Earl is right about most things, but he definitely doesn’t know about Chicago film schools. U of C doesn’t have a film program, and don’t go to the Art Institute, unless video art is your thing.

I recommend Columbia College Chicago, the world’s biggest film school, and the one I went to. We had many students from MI. It’s not as famous, but it’s relatively cheap, and gives you good practical filmmaking education. The main downside is that it’s not in L.A. We have an L.A. extension, but since connections are what really matters, going to school in L.A. will give you a head start in that regard.

Also, it’s silly to say that the industry is all union. Well, depends on what you call “the industry.” True, all the big shows and movies are union work, but there’s a ton (I think the majority) of non-union work. Typically, you move here, and slowly make your way up, and after a couple of years, when you get your beginnings right (and find out what you want your career in!), start to sniff your way into the relevant union.

The closest thing to you is going to be far and expensive. University of Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, maybe. Rochester Institute of Technoloy in New York.

To cover what you want to cover requires an interdisciplianry school and few qualify. Most teach filmmaking in one department. Broadcast in another wthich includes TV but is geared twoards Journalism. Digital media is often in the Computer or Art Department.

Places like USC and UCLA and Cal Arts in Los Angeles have such interdisciplinary set-ups.

A degree from a film school WILL NOT GET YOU A JOB, it don’t work like that.

Any 4 year college degree will qualify you to apply for the Directors Guide AD program which 10,000 people annually apply for and they take maybe 200. IT’s 2 year program pay is $7.50 an hour and you finish you qualify for a 2nd AD Union card.

There are also film editing and camera operating apprenceship programs.

The best way to get in is through a family member who is in.

The Industury is all union (your 2nd Card, by they way, will probably cost your $3,000 in one payment, certfied check) and you have to have a union card to do this or that.

One union card lets you carry equipment around (grip), one union card lets you put lenses and film magazines on cameras (loader or 3rd Camerama), one union card lets you run the camera duing the shooting (2nd Cameraman), one union card lets you position the camera, lights, align the shot, pick the lens and filter, compose the shot (1st Cameraman or DP).

Some unions shops work on a rotation basis. You get a job from the top of the list, you are moved to the bottom of the list. If the job lasts one day it may take six months to get back to the top of the list.

Other shops require you to get your own job through networking.

IT is against the rules to work non-union gigs and you can be fined and suspended if caught.

I think as your daughter is nearing the end of Year 9 and is about to begin her GCSE years then the best thing to do is to enrol her in an alternative school now. Phone the nearest one that you think you would be happy for her to go to and ask if there are places. If so, arrange an appointment with the head. Explain the situation, take any letters from the hospital/doctor showing proof of the illness, and (if positive!) take a previous school report to show the head that although your child may be forced to be a poor attender she is a good and willing student. It is absolutely ridiculous for a school to force a child who has been sick 4 times on the premises to remain at school. And telling her that all of her tests wouldn’t count is mental abuse as they know the results will be important to her. If due to friendships and things you want her to remain at the school then I would start to get a bit more pushy. Stand up for yourself, be confident. Tell the headteacher firmly that when your daughter is ill you will not be sending her to school and that you will have medical notes to prove her illness. Report the remarks about the tests to the head and say that you will be informing the Local Education Authority and Ofsted (Ofsted really panics schools as it has the power to close them down.) of their bullying tactics. Write anything that is said down so that you can use it if and when you do have to go to higher authorities, and keep any letters you receive, plus a copy of any doctors notes that could disprove anything that the school’s letters are saying. The school should be more sympathetic to special cases like this and should want what is in the best interests of the child, even if that does mean, on occasion, not attending school.