Miguel Cruz

I gotta agree with Jim Keller. Unless you're needing some specific local color that can't be had just anywhere, then there's no point in relocating.

My short answer is no. However, there are a couple of ways to look at this. If you just want to go to college, then yes, study film. However having the degree isn't an absolute necessity. It's not like being a lawyer or a doctor where there are state mandated requirements. The real issue comes down to how much do you already know. For me film school was most useful in the introductory course as that was my first exposure to the raw mechanics of the art. Up until that point I had largely been a passive viewer and didn't know anything about editorial pacing, shot composition, or camera movement and how they all work psychologically. From that point on, I learned the rest by paying attention to the techniques in the movies I was watching outside of class and trying to mimic them in the videos I made with my friends. But my school (University of North Texas) might have been different. Other programs might be more intensive to where you really learn something in class. If you already know a great deal and are fairly confident in your abilities to put something on screen, you might save some money and start making feature films. A buddy of mine said that he read a quote from Steven Soderbergh saying something to the effect of, "Take the money you're going to spend on film school and just make a film." That's not altogether bad advice since a number of prominent directors started out making low budget films on their own dime that ended up doing good enough business to become bigger players.