re up to, then maybe being a director is the career for you.
FILM CONNECTION’S SCREENWRITING FILM SCHOOL ALTERNATIVE
Are you interested in learning what it takes to write an effective script? Our approach to screenwriting pairs one screenwriting student extern (you) with one experienced filmmaker who knows the ins-and-outs of writing the kinds of scripts that get made. Via remote online sessions, your mentor works with you and guides you step-by-step through the process of developing your idea for a movie into a fully-developed, completed script or screenplay, along with your logline, pitch, and insight into the process of getting that film sold and made.
Joe Eszterhas reportedly once sold a script written on a cocktail napkin for millions of dollars. We can’t guarantee that kind of payoff when you finish learning screenwriting with us but the Film Connection screenwriting mentor who educates and coaches you will show you what has got to happen in order to produce a “Killer Script.”
Without a script, there is no movie. It’s as simple as that. Sure, there are times when a rough idea has been sketched out, actors get attached and directors tabbed to make the film. Nevertheless, the cameras don’t start filming until everyone’s got a script in hand.
So what makes a Killer Script? It’s how you elevate yourself above the other 99% of screenplays floating around. It’s the script readers can’t put down. It gets read in one sitting and when it’s read by the right person, the wheels are set in motion. The actor gets on the phone with the agent, the studio gives the green light, and producers quickly get the money together to make sure it’s done right.
Film Connection’s screenwriting film school alternative will lay the groundwork to empower you to write your own Killer Script. By starting with the classics, you’ll receive lessons on important elements nearly all great scripts have in common. As they say, to become a great writer, it’s important to read great writing.
Learning the three-act structure, character motivation and development and how to really make the most of the visual nature of film are just a few of the aspects of screenplay writing covered in our industry-oriented curriculums. If you have an idea of what you want to write, you’ll now experience firsthand instruction on how to expand upon that idea, develop it into a fleshed out story concept. If you don’t have an idea that’s just waiting to be brought to life, your mentor will guide you through the process of ideation and coming up with a concept and story you will be eager to write.
Working with your Film Connection screenwriting mentor, you can start connecting the dots between the script and filming, the opening and closing credits, previews, reviews, and even the audience that will be discussing your work on social media.
But know this: becoming a professional screenwriter takes a lot of work, determination, and it pays to have thick skin. That being said, if you have a story to tell, you’re probably the only person who can tell it the way you think it should be told; the way you see it in your imagination. By externing with a professional screenwriter, you can learn to harness your creative vision and generate scenes, dialogue, and plot points through guided instruction.
With the Film Connection’s screenwriting film school alternative which utilizes the mentored-externship approach, you can be on your way in just a matter of 6 to 9 months.