The 25 Best U.S. Film Schools in 2025

LOS ANGELES

When it comes to selling students on a new class about the success of the movie musical Wicked, it’s all the more helpful when the school can claim the director, Jon M. Chu, as an alum. The private university remains one of the more expensive offerings on this list (485 students received aid directly from the film school, according to USC), with a curriculum and facilities that (nearly) justify a hefty price tag. As Hollywood continues to contend with the realities of AI and emerging tech, the School of Cinematic Arts received an advantageous donation to give their students a leg up. A $25 million gift from the Blavatnik Family Foundation will establish a 15,000-square-foot center with wraparound LED panel walls, new lighting and camera systems, as well as two soundstages and classrooms. Elsewhere, the newly established Steven M. Rales Cinematography Fund will permanently support the school’s cinematography program. But more than new equipment or endowments, the nearly century-old film school’s alumni network cannot be beat. Ryan Coogler met producing partner Sev Ohanian in USC’s grad program, and this year they released the blockbuster Sinners. Ohanian counts the narrative filmmaking course CTPR 546 with producer John Watson as his favorite class, where students build out a creative team and pitch a project: “Years later, while working on Fruitvale Station, I kept thinking, ‘This feels like 546 — just with more zeros.’ “

TUITION $73,260 (undergraduate); $49,495 to $65,726 (graduate)

ALUMNI Shonda Rhimes, Anora producer Alex Coco

NEW YORK CITY

Alum Sean Baker dominated this year’s Oscars, bringing home four statuettes for his film Anora, including best picture. With the opening of the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, the school has launched a one-year Master of Professional Study (MPS) in virtual production for which the inaugural class of 22 students trained on two 3,500-square-foot, double-height, column-free virtual production stages. For students focused on traditional film and TV production, there is a Special Topics in Virtual Production toe-dip class that focuses on generative AI. The school has upgraded its fleet of equipment, including new LED lighting gear, Arri Alexa 35 for graduate students, and Canon C70 and Canon XF605 for the documentary-focused curriculum. As for faculty, new additions include screenwriter Lara Shapiro (The Americans), while Spider-Man director and alum Jon Watts taught several master classes to undergraduates.

TUITION $72,082 (undergraduate); $79,712 (graduate)

ALUMNI Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky, Spike Lee

LOS ANGELES

At this year’s Cannes, AFI alums were all over the lineup, from Ari Aster in the main competition with Eddington to Un Certain Regard entry The Plague by 2017 grad Charlie Polinger to cinematographer Matthew Libatique with Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest. AFI’s conservatory-style graduate school continues to have a strong alumni network, but it comes with one of the highest tuition costs on this list (the school says it awarded nearly $2 million in scholarships last year). Partnering with Amazon, a $200,000 grant will see students test AI-driven tools that, if successful, will be integrated into the curriculum. Sinners cinematographer and AFI alum Autumn Durald Arkapaw counts cinematography chair Stephen Lighthill (Gimme Shelter) as an early mentor that she hopes to carry forward: “Being the first woman to shoot a feature film on 65mm on a film like Sinners means so much to me. There will be lots of girls who will look up who shot our film and be inspired to think big.”

TUITION $70,487 (graduate)

ALUMNI Darren Aronofsky, Brad Falchuk

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA

Construction has begun on a multimillion-dollar Innovation Hub that will house a new LED wall, the school’s second. But having the hardware is only one part of the equation, and Chapman’s virtual production curriculum includes an impressive array of classes (from animation to live production) that makes use of the Unreal Engine, a computer graphics game engine used by major Hollywood productions to create real-time virtual sets and environments. New additions include a sound design MFA program and the expansions of the school’s career center, which assists students with both internships and post-grad job placement at companies like Amazon MGM and WME. Alumni are also becoming an increasingly regular presence at film festivals (James Sweeney’s Twinless was in Sundance’s 2025 U.S. competition section). Michael Pruss, president of film at Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, counts producer Patricia Meyer as a favorite professor at Chapman, adding that she was both encouraging and realistic about the movie business: “That kind of mentorship makes a huge difference when you’re just starting out after college and trying to make sense of it all.”

