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"Higher Education vs. Hire Education" This is a great book to help you really get the low-down on how much bang you get for your buck in college. This will take you on a hilarious journey with an alternative point of view of academia that is not generated from a university marketing department. Then, with this nugget in your noggin, you can figure out if it's worth it to spend the time and money there or just get out in the world and get some practical experience and mentoring. Like many art forms, film is mostly about screwing around until you find what works for you---the technicalities are...well, technicalities. So, buy this book and hop on for a ride atop the back of the Devil's advocate. Ride fearlessly, grasshopper.

""Sicko" for film schools"
Besides health care, it's hard to think of another societal "necessity" where skyrocketing costs and diminishing returns are as closely linked over the past decade than higher education. This holds doubly true for the boom in film schools since the early '90s. Like Seth, I am an NYU Film alum (full disclosure: I met him and discussed some of my experiences while he was writing the book) and not only do I share his view that the benefits of a film school education are overrated (not to mention overpriced), but most of the alumni I know feel the same way. The book makes a number of compelling arguments in support of its central idea that an aspiring filmmaker could... More > take the $100k spent on film school tuition and apply it in far more effective ways to further his/her career and artistic development. Some of these arguments are stronger than others, but it's impossible to deny them altogether. If there's any shortcoming, it might be that the book tends to build its arguments around one person's experience at one of the elite schools (I've heard just as bad about USC, etc.), which might give people the misconception that Seth's experience was the exception to the rule (it's not). The tone here is witty and acerbic and often very funny. Some of the attacks may seem a bit too pointed or personal, but I suppose when you've poured a lot of money into a film school education with little to show for it, it's hard to contain one's sense of personal outrage. Overall, this is a book I'd recommend for anyone contemplating film school. Even if, after reading it, you still decide film school is a good idea, you'll have a much more realistic set of expectations about what to expect (and what you definitely should NOT expect) from it. < Less

"Lights, Camera, Read On!" This gem is a riot in the best sense of the word - hilarious, serious, insightful, searing, and unabashedly honest. For anyone who's considering film school, or considering sending a child to film school, this is a must-read. For everyone else on the planet, this is still a great read. I can't wait to see the film version!

"Parent's Perspective" I just finished reading Film Fooled and I am beginning to feel some relief from the occasional nausea that I have felt since last Spring when my daughter mailed the reply card to NYU notifying them that she would not be attending her dream school to study Film. Instead she would attend a state university on a full tuition scholarship. I have had such misgivings that at one point I even called NYU to see if our decision could be changed (the answer is no...she would have to reapply). Finally I feel like I can let NYU go. My daughter is reading Film Fooled now and I hope it can help her move beyond the disappointment and move forward in her quest for a career in film without the huge price tag that she would have incurred at Tisch.