Three Chicago area film schools were duly cited in the Hollywood Reporter’s 4th annual widest-ever roundup of the best film schools in the country and while our schools didn’t show up in the top 10, they ranked comfortably among the competition also vying for their share of students.
Northwestern University was number 14 (ranked number 8 on THR’s Drama Schools list), the training ground for TV stars like Stephen Colbert and writers like John Logan and where Zach Braff has returned to teach workshops.
Not far behind at number 17 was DePaul’s School of Cinema and Interactive Media, which writer Irvine Welsh, who starts teaching there this fall, called “a very sexy film school.” Ex-USC professor Brad Riddell called Kristyn Jo Benedyk and Matt Irvine the “Bonnie and Clyde of film education.”
Columba College made the cut at number 20, claiming to be the largest US film school, with about 1,800 BA, BFA and MFA students. It’s the alma mater of many famous filmmakers, including producer Bob Teitel and director George Tillman, Jr.
The top ten were USC, NYU, the University of California, the American Film Institute, the California Institute of the Arts, Columbia University, Chapman University, Loyola Marymount, Emerson and the University of Texas at Austin.
THR received more than 2,300 ballots from the guilds, Film Independent, The American Cinematheque and the schools themselves.