TUITION $67,490 (undergraduate); $51,478 (graduate)

ALUMNI Duffer brothers, Justin Simien

LOS ANGELES

In a crowded field of L.A.-area film programs, LMU continues to compete with updates to curriculum and an emphasis on financial aid. Partnering with the Loyola Law School, LMU launched a Business of Screenwriting course that looks at the new legal challenges to writing, while another new entry, Producing and Screenwriting With AI, will be a chance for students to learn about AI tech from development to distribution. LMU recently announced a partnership with Sony Electronics to launch the Social Impact Filmmaking Lab, where recent grads will have the chance to have their short films underwritten by Sony. Alum and producer Effie Brown recalls a student internship on Robert Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats, saying that LMU prepared her for the “realities of the industry through hands-on experiences.”

TUITION $65,367 (undergraduate); $1,719 per unit (graduate)

ALUMNI Francis Lawrence; The Super Mario Bros. Movie director Michael Jelenic

LOS ANGELES

In a crowded field of L.A.-area film programs, LMU continues to compete with updates to curriculum and an emphasis on financial aid. Partnering with the Loyola Law School, LMU launched a Business of Screenwriting course that looks at the new legal challenges to writing, while another new entry, Producing and Screenwriting With AI, will be a chance for students to learn about AI tech from development to distribution. LMU recently announced a partnership with Sony Electronics to launch the Social Impact Filmmaking Lab, where recent grads will have the chance to have their short films underwritten by Sony. Alum and producer Effie Brown recalls a student internship on Robert Townsend’s The Five Heartbeats, saying that LMU prepared her for the “realities of the industry through hands-on experiences.”

TUITION $65,367 (undergraduate); $1,719 per unit (graduate)

ALUMNI Francis Lawrence; The Super Mario Bros. Movie director Michael Jelenic

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Heading into its 60th year, the Radio Television and Film department is doubling down on its sports production program, now offering a Sports Production and Broadcasting minor to go along with the four new production control rooms at UT’s stadium, where the often-top-ranked Longhorns play. Through the program, students will help produce live game broadcasts for ESPN linear and digital networks. Elsewhere at UT, where tuition has stayed fairly consistent year-over-year, a $5 million gift from Matt Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, has helped the school launch a gaming institute where courses like Business of Gaming: From Concept to Console will be offered in the fall. “It was a safe space where someone like myself could experiment freely, without a paralyzing fear of failure,” says alum and Abbott Elementary showrunner Patrick Schumacker.

TUITION $11,230 (undergraduate resident), $43,776 (undergraduate nonresident); $9,996 (graduate resident), $18,816 (graduate nonresident)

ALUMNI Glen Powell, Sing Sing producer Monique Walton

NEW YORK CITY

From the awards season to the box office, there is often Columbia representation, as was the case this year with A Complete Unknown director James Mangold and Minecraft writer Chris Galletta. The posh film school has welcomed Hala and Ramy writer-director Minhal Baig and historian Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto onto its faculty. The main draw of Columbia remains receiving a film degree from an Ivy League institution — always the only Ivy on this list — and the proximity to New York City’s entertainment sector.

TUITION $73,868 to $77,840 (undergraduate/graduate)

ALUMNI James Ponsoldt, Anna Boden

CHICAGO

The school, which sits within the College of Computing and Digital Media, has long focused on a technical education. Now, it’s continuing to expand its virtual production curriculum, adding two new minors in Virtual Production as well as an M.S. in Film/TV Virtual Production and an AI in Film Education Conference. Two alums — The People’s Joker director-star Vera Drew and Ghostlight director Alex Thompson, were nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards.

TUITION $46,776 (undergraduate); $25,558 to $35,388 (graduate)

ALUM TV director Daniel Willis (Matlock)

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

As the economic barriers to a Hollywood career continue to rise, the affordability of this public arts school can’t be overstated. At UNCSA, where new courses for the 2025 school year include “motion capture for actors and directors” and “podcast to film production,” the school funds student productions. Alum Danny McBride, who based his Rough House banner in the Carolinas, says UNCSA’s equitable education was invaluable. “It put all the filmmakers on the same playing field,” he says. “You really had to rely on the other people that were at school with you, your friends and your collaborators.” New for the next school year is an MFA in Media Archiving and Curatorial Practice.

