Didn't Go To Film School? No Problem, Just Steal These Syllabi & Read These Books

A few recommendations for people who want to teach themselves.

One day about six years ago, struggling over how to structure a script and sitting on rejections from festivals, I realized I was competing with people who studied writing and directing in school with famous, working writers and directors who gave them notes on scripts from the age of 18.

How could I ever compete?

I realized I had to get serious about teaching myself. I read a bunch of useless books before getting a crazy idea: What if these fancy NYU and USC classes posted their syllabi online?

It turns out, some of them do. I found some good ones, and started ordering books that were assigned by professors in Screenwriting and Directing classes. Today, I’ll share links to some of syllabi that helped me, in addition to a list of the books I’ve found most useful.