Q&A: Do I Need an MFA?

Ah yes, the infamous question regarding one’s educational status. My love-hate relationship with the MFA …

After graduating from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and TV Production I did exactly what you should not do … I applied for the MFA program and got in.

Why did I do this?

Because a career in film and TV is not a straightforward path, and I thought the professors in the advanced stratosphere of the education system would deliver me some step-by-step answers to help forge my creative journey.

I was wrong.

Now, I will preface this article and acknowledge that there are some great MFA programs out there … somewhere. However, I stand firm in my belief that a hands-on approach to film and TV is the BEST avenue by which to learn the landscape. The longer you remain in any kind of “education bubble” the more time you waste in the overall trajectory of your career. For those upper echelon programs that do exist, there are two primary advantages these MFAs tend to highlight as part of their incentives:

1) You will gain a strong network of alumni eager to lend the opportunities you need to “break in” to the film and TV industry.

2) You will have a strong portfolio of work by the end of the program by which to show potential employers your creative skillsets.

These are excellent reasons to get an MFA and would absolutely be worth the truckload of tuition being asked of you or your parents.

However, I have a slew of reasons why you should NOT do what I did and submit two years to a program that, in my experience, will not help you.

Reason #1 - A degree does not matter in film and TV.

I realize this is a tough pill to swallow for some and especially for parents. In a culture that promotes higher education like a magical state of enlightenment that opens the doors of opportunity every time you decide to knock, the lack of a degree can seem downright stupid. However, I look back at the moment this bubble burst for me, and I am forever grateful it happened early on and before I embarrassed myself by waving an MFA around, asking which studio would be the lucky one to hire me.

Newsflash to those sitting in a classroom right now or are considering registering for the fall semester … Classes do not hold any value whatsoever for a future employer. Why? Well, let’s just think about your future employers for a second. Aka producers.

The key to the film and TV industry is sitting right in the name of your future boss: produce. As a creative, you are expected to produce quality content.

If you have ever made a short film, you probably learned a dozen new skills over the course of that venture without even realizing it. The creative path is an interactive one, and it requires a lot of us. A creative venture requires innovation, problem-solving, inventions, psychology, empathy, and presentation. And each project possesses its own unique challenge course. So, the more content you produce = the more skills you learn.

Producers understand this process, and they also understand that a nicely framed degree does not say anything about your skills or lack thereof.

Your portfolio is the window by which all producers will measure you, consider you or hire you. Consequently, this fact funnels the unsuspecting creative straight into the jaws of the MFA promising to produce said portfolio.

So, that brings us to the next reason on my con list.

Reason #2 – You are supposed to be “bad” in college.

If there is one significant advantage to going through a college program in film and TV, it is being able to create in a space that allows you to explore your voice, your style and discover your strengths and your weaknesses as a creative. Personally, I made several short films in college and wrote even more screenplays and all of them were “bad” in their own right.

However, I produced so much content over my six-year college career (including my MFA) that I had the advantage of understanding my own creative skills post-college, rather quickly.

Now, if you do decide to undergo a four-year Bachelor's degree, then using the classrooms, equipment, and assignments as a kind of “playground of exploration” is vital to your growth and, I believe, the truest advantage a degree offers. As a student, you should try to get as much “bad” out of your system as possible, so that when you start making content that actually matters, the lessons from your past mistakes shine through.

This means that the portfolio of work you produce in college is probably not going to be the highest quality, but by the end of your Bachelors program, you will have gained the secret ingredient that most creatives spend years trying to master: your voice.

Reason #3 – You will have to do these things anyway and indefinitely.

Again, the two biggest incentives for joining an MFA program are 1) A strong network 2) a portfolio of work. So, my third reason for circumventing a higher education, which claims to provide these two vital components in a film and TV career, is the simple fact that you will be required to pursue these things forever.

You will ALWAYS need to network and build relationships as you progress from project to project. You will ALWAYS need to be adding materials to your portfolio of work. So, unless you simply need to pay someone to hold you accountable, forking over the cost of tuition for something you must commit to for the vitality of a creative career might be perceived as a waste of resources.

Sure, it is possible that an alumni connection might offer you your first gig out of college, but my guess is that first gig will not recoup what you paid in tuition. Also, unless you have the networking skills required to swim in a social landscape, the moment that first gig is up, you will be back on a life-preserver, and your professors will have moved on to the next class of paying students.

So, if networking and building your portfolio of work is something to be expected in a film and TV career, why not get out into the “real world” sooner rather than later?

Reason #4 – A classroom setting does not accurately reflect the professional landscape.

We all should know that a classroom is not the “real world,” right? So, any program that claims to offer “professional” experience with a paid professor at the helm of your curriculum is absolutely full of hot garbage.

Project deadlines do not equate to the amount of pressure experienced from studio deadlines. Group projects do not reflect collaboration with other professionals. And professors are not producers, managers, or agents. The classroom does not prepare you for anything—it provides a bubbled experience meant to allow you to explore your creative interests. Period.

I probably should elaborate on this topic a bit more, but … just trust me, OK? If you want a job in the industry, then you will need experience to justify you as a hire. Otherwise, your four-year college degree equates to one thing: intern status. If you’re lucky.

Reason #5 – There are recent graduate programs that are MUCH better.

To round things out, my final reason for discouraging a pursuit of an MFA program (and paying for it) is the simple fact that existing studios such as NBC, Universal, CBS, and Disney all offer better programs than the best universities out there. If you have recently graduated with your Bachelor of Arts degree, then you are first-in-line to be considered for a “recent graduate” fellowship at one of the aforementioned studios.

On top of these fellowships, other organizations such as Film Independent Lab and Sundance have mobilized their own internship programs, which provide much more reach and much more opportunity for its recipients. Yes, you will have to apply to the programs and compete for the open spots, and, yes, it is possible you do not get it in the first time, but these programs are available to recent graduates up to two years removed from their graduation date. If you can get into one of these fellowships, then working professionals actively attempt to place you within their studio system and incubate your creative career from the start.

Having built-in mentors with real industry experience is an element that university programs rarely offer. As a plus, you don’t exit the program with student loans in tow. In fact, you are very often paid during these programs. Crazy, right?

To conclude, I am grateful to the one professor who showed any interest in my work during my MFA program (you know who you are), but if I had the opportunity to go back, I would 1000% save my time and money by skipping the extra two-years in an otherwise meaningless degree and dive head-first into a shitty internship at a major studio where I had the chance to prove myself and climb the ladder of opportunity.

But hey, I’m just one opinion, right? To each her own.

*Feature image by nuvolanevicata (Adobe)