After over a decade working in the film and television documentary business, I am more than a little freaked out by the decidedly fictional world being sold to prospective students by far too many film programs.

There are good programs out there, but they’re but not many. Even fewer refrain from flat-out deception in selling their programs. Fewer still educate students on what they can expect after they graduate from these programs. Some just don’t know. I imagine most don’t want to tell you the truth: being an indpendent documentary filmmaker, on it’s own, is not a way to a middle class life.

Some schools lump documentary filmmaking classes in with a course load preparing you for working on Hollywood feature films, with the implied promise of that Hollywood fiction money will be awaiting your documentary film. Or they’ll present documentary filmmaking as being a more academic, scholarly profession, in which your film will be financed by grants and endowments.

Each year, not knowing any better, hundreds of aspiring young documentary filmmakers sign up to pay what would amount to several years worth of salary to buy what film schools don’t have to sell: access to a thriving documentary industry.

I have heard complaints of young professionals who say they did not know what they were getting into. I have seen students quit their careers in doc making before even graduating, dropping out once they understood what was really required.

So I’ve decided to share a few hard-won insights with prospective filmmakers who are considering a major in documentary production, or are weighing the pros and cons of attending expensive film seminar programs.

Shooting Punk Jews made for pennies on the hour. Picture by @saulsudin

Documentaries are not a way to make a living

Even if you’re successful, you probably won’t make most of your income shooting docs. A prolific documentary filmmaker lives more like a starving artist than Michael Bay.

What about Michael Moore? Or Morgan Spurlock? They make commercially successful films, don’t they? Well, yes, (but not for a while, actually).

Most everybody else pays the rent and earns their groceries doing other work, like shooting weddings, or directing reality TV, or filming corporate videos, or running audio on somebody else’s project. Most folks use their documentary skills in other places.

Each year there are more film programs, cheaper technology, more films being made looking to be funded than the last year, all looking for the same decreasing resources. Doc budgets have become smaller with resources spread thinner every year while the economy has been slow to recover.

No matter what they tell you — from the most prestigious graduate film program to the most fly-by-night film school — there is no tried & true formula for raising funds to make documentary films. Those who are most sucessful have or are able to develop relationships with rich people who fund docs. From what I have seen, those relationships are gotten from family and personal connections rather than talent, or even subject matter.

While some filmmakers have success in winning grants, most do not. Sure, you can find film festival panels of grant winners, but most doc makers who are able to produce more than one film in a decade don’t rely on grants. Some filmmakers who are able to attract investors, but documentaries typically don’t make much money, so it’s a tough sell. No matter who you are, no matter what your doc is about, unless it is tied to a product, your film is probably not going to make much money. Many Academy-Award winners and nominees have lost money on famous films.

Using investors, grants, Kickstarter, and help from friends and family, it can take years to raise the money to complete your film. And if your topic is on the fringe, or is actually or potentially offensive, or doesn’t connect with any social justice theme, fundraising will be even harder.

It is regular practice for committed filmmakers to work outside jobs long enough to save up the money to start documentary projects on their own dime, hoping for support as they work on their movie. Even with a degree, and a mantle topped with awards, you may have to finish your film on your own dime, on your own time, or wait for years on grant money. I know more than a couple of award winning filmmakers who have had to live with their parents in order to finish a film, or have worked working class jobs, or have just maxed out their credit cards. Whatever it takes to finish the movie.

The game is hard, and the problem is that most schools won’t teach you that. It’s bad advertising for a film school to tell high school seniors that they might have to sleep on their friends’ couches while they finish shooting and editing their ground-breaking doc. You also won’t see any film industry round table discussions on how to make movies while you’re living in poverty. Which is a pity, since it’s much much more valuable to put together a panel of struggling doc makers who make it work than it is to find a handful of folks who have luck with grants that year.

If you get to know independent doc makers, you’ll hear all kinds of crazy scenarios that people devised in order to finish their films. But you won’t hear it from the schools or from the industry. It’s bad enough that schools and seminar programs mislead students on how documentaries are actually produced, but the worst thing that film schools teach is immodesty. They sell the students on the idea that their school can make you the next big thing in the world of film. Many of the kids believe it.

When a recent film school grad shows up on the set of a project I’m directing, I have come to half-expect an attitude of entitlement, as if the diploma equates to accomplishment. With hundreds of film programs all selling their students on how great and how successful they will be, they show up to work expecting praise, rather than expecting to bust their ass with everyone else on the crew. The majority of film school graduates I have seen quit the profession once they see how people actually work.

So what do schools need to teach students? Well they generally do a good job at teach history, but the focus, especially on a doc level, needs to be on teamwork. Your team, your community, and your personal support system are all of primary importance to the success of your films. Treating your people well is probably the most important thing you can do on a documentary shoot.

All that being said, documentary film programs can be great for some people. Aspiring filmmakers who can get scholarships should go. You’ll have a great time, and learn tons. If you have money and an itch to create, by all means you should jump on the opportunity. If you want to go into television, or mainstream fiction film, and your program helps you get a footing in the industry it could be worth it. But remember that making documentaries is hard. Stacking up student debt payments on top of a documentary filmmaker’s already stretched budget is not something I can in good conscience recommend for people who don’t have the support of family.

You can learn the most important things in documentary making by working on a project. There are an overwhelming amount of free resources, films, blogs, and books online. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a good mentor. Twitter is full of accessible doc makers. Online forums, especially D-word.com is one of best resources that exists for young students looking for help.

This is a field that requires amazing flexibility, dedication and focus. I can’t think of a better project to prepare you for a career in documentary making than just getting out and doing it. Find a camera. Build a lighting kit. Shoot a movie. Teach yourself to edit on your laptop. Find mentors. Become a member of your local filmmaking community. Start another project. Find partners. Run a Kickstarter campaign and get some traction on Twitter.

This process will teach you what most film schools won’t, but should: It’s hard, satisfying work. If you can figure out a way to put a couple of films under your belt on your own and keep standing, you have already done more than most students will do in a doc program. If you do go with a doc program, find one that will help you leave with skills that will pay your rent.