The film industry has plenty of exciting and rewarding careers for those who feel they have the talent and skill necessary to succeed. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be successful in film, but with the right training the possibilities are endless. But in order to get that training you’ll need funds. The expenses a film student comes across go beyond just tuition and books. They’ll need production equipment like tripods, microphones and lighting; cameras which can certainly break any student’s bank account and filmmaking software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas or Final Cut Express which don’t come cheap. These items are way too expensive for your average film student, so searching for a scholarship to help aid you in your quest for stardom is definitely the right move. Below are a few listed that might be right down your alley.
Women in Film Scholarships
If you’re a female aspiring to be in the film industry attending a university in Southern California, the Women in Film Foundation (WIF) has scholarships available for you. These scholarships are administered by universities, but are funded by WIF. Here’s a breif description of a few from UCLA and Chapman University. If you’re an undergraduate at UCLA, look for the Eleanor Perry Writing Award which recognizes screenplays dealing with women in historical or modern day times. Also, the Verna Fields Memorial Fellowship awards graduates from the same college in either directing or editing. The award amounts from WIF for these scholarship programs vary since they’re voted on each year, but they usually go for $3,000. If you go to Chapman University, there’s the Meredith Mac Rae Memorial Scholarship that recognizes students with the best essay on what this scholarship would mean to them. The candidates should have acting experience and be graduates in the MFA program at Chapman.
The Kodak Scholarship Program
This is a worldwide scholarship awarded to students with high academic achievement and talent with filmmaking and production. Each applicant must create a film that displays their creativity in story development; they must be an undergraduate, and only two entries from a college are accepted. This scholarship is open to students who go to a college or university in Malaysia, Germany, Costa Rica, Uruguay as well as the United States. They’ll announce the winners on the website.
The Francis D. Lyon Scholarship
This award comes from Phi Delta Theta and is named after an Oscar winner in the best film editor category for the 1948 film “Body and Soul”. The top prize awards $3,000 with the runner-up winning one grand. Application is done through the website with March 15th being the official deadline.
The CBC Spouses Visual Arts Scholarship
The Congressional Black Caucus offers a scholarship for undergraduates (or students planning to enroll) who are interested in a career in visual arts and have a minimum GPA of 2.5. They look for those with good leadership skills and are active in volunteer work. Students must write a personal statement essay concerning questions on the application; two letters of recommendation (one letter coming from a community or public service leader), and a one page resume with any honors, employment, skills, extracurricular activities and anything else you’d think would qualify you for this scholarship. They award ten students $3,000 a year.
More Help for Film Students
Scholarships help decrease the amount of student loan debt you’ll have after college, and also help you afford expensive equipment necessary to succeed in this business. This website offers tips on how you can save money while in college as well as providing information on the best loans you can take out in addition to searching for more scholarships.
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