I was that person. Crazy about movies. Couldn't stop talking about them. Packed up my life and moved to Los Angeles. Attended school in the heart of Hollywood. And learned a lot. Not just about filmmaking, but what path to take to become a director.
I was 26 years old when the light finally turned on. It happened during lunch at work. Out of nowhere something hit me in the head. Not a ceiling tile or light fixture. It was this radical idea: “I should go to film school.”
That thought ended up changing my life. Packed up everything and moved to Los Angeles. Just me, an old Honda and BIG dreams!
I attended school at the Los Angeles Film School on Sunset Boulevard. My directing teacher was a member of the DGA. Sound design teacher worked full time on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and came to the school at night to teach us. My editing teacher cut Blazing Saddles back in the day.
We learned about lighting at the Mole Richardson Hollywood location. The school had guest speakers like John Toll. Got to use the prop house at Universal Pictures. There was cool factor everywhere. My class was dedicated. We were going places!
But there was a problem. Something film school doesn’t prepare you for.
So what was the problem with all of that? Didn’t I learn the craft. Actually, yes. I learned a lot about filmmaking. No complaints there. LAFS was a great school. The problem is this: Hollywood doesn’t care about your education. They don’t care about school pedigree or that amazing thesis film.
Attending film school in the heart of the entertainment industry was not the silver bullet I thought it would be. I was a double major, graduated with honors. Had one of the most polished reels in my class.
But it just didn’t matter.
After school I was sleeping on an air mattress, working retail to pay bills. All the amazing equipment I had access to at the school was gone. I literally had nothing. Nothing but school debt, that is.
Fortunately I met someone who worked at Universal Pictures. She was heading up a 168 hour film project that I helped out with. She got me on to couple films directed by Bob Odenkirk (Let’s Go To Prison and The Brothers Solomon) as an editorial PA.
So film school worked? To be a PA you only need to know where the coffee shops and restaurants are around town. No film degrees required.
Working even at a PA level was awesome. You had a badge on a lanyard that meant you could go ANYWHERE. You could walk on set, get onto studio lots. SUPER COOL. I got to sit right by Bob Odenkirk and talk to him—incredible guy BTW. You can tell a lot about someone based on how they treat the PA’s. People who make movies are awesome, because they’re creatives. They love what they do. They live to tell stories.
But as exciting as it all was, there was no path from production assistant to director. You’re just getting coffee, making deliveries and watching others pursue their dreams.
After the second studio film decided to make the jump to the world of independent film. But the challenge with indie filmmaking? It just doesn’t pay. This means you need a full time job while working on movies nights and weekends. And I was working as an editor.
If you want to direct? You’ve gotta fund the entire thing.
It’s been 20 years since I graduated from film school. There have been many lessons, some learned the hard way. Mastering the craft of story telling for the big screen takes a lot of time. None of us knew exactly how long it would take. And trying to make rent in LA made it take even longer.
Education on the craft is wildly important—but the system is messed up. The entertainment industry is overloaded with people trying to make a living. Thousands of hopefuls journey to LA each year dreaming of their chance to “break in.” And now with Hollywood 2.0 it’ll be Vegas too. But so many of these aspiring creatives crash and burn. Why? Because they spend everything on their education. On that thesis film that will be so amazing.
And then they graduate and face the music.
If you don’t approach your film education right, you could end up as yet another statistic. You know, that cool person who moved to LA from Ohio to follow their dreams only to crash and burn and move back home at the age of 37. Broke. Jaded. Depressed.
Film school should teach the craft quickly without draining your bank account. Because the only way to become a film director is to in fact write and direct movies. But if you spend $30K a year on film school, you don’t have anything left to buy gear and continue making movies after graduation.
Additionally, a modern director must learn all the craft. Yes, everything. Because unless you can afford crew day rates, you have to be the gaffer, the DP, the sound mixer, the casting director, the editor, colorist, sound designer…and the list goes on.
And this is precisely what Write & Direct is all about.
Write & Direct is a hands-on, online film school that teaches the craft of filmmaking at an affordable price. Students begin in development and move through every phase of making a movie. They complete their first film during training — A film that can be submitted to film festivals and put on IMDb!
During Write & Direct students purchase the gear they need for the hands-on training. And the beauty of this is the training and gear combined cost much less than traditional film school! After graduating from Write & Direct, students own the gear they need to continue making movies.
THIS IS HUGE.
The goal of Write & Direct is to teach aspects of the craft that took me years to learn. It teaches in a hands on manner and liberates students from the financial bondage of film school. When they’re done they have the resources to do what every aspiring director must do—write and direct movies.
This is huge, and the school officially launches mid-2025.
Sometimes it's my latest film. Or a new review. Maybe a write-up on fly fishing? What I can promise is that it'll be good!
