is it possible to work in the film/video industry without high school or GED?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
I am really wondering if you can still make a decent carrier out of videography or cinematography without graduating from high school or getting a GED? I am currently a junior in high school, my G.P.A is very low, and its coming up to the 11th hour on some math credits i need to get, but the sky is not that blue for them. I really want to work in the video/film industry as a cameraman and my ultimate question to you guys is that, is a high school education required even for a basic job in the field or am i wasting my time with crap i wont ever use in my life?

Also, are their any film schools that accept non high school grads?


Thanks,
Mike
 
if you want to go to school, you're going to need a GED. if you want to start up your own video production company, you don't need it.
 
If I was hiring a cameraman, I'd base my decision on his camera work, not on his education.

BUT -- with that said -- education, credit reports, driving record, etc., are all indicators of a person's character. If you don't bother to finish school, you don't pay your bills, etc., then the question of you being trustworthy and dedicated enough to trust in a big position become called into question.

Employers may look at all those things when evaluating you for a position. They won't tell you why you didn't get the position (assuming you don't get it) but if you've got sixty unpaid parking tickets and a 480 FICO and you dropped out of high school -- well, don't plan on getting a call back.

Now -- if you're talking about freelancing, that's a whole different situation. Nobody checks references or anything on freelance, it's all word of mouth. If you're good, and others say you're good, you get hired for a day. If you do well, they'll call you next time. But there's no guarantee, you may work one day a month or 20 days a month, it all depends. It all depends on how good you are and on how pleasant you are to be around. You could be a super-skilled cameraman, but if you're a jerk you won't get hired back. You could be a competent cameraman but if you're pleasant, hard-working, dedicated and helpful and have a great attitude, you'll get hired over and over and over. At $300 to $600 per day, it can work out well. But if there's no work in your area, you're hosed.

Problem is, what if you decide to try freelance and after a couple of years you hate it and you want to go get a real job? Or the dollar gets so strong that production shifts overseas again and all the jobs dry up and you can't get work? Oops. Dropped out of school, don't have a degree, don't have a GED, don't have much of a chance against the hundreds of thousands of fresh graduates out there...

So -- you're much better off graduating if you can, just for your own future options if nothing else.
 
Absolutely do what you can to finish high school.
EVEN IF you make a career out of camerawork, chances are you will want/need another job at some point in your life, and you won't get it without a high school diploma.

Regardless of that - I guarantee you'll regret it in 10-20 years if you don't do it now.
 
The one thing I regret most in my life is dropping out of high school. Have I needed it? no. Did I think I would regret it at the time? no, but I do. Drugs, alcohol, and basically being homeless took it's toll on my education.

Who knew... my Mom was right.

Do whatever you have to do to finish school. That's my advice.

-brown

p.s. I did get my GED, and also an Associate's degree in Graphic Design a few years later.
 
Finish school. It's high school, man. They practically will give you a degree. That's my advice. There is a much greater stigma on a H.S. dropout than there is for a College dropout, for example. High School. Finish.

Later,
Jason
 
Thank you for all your advice. I do have a follow up question though if you dont mind..

Lets say i try to graduate and next year i come up short, do i stay another year and be what my school likes to call a super senior, or do i dropout? this is a what if question i am not planning on this to happen.
 
Stay until you graduate.
Even if that means another year.
No question about it.

EDITED TO ADD:
Can't you take classes in summer school to make up those math credits?
 
If you have a year, no question stay in.
1) It will hang over you for quite a while if you don't, you'll have this feeling like you left home with out turning the stove off indefinitely.
2) you have PLENTY of time to take over the world. So make out with some girls, eat pizza, skip class on occasion and enjoy the last time in your life when screwing up only means a bad grade, not a bad credit report, a foreclosure, loosing your job etc.

EDIT: now that I see you are having some grade troubles ... ixnay on the skipping class part :)
...

Barry_Green said:
... education, credit reports, driving record, etc., are all indicators of a person's character. If you don't bother to finish school, you don't pay your bills, etc., then the question of you being trustworthy and dedicated enough to trust in a big position become called into question. ...
Click to expand...


Although I would say my bad credit report is a symbol of my dedication to my career :grin:
 
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Hi,

I'm poor one to ask. I'm been a professional solder, professor at a service's senior war college, and a professor at a civilian college; I'm going to tell you to drop out? Hell no. That's quitting, and no one likes a quitter...

While there's more to life than school, there's more to school than books and classes.

If you're having trouble making your way through high school, life won't be much better. Now is the time to figure things out; not later.
 
Also. I would say definitively, if you are a DP with lots of talent no one will care if you have a diploma. But that day is far off. If I could flip a switch that would allow you to walk out of your high school and into gainful employment with a film crew right away I would do it because flipping said magical switch is about the only way that will happen.

You will have to pay your dues, you will have to struggle to stay in consistent work and that probably won't happen until you've made several successful contacts that have you in their rolodex as a go to guy. You may even have to work for free on occasion when starting out to make those connections.

