Steve Laramie
Veteran
What is the film scene like in Santa Barbara California? I am thinking about going to Brooks institute to be somewhat close to LA but I realized its about a 2 hour drive. Any locals?
Santa Barbara
- Thread starter Steve Laramie
- Start date
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
Girls are hot. Pretty nice there (when not on fire). Come to think of it, maybe THATS why it always catches fire.... hmmm.
Steve Laramie
Veteran
Ha. I know its kinda close to LA but from what I have heard LA commuting is like a tour in vietnam.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Hi Steve:
I live in Camarillo, about 40 miles south of Santa Barbara, but I used to work up there and some of my family and friends went to UCSB. A few observations...
1. There is not really much of a "film scene" in SB and Ventura Country, per se, although ironically, a large portion of people who work in the real film scene in LA happen to live in Ventura County, not SB as much, it is too far north. Sure there are little indie local films that get made but nothing serious, nothing that has gone on to greater acclaim. There are little local film fests but it is not very high level or serious. As far as production, look up the yellow pages for SB, Carpinteria, Ventura, etc. and you will see some of the typical low end wedding videographers, local corporate etc. but nothing like LA.
2. A lot of production happens in Ventura County and some in SB, although it is all commuter production from LA, they generally are not hiring locals, perhaps other than as PAs.
3. There are a few big companies that are related to production that are based in or near SB like Event Monitors, RØDE Microphones, Whatever Wavefront Technology has become. There are also a lot of celebs and actors who live in a suburb of SB called Montecito (Oprah, Jim Carrey, Brad Pitt used to have a house up there, the list goes on). I think that there is also something called Santa Barbara Film Studios or something like that up there but it is not a "real" studio with lots and a huge facility.
4. Santa Barbara is one of the most expensive cities to live in on the West Coast, more expensive than LA, about similar to NYC or Tokyo.
5. The Brooks Campus for filmmaking is located in a seedy part of Ventura, not in Santa Barbara so if you attend Brooks for film, you would probably not want to live in SB unless you like commuting about 70-85 miles per day RT.
6. A Brooks student came to my home and interviewed my wife for a documentary project he was making, it came out decent. I think that there program is probably fine these days. I was more familiar with it when the film program was in SB, back in the 80s when I had a few friends who went there. Nothing wrong with getting your education there but it is expensive and you have to ask yourself if you are wealthy enough or are your parents wealthy enough to pay for your education there when that degree is typically not going to get you any further in the film industry than being an entry level PA and working your way up the ladder will.
6. SB is not close to LA. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to reach LA proper from SB with no traffic. With traffic, it can take 4-5 hours each way easily, depending on which part of LA you are talking about.
7. SB is a college town, big party rep. A rich, college town. If you have the bucks, you would highly enjoy it. If not, you will probably be frustrated because to do anything there costs a good amount of money.
8. SB Film Festival is world famous and does get a-listers since a lot of them live there in Montecito, but as a film student, I can't see how this would be of much help tp you.
9. SB/Ventura County from a production standpoint is like comparing NYC with Hastings. Both in NY State, not that far from each other, but opposite ends of the world from a production standpoint. If you are serious about production and gaining entry into the film industry, moving to LA and networking and working on sets, getting into the union, would be a faster path than noodling away 2-4 year and partying in SB. Not as fun, but a faster and more sure path.
I have lots of friends who are film graduates from Brooks, Art Center, NYU and the bottom line is that to become a part of the film industry, it is who you know much more than where you went to film school. I am not denigrating film school but when I hire crew, when people, unsolicited, tell me that "I got my MFA at xxxx", I usually try to reaasure them with, "that's okay, I won't hold that against you."
Dan
I live in Camarillo, about 40 miles south of Santa Barbara, but I used to work up there and some of my family and friends went to UCSB. A few observations...
1. There is not really much of a "film scene" in SB and Ventura Country, per se, although ironically, a large portion of people who work in the real film scene in LA happen to live in Ventura County, not SB as much, it is too far north. Sure there are little indie local films that get made but nothing serious, nothing that has gone on to greater acclaim. There are little local film fests but it is not very high level or serious. As far as production, look up the yellow pages for SB, Carpinteria, Ventura, etc. and you will see some of the typical low end wedding videographers, local corporate etc. but nothing like LA.
2. A lot of production happens in Ventura County and some in SB, although it is all commuter production from LA, they generally are not hiring locals, perhaps other than as PAs.
3. There are a few big companies that are related to production that are based in or near SB like Event Monitors, RØDE Microphones, Whatever Wavefront Technology has become. There are also a lot of celebs and actors who live in a suburb of SB called Montecito (Oprah, Jim Carrey, Brad Pitt used to have a house up there, the list goes on). I think that there is also something called Santa Barbara Film Studios or something like that up there but it is not a "real" studio with lots and a huge facility.
4. Santa Barbara is one of the most expensive cities to live in on the West Coast, more expensive than LA, about similar to NYC or Tokyo.
5. The Brooks Campus for filmmaking is located in a seedy part of Ventura, not in Santa Barbara so if you attend Brooks for film, you would probably not want to live in SB unless you like commuting about 70-85 miles per day RT.
6. A Brooks student came to my home and interviewed my wife for a documentary project he was making, it came out decent. I think that there program is probably fine these days. I was more familiar with it when the film program was in SB, back in the 80s when I had a few friends who went there. Nothing wrong with getting your education there but it is expensive and you have to ask yourself if you are wealthy enough or are your parents wealthy enough to pay for your education there when that degree is typically not going to get you any further in the film industry than being an entry level PA and working your way up the ladder will.
6. SB is not close to LA. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to reach LA proper from SB with no traffic. With traffic, it can take 4-5 hours each way easily, depending on which part of LA you are talking about.
7. SB is a college town, big party rep. A rich, college town. If you have the bucks, you would highly enjoy it. If not, you will probably be frustrated because to do anything there costs a good amount of money.
8. SB Film Festival is world famous and does get a-listers since a lot of them live there in Montecito, but as a film student, I can't see how this would be of much help tp you.
9. SB/Ventura County from a production standpoint is like comparing NYC with Hastings. Both in NY State, not that far from each other, but opposite ends of the world from a production standpoint. If you are serious about production and gaining entry into the film industry, moving to LA and networking and working on sets, getting into the union, would be a faster path than noodling away 2-4 year and partying in SB. Not as fun, but a faster and more sure path.
I have lots of friends who are film graduates from Brooks, Art Center, NYU and the bottom line is that to become a part of the film industry, it is who you know much more than where you went to film school. I am not denigrating film school but when I hire crew, when people, unsolicited, tell me that "I got my MFA at xxxx", I usually try to reaasure them with, "that's okay, I won't hold that against you."
Dan