A Silent Protest

I waxed philosophical discussions with a co-film student last night as we location scouted. We talked about among other things, 546. 546 is a class at USC that selects 4 films a year to produce. Everyone is allowed to submit scripts and reels and the faculty selects 40 eligible scripts, 10 directors, and 10 producers to all hook up and pitch a project. Sounds cool, eh? Well, everyone thinks so coming in, but within USC, 546 is like the bastard step child no one cares to talk about openly and candidly.

The class is a joke. First of all, it pits students against one another in a selection process. I can hear the chorus of Capitalists already - but that's how the real world is - get used to it, you pussies. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That's missing the point. In real world, one does not pay tuition to get an education in learning how to make films. Film school ought to be a mixture of learning craft, discovering your own voice, and learning about how to function in the world outside of school - in that order. 546 neglects craft (there is very little), hinders discovering any type of personal voice (50 opinions on your dailies every day), and learning how to function in the outside world - I don't know yet, but if 546 is like the outside world....I will never make films. The outside world, for all of it's flaws, is efficient. Perhaps to a fault....the bottom line always matters. An investment is made and expected to be made back. 546 is an inefficient process - shooting over the course of several weekends, dozens of hands in the mix, giving opinions and criticisms, bureaucratic elements up the ass, all hurting the creative process, and wasting TIME (which is money, in the real world).

But, to another point, the psychological impact of being selected (or not being selected). Being selected for 546 is a case of luck, not desert. Filmmaking is so subjective, anyway, an acknowledgement of such much precede any type of "selection."
If you took an informal survey, however, of classmates and peers, I imagine that the 546 selectees would not rank near the top of filmmakers. In fact, I'd bet on it. However, the selection process privileges these filmmakers and will have two effects - giving them an inflated sense of themselves and two, giving those not selected the unwarrented sense of rejection, that you are not as good as so and so, or perhaps even worse, the knowledge that you are as good, but you cannot be publically recognized as such. When learning, this type of rejection does not help one become a better filmmaker. If I wanted rejection, I'd ask random girls out for free, not pay tuition to be told by the faculty.

Anyways, the post has gotten long...but a couple of final things. For the school, it ought to test itself and not require 546 and see how the class survives. I am willing to bet the class could not survive in a "free market" itself. For all of it's claims to prepare for the "real world" the class itself is one big hustle. They force students to pay 6 g's tutition to take the class. If it weren't a requirement, would people take it? There's you test.

In any case, the discussion over whether to pitch to direct a 546 goes on. Part of me is like, well, don't be a hater, just give it a try. Part of me wants practice pitching, but all of me knows the process is debilitating and creatively unfulfilling.

PS - I've yet to see a good 546 - only films that are good for being a 546.

So my friend silently protested 546...by never submitting a reel and refusing the process entirely. Kant's categorical imperative may apply....