UPDATED: I feel that I was far too harsh on Film School Confidential in this post. It is a great resource for applying to film schools, but please do your own research outside on how much things will cost. It gives a great sense of the reality of film school and what you need to do if you want to leave here in a little debt as possible, able to make your first feature.

The book “Film School Confidential,” which I and many of my classmates based our research on when applying to film schools, has proven itself notoriously unreliable. It underestimates the cost of study, living, and making films, as well as telling what appear to be downright lies.

For example, the book says that you can write a feature length screenplay instead of making your advanced film project at UCLA. I talked to the TAs today and they were baffled. It appears no one has ever done this before.

If the information about UCLA is this inaccurate, I can only assume that it is also so for the other film schools. I had previously criticized it for being out of date. Now I would say it is often wrong, and is no substitute for doing your homework.

Just thought you should know!