My Independent Life - TylerLeisher.com

This originally started as a document for my own personal use. It was a spreadsheet used to find out how many major directors went to college, how old they were when they started their first major film, and how they started their careers.

The following information was obtained from Wikipedia:

• Birth Year
• College
• Major
• Degree Type
• Age When they had their first hit

For the purpose of this spreadsheet, and the purpose that it is supposed to serve. The Director MUST have been born AFTER 1944, and must have had at least one film that had a wide theatrical release. For this reason, directing legends such as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, et al. have not been included.

The reason for this is that during their era of film making, Film School was not an option. The best way to get into the industry at the time was an apprenticeship at a studio, or lower level job.

For the purpose of the graphs and stats below, the term “of Directors” really means, “of Directors featured in the survey.” For a full list of the directors used, as well as seeing the raw data, visit the link at the end of the article.

• 45 Directors Featured
• 69% of Directors Who Attended College Majored in Film
• 64% of Directors attended College
• Average Start Age (No college) was 29
• Average Start Age (College) was 29
• The Youngest Director Started at Age 23 (Ron Howard)
• The Oldest Director Started at Age 38
• 82% of Directors Born Between 1930-1949 Attended College
• 85% of Directors Born Between 1950-1959 Attended College
• 40% of Directors Born Between 1960-1969 Attended College
• 40% of Directors Born Between 1970-1979 Attended College

If you take away anything from these stats it should be this, those that went to college and those that did not were just as successful as those who did not go to college.

I’ll be doing some more in depth look at the differences between those who attended and those who did not attend. What’s your opinion of Film School? For or against it? Post a comment and let me know!

For a full look at the data, check out this spreadsheet.

Huzzah for putting the final touches on the new design for my blog (http://www.tylerleisher.com).. I think it looks much more sleak and cool. But while I wait to play some Counter-Strike with some buddies from TeamLiquid.net I think I’ll blog.

I went location scouting today for “Dare,” and while I still need to confirm the use the house/kitchen I found THE PERFECT ALLEY. I cannot express this enough, what I saw in my head when I wrote the script is a real place and we’ll be shooting there.

Of course, it’s an alleyway and therefore probably belongs to fifty different people so we’ll be going guerilla on this one. The bare bones, Matthew (Talent) and Rance (Director of Photography) is all we need on this location so I’ll probably have the rest of the crew and cast call later in the day.

I still cannot believe how I found the alley though, I had the idea so I drove around my town and couldn’t find it. I remembered there’s a cool alley in Venice off of Superba Ave so I started to drive that way but got lost. I made a few lefts and a right and BAM saw something out of the corner of my eye. Drove over to it in, and instantly fell in love with it.

The closer we get to Sunday the more excited I get and the more I start to envision the way this film is going to turn out. Like everyone who is going to enter this contest, I think it’ll win. After looking at some of the competition I might be going above and beyond what is needed for this film… but at the end of the day this isn’t just another entry.

This is being made as a teaser for a longer short/feature, it’s meant to tease at the end (So, you’re probably going to say “Oh damnit… how’s it end” once you watch.. but that’s kind of the point.

Even if I don’t win on Filmaka I can still make up a press dossier, and along with this film shop it around like a calling card to try to get funding for a major one.

At the same time, I’m writing my next two projects. One is another contest entry called “Vibrations,” and another which has no name but it’s a feature film being written by my brother, my best friend and myself and pertains to vampires.

Enough for tonight, time to relax. I might post some photos of the alley tomorrow, or make a video on youtube for it.