Dear Jason,
I wish I had found your blog way before. I’m a Bangladeshi-American filmmaker. I was born in Germany though. I have applied to UCLA as well and my position is 22. I’m really confused about my situation. After reading your blog, I’m more hopeful about it now. I have also applied to three other schools. My plan for next three months depend on these decisions.

My wife and I live in Oklahoma. She needs to tell her school whether she will teach next year or not. At this moment I don’t even know whether I’m getting into any of these schools or not. Based on your experience, do you think I should think of heading towards LA now?

Take Care. Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,

Dear Bijon,

Is your position number 22 as a director? I remember finding it confusing when I was applying as well. The school takes 18 directors, so if 4 people don’t decide to come, then you are in!

I know that in my year there were 3 people admitted off of the wait list. I totally understand the difficulty in planning. I remember the limbo period between decisions.

I think heading towards LA is dependent on a number of things. There is a possibility you will get into UCLA, but I wouldn’t depend on that. Do you have a film background? If so you may be able to find work on the technical side (gripping, assistant camera, assistant directing) for a year here. This would also lower your tuition by $10,000 if you got in next year, because you could become a california resident.

On the downside LA is very expensive depending on where you live, in graduate student housing where I am it’s $1069 a month.

It’s a difficult decision, and one I had to make last notice when I found out in July I was getting in. It depends on your skills, goals and situation.

The only other thing I can say for the wait is find writing classes and take them. Read a lot of books and write a feature script. I think that could be tremendously helpful when you come. The store section of my blog has the many, many books I have found helpful in learning about screenwriting.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

Jason

Now that I’ve done one quarter at UCLA Film School I have a more realistic idea of how much things actually cost.

This was my budget going into UCLA, based on Film School Confidential’s Pricing Guide.

Here is my revised budget after having attended one quarter of UCLA.

There are some important discrepancies to notice here.

1. The price of tuition has gone up. A lot. And will continue to do so. This year they raised tuition by $579 a quarter for the winter and spring. In the fall of next year each film student with the increase in general and professional fees, will pay $3,479 more than they did this fall.
2. My estimate for the average first year film costs, based on Film School Confidential, was about half of what they are expected to be. The rule of thumb for budgeting student film is $1,000 a minute. The two-minute costs a little less, but the 6-minute film will most likely run that, unless you get very creative.
3. Cost of Moving. Also not integrated into my original budget. I think 2,000 is reasonable. I bought a bike, furniture, and rented a car for about that amount.
4. Monthly living expenses. Depending on where you live, whether you drive etc. these will vary. Mine were high I think just because I was in a new city and didn’t know how to save as much money as I could have. Another thing to be aware of is that the food offered to us on campus is expensive, but when you’re working all the time you don’t always have time to cook. Learn to bring you own lunch and take a real ding out of this.
5. Additional Expenses: The Ditty Bag and Editing Supplies. These are something I have wanted to comment on for a long time. The ditty bag is your cinematography bag. Every student must DP (Director of Photography), AC (assistant camera) and Gaff (Gaffer) each other’s shoots. This requires some equipment. We receive a large list of the tools we are expected to have for our ditty bags. The most expensive of these is A Sekonic Analogue Lightmeter. There are student discounts at the stores, but not a single store had one available, so I for one had to order mine for $180 on amazon. The other parts of the ditty bag can quickly get expensive as well. Special measuring tapes, lens cleaning solution, it adds up. First year students also need editing supplies, which can run from $150 to $350 dollars, depending on whether you are able to get them new or not. This includes a splicer, various kinds of tape, cleaning solution, a split reel and a take-up reel, editing gloves, etc.

A Split Reel for Winding Film

These are just some things to be aware of when applying to and budgeting for film school. UCLA is still cheaper than USC, NYU, AFI or Columbia, but California’s budget crisis seems to be slowly closing the gap.

In 1945 Hitler’s Sudetenland became Czechoslovakia, the village of Heinrichschlag became Jindřiš and my adolescent grandparents became “ethnic Germans.” A soldier appeared at their homes and gave them one hour to leave. After wandering through Austria and Switzerland for years they settled in the British sector of Vienna, where my father grew up in poverty. His resulting ambition served him well when he moved to America after falling in love with a Nebraskan exchange student.
Five years, two degrees, a daughter and a divorce later he found his way to Chicago and met my mother. He moved to Michigan to be with her and founded an agricultural export company. When I was thirteen, fed up with endless mispronunciations and using the name Smith at restaurants, he changed our family name from “Kosnopfl” to “Kohl” and we joined a long tradition of Americanized names.
It made for an especially hellish year in middle school. The only thing worse than having an unpronounceable name was the cowardice implied in changing it. I self-medicated with stories. I believed then, and still do, that stories can save you. I read voraciously and reading naturally led to writing. In my Michigan world of doctors, lawyers and businessmen I assumed someone had to write what I was reading. It had not yet occurred to me that people, let alone armies of them, made films.
Toward the end of my time at Kalamazoo College I took courses in German Cinema and Documentary film production. The critical contact with cinema and my primitive documentaries affirmed a lifelong love of cinema. After a screening a close friend suggested I go to film school, an idea that I wholly embraced.
During my Fulbright year in Dortmund I wrote and directed my first unwatchable short film. In my dismay I realized that becoming a visual storyteller would require great resilience and discipline. In his Letters to a Young Poet Rilke wrote “that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.”
I postponed applying to film schools and moved to Berlin, where as an Austrian citizen I am fortunate enough to be able to live and work. I took writing classes, edited short films and worked as a production intern. I learned professionalism and production by day and screenwriting and editing by night. I taught English and came into contact with a multitude of people, stories, ideas and films. I am now doing a 9 month intensive screenwriting workshop and internship wherein I will complete my first feature length screenplay. This year is dedicated to a daily focus on the discipline and craft of writing.
The cultural dialectic that produced me is a rich source for storytelling. I feel as comfortable writing in German about homosexual culture in Berlin as I do in English about an ice hockey referee in Michigan. Each culture shapes and informs my ideas on the other. My increasing fluency in French continues to enrich my perspective.
I am deeply interested in studying Film at UCLA. Its focus on independent filmmaking and technical proficiency, as well as its location and large university setting are exactly what I am looking for. At UCLA I could learn as much from a diverse group of students as from the teaching and professional staff. I am realistic about the intense competition in film and understand the value of graduating with marketable skills to use while I continue to develop as a director.
Filmed drama is quite simply the lifeblood of my existence. In my favorite film a character turns to the camera and says “I don’t know if this is a comedy or a tragedy, but it’s a masterpiece.” Art is a medium through which we can transform the mundane into the sublime. I can think of no task more difficult or rewarding to dedicate my life to.