TUITION $6,497 (undergraduate resident), $24,231 (undergraduate nonresident); $9,696 (graduate resident), $24,399 (graduate nonresident)

ALUMNI Jeff Nichols, Craig Zobel

LOS ANGELES

After years of functioning under an interim dean, UCLA has named former UC Santa Cruz Arts dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu to head the School of Theater, Film and Television. Outside observers see this hire as a sign that the school will shift focus toward film theory and away from physical production, but the school says that production is a vital part of the curriculum. This is evidenced by UCLA offering a new course for cinematography and directing students in virtual production centered on the LED volume tech. And, the school says, more than 20 film program alumni and professors were part of projects at this year’s Sundance, including MFA grad Sierra Falconer, whose thesis short film became the feature U.S. Dramatic competition title Sunfish. The geographically advantageous UCLA remains one of the top options for California residents looking for a cost-effective film program housed within one of the state’s top public universities.

TUITION $19,473 (undergraduate resident), $53,673 (undergraduate nonresident); $37,812 (graduate resident), $50,057 (graduate nonresident)

ALUMNI The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood, screenwriter David Koepp

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

SCAD is forever expanding and will soon have more than 250,000 square feet dedicated to learning that includes two LED virtual production walls, a casting office and an 11-acre backlot. In 2026, SCAD will add two new soundstages to the mix, while other additions include an M.A. in cinematography and an M.A. in editing. The school leverages the namesake film festival — now a stop on the awards circuit — into educational opportunities for students, including conversations with filmmakers like Kevin Costner.

TUITION $42,165 (undergraduate); $43,155 (graduate)

ALUM 2025 Sundance winner Alireza Khatami

CHICAGO

An average of $15,810 in financial aid is given to each student in the School of Film and Television, according to Columbia, further offsetting costs at an already cost-conscious school. There is now a B.A. offered in Editing and Post-Sound, while new courses include directing in virtual environments and casting. Columbia is known for graduating below-the-line talent like alum Eric Frankel, who was nominated for a 2024 Emmy in set design for The Bear.

TUITION $37,344 (undergraduate); $44,583 (graduate)

ALUM Lena Waithe

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

A former Regal movie theater will be put to good use after a Florida State’s film school acquisition, with plans to add on four movie theaters, a 2,624-square-foot virtual production stage and two new soundstages. In spite of the changes, tuition has remained steady year-over-year. In 2024, the school launched an optional third year to MFA students to make a genre film fully funded by the college that is crewed by second-year students.

TUITION $6,466 (undergraduate resident), $14,430 (undergraduate nonresident); $21,569 (graduate, production, resident), $49,982 (graduate, production, nonresident); $20,792 (graduate, writing, resident), $45,418 (graduate, writing, nonresident)

ALUMNI Barry Jenkins, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Ithaca already offered mini courses on AI for Media Production and AI’s Impact on Screenwriting and now plans to integrate the new tech into more of its education. Along with Arri, Sony and Canon cameras, the school also has all the tech needed for virtual production. And while the upstate New York campus is far from major entertainment hubs (it’s a four-hour drive to the city), the school does offer a semester in L.A., with an emphasis on internships.

TUITION $56,750 (undergraduate)

ALUM Stranger Things producer Rand Geiger

BOSTON

A new $3.5 million investment will see the addition of a 9,400-square-foot production facility in September geared toward the more traditional directing and cinematography paths. But as the creator economy continues to make gains in Hollywood, launching in the next school year will be a joint bachelor’s and master’s in Branded Content Production that will prepare students to make content for a variety of clients.

TUITION $69,870 (undergraduate)

ALUMNI Safdie brothers, SNL director Liz Patrick

SARASOTA, FLORIDA

Ringling, where class sizes average only 12 students, offers ample hands-on time with industry-standard facilities that include three LED Walls, five soundstages and 15 editing suites. The school now offers a virtual production certificate in which the coursework is followed by industry internships with production facilities or advanced virtual postproduction training.

TUITION $54,400 (undergraduate)

ALUM Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler

MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT

After contending with a 16 percent acceptance rate at one of the country’s most selective liberal arts universities, prospective film majors get winnowed down further to a group of roughly 60 for their junior and senior years, where the focus is on film history, writing-directing and documentary production. Post-grad, there will soon be a post-baccalaureate in documentaries meant to act as an early career boot camp. The school also offers new career transition grants of up to $5,000 each for graduating first-generation and BIPOC film majors who are looking to enter the entertainment industry. Recent alumni accomplishments range from Sundance darlings (Thelma director Josh Margolin) to MCU entrants (Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah).

