The Empty Promises of an MFA

I guess I just figured since this is school, a manual would be the least they could provide us with.

Try to imagine this scenario:

You enroll in a screenwriting program started by someone who wrote things that people saw. He picks you. Although you’ve never done that kind of writing before. He sees potential. You feel good about yourself.

You start the program with a class taught by another person who’s written a lot of things. You trust him. He seems smart and decent. You feel good about what’s to come.

And well, you don’t really click with the other people but you’re willing to give everyone a chance. Maybe it gets better. The lack of structure and authority from that writer you respect kinda bothers you. But it’s a learning experience, you’ll grow.

You have another teacher. He’s funny and smart but he’s also almost 90. He doesn’t really seem interested in teaching. But that’s ok, I’m sure it’ll get better.

You notice that the bulk of the classes are mainly excruciatingly endless conversations about character and stories for the tv show that is to be the centerpiece of the entire experience. The experience is meant to emulate how an actual “writer’s room” works in the business. You don’t necessarily mind that.

But you mind that we don’t do much else. Your entire 2 years in this program can be boiled down to mindless squabbles over decisions made for a script that will make it all worth it, you think.

That script never gets filmed. You work with these people and spend 1 year developing something, only to have some white dude director with a God complex swoop in at the last minute to say he didn’t like any of the characters or story and wanted to make it into something more palatable for himself.

His erasure of your work only furthers your feelings about the missed opportunities of this program.

In writing this new version of the project, all but 2 of you are left out of the writing process. They are the only 2 people who get anything out of this program. Which frustrates you more. They are on the receiving end of invaluable writing experiences. They have their work critiqued and edited and engage in discussions about plot and dialogue and character. They get the learning experience that you wish you would have. You feel some resentment about that. You paid a lot of money to sit in a seat and do nothing. You’re not a fan of the choices made with the characters, script and story and feel pretty powerless about the whole process. But maybe that’s the point. 

Given the leadership and organizational issues plaguing the script process prior to filming, you’re not surprised when the production suffers from many of the same problems. You are given no guidance and no direction for the roles you are tasked with. You learn nothing in that production class. Which is another disappointment for you because you’re eager to understand the production process and how to properly execute your roles as Casting Director and 2^nd AD. The person they bring in to guide the casting process exhibits a lack of professionalism that you then spend a majority of the time trying to cover up. The partner you are saddled with expresses minimal interest in doing any of the work. So, you are forced to make the best of a situation that leaves you feeling in over your head.

Ultimately, something was filmed (although it was not anything you had a say in), so maybe this is all much ado about nothing. But you can’t let go of these lingering feelings of disappointment and regret over whether this was all a worthwhile investment. You never wrote substantially, never took tests, never did any homework, never engaged in conversations to help you grow, never really learned anything at all. You feel like it was a waste.

You realize that it was an elaborate scam worth thousands of dollars of debt that you’ll never really be able to pay off.

You make at least a few friends you hope to continue to stay in contact with. And you hope you can use both the good and bad of this experience to carry you in to the many uncertainties of this career path. Life doesn’t provide you with manuals. Which is a lesson if ever there was one. You just figured since this is school, a manual would be the least they could provide you with. You didn’t even get that.