Why go to film school at all? The age-old question persists as I climb the familiar stairs to the upper level of New York’s Columbia University campus. If you’re going to spend that kind of money, why not just make a film . . . ?

It’s a gorgeous day, clear, sunny, invigorating. The campus is somewhat less populated than it will be in the Fall when school is back in full swing, but summer sessions are well attended, and the students are out in force this afternoon, sitting on the steps of Low Library, enjoying the refreshing breeze of this surprisingly non-humid July day. In my undergraduate days, I used to sit there like them, watching the world stroll by, asking myself questions like why I should be there in the first place. It was never easy to answer that one.

But Dan Kleinman, Chair of the Film School Division at Columbia University’s School of the Arts (SOA), knows exactly what to say. Perhaps he’s had some practice.

”It’s certainly not the choice everyone will make. We all know that unless you’re applying for a job, no one who is out there in the film world is ever going to ask you where you went to film school and what were your grades. Some people are best served by being in a learning environment while others might be better off taking the money and making a film. You learn the same things but not necessarily in the best order . . . and certainly not in a concentrated way. What we have here is a supportive environment where students meet colleagues, future partners. They can make their mistakes in safety, among friends. The learning here is comprehensive. But not a must.”

“What you get here is a sense of community among students and instructors. Collegiality.”

The only Ivy League school with a graduate film program, Kleinman assures me that SOA’s program is in the top five of nationwide film schools. In fact, he puts Columbia at the top of the list, especially for students who want training in more than one of their three areas of concentration: screenwriting, directing, and producing.

“The fact that the school is Ivy does not make it any more or less difficult to get into than any of the other top five”, Kleinman asserts. “It’s competitive, but so are NYU and UCLA and the others “

He tells me that at Columbia, the admissions committee is looking for a degree of life experience heavily enhanced by creative facility; they especially look for serious commitment to filmmaking. While candidates do not need to have made films before, they must be able to demonstrate that they are realistic about wanting to pursue a career in film. “Lots of people out there have an idea that they can make films. We want people who will.”

The admissions process requires a sample screenplay; a sample video is optional. Prof. Kleinman conjectures that the most telling portion of the candidate review happens in the interview.

The interview is not a grueling grilling; it’s a visit. A conversation. “We’re serious, and we know what we’re looking for. But we’re not giving a creativity test. Fill in the shapes with the right colors kind of thing. We’re looking for a good fit, someone who will like being here as much as we like having him/her here.”

You can’t study film at Columbia as an undergrad. You can do Cinema Studies. Just like at Yale or Harvard and Princeton. But when you choose Columbia for graduate work, you get access to some of the best people and equipment anywhere.

“We have a unique approach at Columbia,” Kleinman continues. Every incoming first year student takes screenwriting, producing, directing and directing actors. No one chooses a concentration until he/she has had a taste of the whole menu. That makes for well rounded filmmakers who understand their collaborators’ roles from firsthand experience.”

Mikki del Monico, SOA ’03, who scripted the highly lauded INDELIBLE, says she had a lot of nurturing at Columbia. “During my time at Columbia, I learned how to commit to a story, how to tear it up in order to rebuild it and make it better. I learned about how to piece a dramatic story together.”

Dan Kleinman likes to point out that Columbia students have won Gold Medals at the annual Student Academy Awards five years in a row, and for 7 of the last 8 years. Randy Dottin (SOA’03), who plans to direct INDELIBLE, received the Gold Medal for his short A-ALIKE. And INDELIBLE won the prestigious Sloane Production Award.

The Sloane Production Award is a $100,000 prize given to the team that has written and plans to produce a screenplay that incorporates science into its story. Thanks to the Sloane prize, the production team plans to shoot INDELIBLE in Harlem in the summer of 2005. INDELIBLE is the story of an African-American female scientist racing to cure a deadly disease that threatens the life of her teenaged son, while the research itself encroaches on the precious time she has to spend with him.

“I’m sure you know,” smiles Kleinman; “That having that award will make the rest of the money that much easier to raise.”

The award has multiple ramifications. Says del Monico, “Access to the Sloane Foundation through Columbia has proven an incredible opportunity for me.” The Sloane Screenwriting Award, in fact, got the project started when it was conferred on del Monico’s script in 2002. Del Monico’s screenplay ALTO, written in 2003 and the winner of the Columbia Film Festival Faculty Honors, has been optioned by FLYBYNIGHT Productions in New York.

Professor Kleinman is very proud of the fact that, “You’ll find lots of women standing out at Columbia.” Kimberly Pierce, Shari Berman, Lisa Cholodenko all graduated from CU, and the staff reflects the department’s gender diversity; nearly half the instructors are women from every aspect of filmmaking.

Del Monico agrees. “I had a lot of support at Columbia for stories with female protagonists.”

“We nurture filmmakers,” says Dan Kleinman, smiling.

You, too, can see Dan Kleinman’s smile. Just go to the website: www.columbia.edu, and click on the film program, then select “Chair’s Video Statement.” It’s a trip. Self-effacing but focused, tongue in cheek but intensely serious, it illustrates the sensibility of the Columbia Film School. Check it out.