TUITION $72,438 (undergraduate)

ALUMNI Mike White, Alex Kurtzman

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK

The school’s BFA and MFA (via the College of Visual and Performing Arts) focus on independent production and animation, while B.S. and M.A. programs (via the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications) encompass screenwriting, doc, sports and new media. New courses include AI for Creative Professionals as well as classes on Black independent cinema and intimacy coordination. A recent donation means $10,000 in grants will go toward BFA and MFA student films each year.

TUITION $66,580 (undergraduate); $35,010 (graduate)

ALUMNI J.D. Dillard, Pixar president Jim Morris

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Founded a decade ago as a public-private partnership with plenty of industry support, Feirstein counts Ethan Hawke and Darren Aronofsky as members of its advisory council and is a top public offering in the most expensive entertainment hub in the country. The program, based in Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, offers an MFA with specializations in live-action filmmaking, digital animation and VFX and new courses on casting, intimacy coordination and analogue cinematography.

TUITION $21,134 (graduate resident), $30,564 (graduate nonresident)

ALUM Palm Royale editor Fay Gartenberg

NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA

CSUN’s Department of Cinema & Television Arts is a top public program in Los Angeles County, with tech rivaling its counterparts that have well over seven times the tuition costs. New faculty includes writer-producer Talicia Raggs (NCIS: New Orleans), and a fully online Entertainment Industry Management Graduate program prepares students for careers on the business side of Hollywood. And CSUN, a Hispanic Serving Institution, has a diverse student population that is 48 percent Latino.

TUITION $7,850 (undergraduate); $9,464 (graduate)

ALUMNI The Conners exec producer Dave Caplan, Lucasfilm exec John Hampian

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK

RIT alumni overindex as VFX and virtual production professionals, making it a good option for the more tech-inclined film student. With a B.S. degree in Motion Picture Science, areas of research include immersive audio and imaging systems. Alums include founders and CEOs of tech-focused entertainment firms like pre-vis company The Third Floor and editing platform Frame.io. Outside of New York, RIT’s semester in L.A. program has expanded to include a games design curriculum.

TUITION $60,774 (undergraduate); $61,762 (graduate)

ALUMNI Bad Robot Games CEO Anna Sweet

NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY

The Mason Gross School of the Arts offers a state-school tuition with easy commuter access to both New York City and New Jersey, where Netflix and other studios continue to build out production operations. The school’s lauded Documentary Film Lab, an in-house doc unit led by filmmaker Thomas Lennon, sees students work on nonfiction projects across all levels of production, while new courses include AI and New Technologies in Filmmaking and Horror Film Production.

TUITION $14,176 (undergraduate resident); $32,132 (undergraduate nonresident)

ALUM Marvel writer Christopher Markus

HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK

New courses at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication include Gen AI for Film and Television and Queer Detective Films and Literature. Seven new Sony FX3 camera kits were added for the intermediate film classes, and the upcoming school year will see the addition of a fourth soundstage space that is 2,000 square feet and two stories high. The school has an array of scholarships and grants set aside for film students, including the Student Experience Fund that supports students looking to do a semester in Los Angeles or take part in the Rome-based study abroad program.

TUITION $58,845 (undergraduate)

ALUM Dawn Olmstead

PASADENA

At ArtCenter, the emphasis is on production from the jump, with minimal theory and history classes. The program is known for producing top technical talent that has long found success in the advertising industry, with students collecting top prizes at ad-focused awards shows. New courses include AI Tools in Film and Shooting on Film, while television director Jude Weng (Matlock) and cinematographer Robert Elswit stopped by as guest speakers in the past school year.

TUITION $55,182 (undergraduate); $58,320 (graduate)

ALUM Zack Snyder

In order to decide which programs make up The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 American Film Schools list— and then where they end up within the list — information is collected about the year-over-year changes to the school’s faculty, facilities, curriculum, tuition and scholarships. Also taken into consideration is the alma maters of the filmmakers behind awards season winners, box office breakouts and film festival favorites. Note: THR has started a Top U.S. Animation Schools list, so the film programs that focus on animation, RISD and CalArts, were removed from this list.

This story appeared in the July 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.