David Irving, Chairman of the Undergraduate Film Program at New York University, is so committed to the precept that students learn by doing that he has it imprinted on his stationery. “Success and failure,” he says, “ are the two best teachers.”

NYU’s is the largest undergraduate film program in the United States (USC’s is the second largest), the only real bona fide film school in the Northeast. Admissions are selective - a candidate must be admitted by meeting NYU’s rigorous School of Liberal Arts requirements and then by demonstrating commitment, dedication, and talent in filmmaking.

“This is not a conservatory program like the grad school is or even like the undergraduate drama program is. The Gen Ed (general education) courses are pretty accessible to students because they have fairly flexible schedules. They will get a real liberal arts education at NYU,” promises Irving. “Half the courses they take will be in liberal arts. We want them to be filmmakers with an educated point of view, filmmakers with something to say.”

The special cache that comes from that positioning, in Irving’s opinion, is the freedom to tell stories that have a unique, individual voice. In LA, the way in which a story is told, its person and its voice, is strictly dictated; in Europe, the traditional Hollywood rules do not apply. By being in New York, young filmmakers are exposed to the kind of technology that gives the US the corner on the film market, and it gives them license to explore alternative storytelling techniques. “We offer the best of both.” NYU film students are encouraged to find a distinct American voice with a new bent and then to apply that voice to a specific medium and to exploit that medium with the full force of their technological expertise. “It’s not just about learning the genres but asking, ‘what new ones can I invent?’”

But can they direct actors, I ask, pointing out that we see all too many directors emerging from film school without any ability to integrate actors and the world the film purports to create. “Well, for starters, everyone has to take an acting class. It’s mandatory. Even for those who might not want to direct.”

David Irving, whose directing credits are myriad, says he still takes a weekly acting class with Acting Coach Mira Rostova. But, he says, that’s not nearly enough. “Look,” he considers. “Directing is a tough job. When asked what a director needs to know, Elia Kazan just shrugged and said, ‘Oh, everything.’ A director has to understand cinematography, production design, writing, sound, acting. H/She has to be an advisor and meet individual needs. That’s why some directors leave the area of dealing with actors to the casting directors and then hire acting coaches.”

Prof. Irving continues. “ Hey, it’s a huge responsibility, and our graduates are far from perfect. But by the time they graduate, they will have been exposed to every possible facet of the process and will have at least a head start.”

Irving is proud of the way students are encouraged to enlighten themselves. Someone who wants to specialize in lighting or/and cinematography will be encouraged to take a course on the Physics of Light. Future directors study human psychology and behavior.

But mostly they learn by doing. They learn in a simulation of the world that awaits them how to understand what is expected and how to make the adjustments, even the compromises, within the parameters imposed, including and exalting budgetary demands. NYU has the largest production center on the eastern seaboard for its students. An extensive film library is at all students’ command, as is the Todman Center for Film and Television, a 3200 square foot film and television soundstage with a 50x30 cyclorama, surrounding drapes in two colors, roll-up chroma-key drops and video and audio control rooms. At the Todman alone, there is a stop motion animation studio, a scene workshop, an extensive props collection, four editing suites, a full service kitchen and office as well as a green room. Over 350 film and video shoots and 1000 casting calls and rehearsals are held here every semester. Classes are taught on the teaching soundstages that are as fully equipped, and there is, as well, a huge Animation Area with capability for 2-and 3-D animation courses at all levels of instruction as well as classes in storyboarding, titles, drawing, history, criticism, etc. Recruiters from Disney, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, LucasCraft, et al., habitually visit the campus to see what students are up to.

They learn to make the most of their resources in school and in the City of New York. As David Irving reminds us, “We want them to learn as many things as possible so they can be leaders in the industry.”

The major criticism I have heard about NYU in both the undergraduate and graduate realms is that there is a lack of integration among departments. Screenwriting, for example, is taught in the Department of Dramatic Writing; writers rarely interact at all with other film students. For both screenwriter candidates and filmmaker candidates, that creates a schism and inhibits the creative process.

But the real strength of the program is that the undergraduate program is not for sissies. It’s rigorous, it’s comprehensive, and it’s the real thing.

NYU encourages you to take a campus tour before you apply. You may not sample classes in the film school, but you are welcome in Gen Ed classes; arrangements for all can be made through the admissions office of the NYU Undergraduate Division.

A very navigable website is at your disposal and will answer most of your questions, including how to get hold of David Irving and his colleagues: www.nyu.edu .

You’ll find Christine Choy, Chair of the Graduate Division of the NYU Film School, on the website as well. She is the prototype of the NYU Grad candidate. Eclectic in background, smart, Asian, she comes to filmmaking from architecture, having earned an MS in Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia and then a Certificate in Directing from the American Film Institute. She says she turned to filmmaking out of her frustration over the dearth of alternative voices being captured on film.

Choy is downright ebullient on the subject of the NYU Graduate Film School program, whose success and desirability, she maintains, have proliferated to such a degree that the applications are astronomical in number. “We have become so famous, that it’s all out of proportion.”

Alumni from NYU are doing so well that it is clear that NYU has developed a definitive edge in the industry.

“At Sundance,” Professor Choy is anxious to tell me, “There were fifteen- that’s 15! - features in competition. Seven - 7 ! - of those were submitted by NYU grads.” Josh Marston, whose MARIA FULL OF GRACE won the audience prize, is a 2004 graduate. “And can you believe it?” Choy enthuses; “the hit documentary SUPERSIZE ME was created by an undergrad ! That prodigy is Morgan Spurlock, ’04, who won the Best Director of a Documentary award. At Cannes, she adds, it was an NYU student’s short film that won for best short. NYU is certainly the happening film school.

One of the strengths of the division, says Choy, is that international students, largely scholarship recipients, comprise a full 40% of the population. “They come to NY, and they are thrown into the water; they struggle a lot. The course work is complicated. And the expectations are high.”

“An interesting thing happens in this program. The students come in the first year all confident, nearly arrogant. They know everything. Then in the second year, they get disillusioned, scared. They realize they know nothing. But by the time they come out of the third year with their two shorts, full-length feature and other projects in development, they are ready to fly. They know what they really need to know about how to learn more and get the projects done.”

There is strong support for new grads from previous grads; it’s a close-knit program of instant colleagues. So the network of NYU grads is out there in the industry to help the newcomers make a smooth transition. Which is particularly well facilitated in the new class Professor Choy has designed on exit strategies.

Before they leave, we put them into a hands-on situation where, in the safety of the abstract, they learn how to make it in the real world. They practice pitching, learn how to take meetings, manipulate the money world. Choy sums it up; “It’s the best deal for their money because it thrusts them into the marketplace.