So ... you are gonna have to get a job somwhere else, at least in the meantime and it will probably be harder to get a job at blockbuster than on a film set without a highschool diploma or GED. They night hire someone with lots of retail experience and no degree, but they will likely hire people with degrees and experience and then look at people without experience but who have a degree - that's the only barometer they will have to separate the rest of the pool.

In summary you will need your degree to get blockbuster and gap or temping type jobs while you put your career together, or at least in between stretches. Maybe you will get lucky and get an entry level job somewhere, but what if you don't. Then you have no degree and no way to pay the rent.
 
Finish it.

My GPA was under water in high school (well under C level... *rimshot*) and I didn't know if I'd actually be graduating until literally the day before graduation. ... at about the same stage you are at now, it was pretty much hopeless for me. The amount of English credits I was short was huge, and having just failed Math again wasn't helping either. But I stuck with it and pulled it off. Junior year is sure as heck not the 11th hour by the way .. I probably completed about 40% of my HS credits during my senior year.


Good thing my academics went better in college... I was pretty much straight A's in college .. until Math came along. I don't know why, I just didn't get it. By my 3rd year of college the trouble with math was slowing down all my other studies too .. I was stressing too much over it and everything was suffering. I tried to transfer once, and considered dropping out many times. Other things came up. I took breaks - a semester off here and there (one of the luxuries of collage over HS) and then worked my ass off trying to get the damn math into my head. It was only 3 courses .. but I think it took maybe 9 attempts total to get them all. But eventually I did it. My math grades certainly aren't very strong (C-, D, D...) but i got the last of the credits on my transcript last month. That was a huge sigh of relief, and I've been working my ass off to get all my other credits in too.

Ive been in college for almost 5 and a half years now.

Do I need an engineering degree to operate Steadicam? Nah. Do I have loads of decent job offers without a degree? Sure. So right now I don't *need* it.

But the feeling earlier this evening when my transcript updated and the very last credits appeared on there was awesome. I turned in my last paper yesterday, and last night I slept properly (11 hours!!) for the first time in MONTHES. And it feels great. I can now look back on Math, and all the other not so easy courses, and laugh at them. They sucked at the time, but being done is awesome.

Do I care that I'm a 6th year student? No. I care that it's done and I didn't quit when I really wanted to and felt that I had no other option.

I know exactly how you feel, but dude, it's only math. They are only credits. It's only High School. Not that it's unimportant, but rather that it's honestly not worth enough to dwell on and let haunt you for the rest of your life for any reason. It sucks, but don't give up, get it done, and move on. Trust everyone on this: Graduate, it's worth it.

- Mikko
 
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As someone who works for a university and has multiple collegiate degrees I am obviously going to be biased.

That being said, no one says that they regret getting their education. Getting an additional bachelor degree in philosophy and religious studies might not have been the most intelligent investment in myself, but I don't regret the education I completed.

Pure and simple, the odds of making it the film business aren't exact stacked in your favor. You are not hurting yourself at all by finishing your high school education and hopefully moving onto some sort of higher education.

Remember, life can take away your friends, pets, family, job, and money, but your education is yours forever (unless you get hit in the head and get brain damage).
 
finish high school and then work in what you love, even if it doesnt pay that well, there is no feeling in this world that can compare to waking up in the morning and getting excited about going to a shoot and getting paid on top of that well at least that does it for me

just my .0000002
 
I never finished high school and took the GED thanks to getting into graffiti in the 80s. I had a bunch of jobs since and then decided to go back to school later in life so there is always hope.
 
Stay in school. There's too many dumb mutherfukker's out there as it is. (note -- I misspelled motherfucker on purpose to evade the profanity filter).
 
Definitely finish.

You can take easy classes and get do just enough to pass. Talk to your teachers and tell them you care. Tell them that you are doing your best to pass, and you want them to know that.

You'd be surprised how much bias teachers put into their grading. A little sucking up on the first week of school goes a long way. I shake teachers' hands on the first day of school and introduce myself. When teachers grade your paper thinking you're a good student, they just imagine that you're trying hard.

I'm one of the top students at my high school (grade-wise) and I spend maybe 30 minutes a night doing homework. This all comes from being polite and appearing to be attentive during class.

Give it a shot. Also, try to take pride in being educated. Enjoy learning about history so that when you're an adult, and somebody makes a reference to something historical, you know what they're talking about. Try to enjoy science so that you can understand what's going on around you. Try to enjoy math (impossible for me), or at least force yourself to pay attention because you will actually use it. Try to understand English so you can be a better writer.


Another reason to continue is because you want your kids (if you want them) to be smart and be able to get good jobs. Parents have a huge influence on their children. Also, you'll attract a smarter woman eventually if you are smarter.

Note: none of this is definite with high school dropouts at all. From what I've witnessed, it seems like life may be a little harder if you do not finish high school. I have no idea.
 
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