Film education has been revolutionized forever by the Hollywood Film Institute, an educational resource center founded by a great film instructor, Dov S-S Simens.By Linda Orlando
One of the most acclaimed names in filmmaking education is someone you’ve probably never heard of. But Hollywood certainly knows him, celebrities cheer about him, and graduates of his classes thank him for making them successful. Dov S-S Simens never went to an expensive film school to learn about filmmaking. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, with a degree in Economics and then spent three years in the Army, serving as a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam. After returning to the states, he owned a successful bookstore in Carmel, California. But his longing to learn about the world of filmmaking outweighed his love of books. So in 1980, Dov decided to do what many people before him have done—he sold his store, took the cash, and headed out to Hollywood with nothing more than an idea and a dream. For a while he worked the Hollywood circuit, calling agents, meeting with studios, soliciting stars and foreign investors, pitching ideas to development groups, optioning books, and writing scripts. Finally he decided to step out on faith in himself and create a film of his own, a 90-minute 35mm feature film that went on to win awards at several film festivals. And from there, his career in the film industry really began to take flight.
As a result of his self-taught approach, Dov learned to make movies from beginning to end—not from theories taught in film schools, but from learning on his own, working directly in the business. Over the next several years he worked with major studios in management and producing jobs, and then began teaching classes on film production at UCLA. Three years later he decided that the time was right for him to take the skills he had honed through the years and create the Hollywood Film Institute, home of the 2-Day Film School. The course is presented 25 times a year, and Dov claims that 3% of his students make a feature film within 6 months, while no graduates of expensive 4-year film schools have produced or directed a feature film within 6 months of graduation.
For over 15 years, The Hollywood Film Institute has taught students how to produce, write, or direct, and graduates have had incredible success, all together grossing over $2 billion. Dov does not claim to be a great director or producer; instead he calls himself "a great film instructor who is proud to give you the most amount of filmmaking information, for the least amount of money, in the shortest period of time." And he really does mean the shortest amount of time—the longest program he offers is only 2 days long, and it is offered in major cities throughout the world, including Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Houston, Seattle, and London. The U.S. price for the school is only $389. If you can’t make it to the class in person, you still have options for learning everything Dov has to share, because his class is available on DVDs, videos, and cassettes, consisting of 16 one-hour filmmaking lessons that take you from idea to script, to shoot, to answer print, to distribution deal as you make and sell your first independent feature film. A Streaming Film School is currently in development for e-learning on your computer. If you’d like to sample a taste of the information contained in the entire film school session, you can visit The Hollywood Film Institute website and read through the 18-Minute Film Program free of charge before you decide whether to buy the comprehensive program.
Dov S-S Simens claims to have revolutionized film education with his Hollywood Film Institute, and apparently he knows what he’s talking about, because several well-known celebrities have gone on record to support his claims. The home page of the Hollywood Film Institute displays some enthusiastic rave reviews from the likes of Will Smith, Sinbad, Queen Latifah, Guy Ritchie, Roger Corman, and Quentin Tarantino, among others. If you’re interested in learning about filmmaking and you don’t have four years and $100,000 to spare, you may want to check out The Hollywood Film Institute. You have nothing to lose but about 18 minutes!
By Buzzle Staff and Agencies
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