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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Changing Majors...

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about being a film student.


Just because you got admitted to film school doesn't mean you have the rest of your life figured out. I know you think you want to be a filmmaker. I know you think you are going to go to film school and feel so satisfied, like you have finally realized your calling in life. But your acceptance letter isn't a ticket to certainty, it's a ticket to a pricey school where you may, or may not, be happy.


I went to film school so nervous but so certain that I had found something that was going to turn my life around. I knew I wanted to be a writer. A screenwriter. I knew I just HAD to work in film. But guess what. I was wrong. Not about everything, but about most things I thought I knew coming here.


See, I changed a lot in my first semester in college. I learned a lot in my first semester of film school. And, faced with the reality of being in school and finally living the dream, I realized I didn't have things as figured out as I thought I did. I'm a screenwriting major. And I love writing, I really do. But finding out what you want to do in college and life is a learning process. And I'm ready to change my major.


It seems pretty drastic to change your major in film school. It's such a specialized, narrow field of study that suddenly deciding you want to give it up is hard and feels life-altering. But film students are just like any other college student. We're 18 years old, we're finding ourselves, we're uncertain about what we really want. The typical college student changes their major multiple times. Just because I'm a screenwriting major doesn't mean I have to stick with it forever. 


So I'm changing my major. I'm staying in the film school, but leaving the tight-knit screenwriting family at the film school. I'm thinking I'm going to be a TV major. That's where my interest really is. I want to work in narrative TV or a talk show. Maybe late night. Maybe Conan. Or Jimmy Kimmel. 


We'll see. I have time. 

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