The world’s
first film school
dedicated to comedy
will accept
Fall session
applications
unitl May 15
The Harold Ramis Film School at Second City will host an Info Session and Tour next Friday, April 26, from 4-5:30 p.m. in its Old Town location at 230 W. North Ave. Founded in 2016 as “the world’s first film school dedicated to comedy,” the HRFS offers a Filmmaker Program for students in the emerging stage of their careers.
The Info Session will include an informational panel discussion about the school’s immersive one-year program in comedic storytelling with HRFS faculty, alumni, and current students. It will be the final Info Session before the Fall Application deadline of May 15th. The Fall session begins August 19.
Designed for applicants with a comedic point of view and a desire to create content, the Filmmaker Program is divided into three separate, 14-week sessions that concentrate on Comedy Theory, Writing, Filmmaking, and Lectures & Screenings.
COMEDY THEORY
These courses lay the foundation for your creative process. You are immersed in the methods of The Second City, learning how to use improvisation as a tool for collaboration and content generation. Students screen great comedic works from the past and present to absorb the work of comedians in various media and eras. These courses lay the foundation for your creative process.
WRITING
Great filmmakers are great storytellers. In the writing courses at the Harold Ramis Film School, students explore the mechanics and art of telling a worthy story. Beginning with a foundation in traditional writing and classic storytelling techniques, students cultivate and develop their own comedic voice, and learn how to turn that into shootable content. All students complete the year having written a fully completed script.
FILMMAKING
Through our unique Filmmaker’s Laboratory and Directing Workshops, students make films in the studio and in the field throughout the entire year. Students learn how a director prepares, how to work with actors, and how to collaborate with the various roles on a film set. These production classes will put into practice the lessons on collaboration and storytelling from the other areas, and culminate in students making their very own short film.
MASTER SEMINARS
In addition to these core classes, throughout the year students attend Master Seminars. Working artists from the industry lead discussions and hands-on workshops connecting students’ work in the program to the real world. The Second City has a wonderful extended family of successful comedy writers, directors, and producers who will give students the inside scoop on working in the business.
To register for the Info Session and Tour, click here.
To download the Harold Ramis Film School digital brochure, click here.
About Harold Ramis Film School
The Harold Ramis Film School is the only film school in the world focused entirely on comedy. HRFS educates writers, performers, directors, and filmmakers through the collaborative styles of comedic content creation embraced by The Second City and alumnus Harold Ramis.
“I look for the meaning in what’s funny, and I look for what’s funny about things that are meaningful to me.”
—Harold Ramis
About Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis is a native Chicagoan who performed with Second City’s Improvisational Theatre Troupe before heading to New York and joining the “The National Lampoon Show” and launching a film career with other Second City graduates. He collaborated on the script for National Lampoon’s Animal House, co-wrote and co-starred in Stripes, and Ghostbusters.
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