After already dominating the box office, alums Ryan Coogler and Sev Ohanian, who met while in their respective graduate film programs, swept through awards season with their hit Sinners. Never one to pass up a synergistic opportunity, the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) then introduced a course focused on Sinners — an in-depth exploration of the making of the movie that will include talks from creative heads and executives, many of whom are (you guessed it!) USC alumni. As for favorite classes, alum Shawn Levy name-checks a course called Directing Actors taught by Heroes filmmaker Jeremy Kagan, saying, “Jeremy [taught] us about the cornerstone aspect of directing that so many filmmakers fail to learn: Decisive leadership is bedrock, it’s essential; without it, a director — hell, a cast, crew and shoot — is screwed.” Elsewhere, alum and Marvel head Kevin Feige has made a monetary gift that will go toward faculty, students and programming at the newly named Kevin Feige Division of Film & Television Production. And while SCA’s curriculum has always kept up with industry trends and interests (a new production lab will be focused on vertical dramas), it is impossible to future-proof a rapidly changing entertainment industry. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t trying, as is the case with a funding increase for the SCA First Jobs Program, which is meant to place grads in paid entertainment jobs and is available to alums five years out from graduation.

TUITION $75,384 (undergraduate); $49,495 to $65,726 (graduate)

ALUMNI Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians); Warner Bros. president of production Mike Ireland

While the film program at NYU long has focused on the fundamentals of narrative filmmaking, the school isn’t without its technological advances. NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts partnered with Runway AI to make AI training available for free to select students, while a new undergraduate course — Generative Filmmaking in the Age of Hypercinema — was designed to give students hands-on virtual production experience and work with generative AI. As for faculty, Peter Saraf, the Oscar-nominated producer behind The Farewell and Little Miss Sunshine, is now heading up the undergraduate department of film and TV. An anonymous $1 million commitment will go toward endowed scholarships, while alum Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard) is launching a fellowship for third-year MFA students where he will provide personal mentorship about navigating the first few years out of film school.

TUITION $75,326 (undergraduate); $82,902 (graduate)

ALUMNI Chloé Zhao (Hamnet); Sean Baker (Anora)

Five days after becoming the first woman to win the Oscar for best cinematography, alum Autumn Durald Arkapaw was back at AFI to teach a workshop to fellows. While the industry continues to shift its focus to new tech (and AFI has an Amazon partnership that gives students access to AI tools), the conservatory is now requiring that fellows shoot one of their shorts on film stock, with celluloid reemerging among the highest echelons of studio and indie filmmaking, like Arkapaw’s Sinners. The DP says her time at AFI gave her “the foundation and the confidence to understand what it truly takes to find a story.” As for other alumni, the top winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Josephine, was written and directed by graduate Beth de Araújo. And while AFI often caters to students who can afford the hefty tuition, AFI notes that the scholarship funding for the incoming class rose by 18 percent, while a seven-figure endowment recently came in from the Eastwood Charitable Fund.

TUITION $75,508 (graduate)

ALUMNI Brad Falchuk (American Horror Story); Ari Aster (Eddington)

Why have two LED walls when you can have three? As it readies to open a new 45-foot, $2.7 million volume wall for the fall semester, Chapman University is securing a third wall where students will test the waters with virtual production. Elsewhere, the school now has five dedicated AI classes in its curriculum and added an MFA Sound Design for Film and Media as well as a new Atmos surround-sound mixing suite. A $1 million donation will be going toward the school’s career center, which is dedicated to helping students find postgrad employment. All of this comes with a price tag that one would expect from private university in Southern California, but merit-based scholarships are awarded up to the impressive amount of $42,000 a year.

TUITION $69,990 (undergraduate); $52,994 (graduate)

ALUMNI Hannah Einbinder (Hacks); Duffer brothers (Stranger Things)

Last spring, Emerson announced its own guiding principles on AI with the aim of helping students navigate their education with their individual levels of interest in the new tech in mind. All students have access to Google Gemini and the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite, while courses like AI and Media Production, and Immersive Media in the AI Era see them working with generative programs like Runway and Midjourney. A new endowed, need-based scholarship from writer and EU alum Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) will be awarded to four film students annually and will last the duration of their education. While Boston isn’t exactly an entertainment mecca, Emerson long has touted its Los Angeles satellite campus and has plans to expand everything from curriculum to early career support after naming a dean, Ken Rogers, for the West Coast outpost.

TUITION $60,160 (undergraduate); $1,551 (per credit; graduate)

ALUMNI Co-chair and co-CEO of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Pam Abdy; Daniel Kwan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

As Hollywood talent like Noah Hawley and Richard Linklater continue to fight for tax incentives and entertainment infrastructure in Texas, UT students have more reasons to stay in the Lone Star State after graduation. For in-state aspiring filmmakers, there isn’t a better option. Students will be honing their skills in a newly opened Gaming Lab, which will house the school’s new AI courses starting in the fall, and UTA has inherited equipment, including a motion-capture system, from shuttered Austin digital media company Rooster Teeth. Alums Matthew McConaughey and Glen Powell screened new projects at the school and were on hand for Q&As with film students to discuss the creative process.

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

ALUMNI Andrew Dismukes (Saturday Night Live); Deep Voodoo chief creative officer Jennifer Howell

Dean Joanne Moore, who led LMU’s film school for four years, recently stepped down from her post after a track record that included expanding the school’s curriculum to include new filmmaking technologies and a renewed focus on affordability. Dean Edward Siebert, S.J., has stepped in to fill Moore’s place. The school is continuing to expand, most recently with a $1.5 million investment in upgraded equipment, including 40 new cameras. A recent donor campaign has doubled endowment giving to the School of Film and Television. KPop Demon Hunters writers Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan say via a joint email of their time at LMU, “there are dozens of sets happening every weekend, so you’re just constantly collaborating with people. And those people are going to be your support system forever.”

TUITION $68,939 (undergraduate); $32,000-$36,000 (graduate)

ALUMNI Francis Lawrence (The Long Walk); James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli

David Gordon Green, who runs the Rough House Pictures banner with fellow alums Jody Hill and Danny McBride, says that at UNCSA he found “a group of collaborators that have a common vision and work ethic. Not just being ambitious but being willing to roll up your sleeves and actually do the labor.” The conservatory, which fully funds its students’ projects from day one, is expanding its nonfiction program under documentarian Molly Bernstein, purchasing camera equipment specifically for documentary courses that can be lent out for the longer periods. New courses include Rock on Film: Music, Myth, and the Moving Image and a music video workshop.

TUITION $6,691 undergraduate (resident); $24,831 undergraduate (nonresident); $10,296 graduate (resident); $24,999 graduate (nonresident).

ALUM Craig Zobel (The Penguin)

One of last year’s most successful movies at the box office and a surprise best picture nominee, F1 had not one but two Columbia alumni behind it with director Joseph Kosinski and producer Dede Gardner. While the school, which attracts a large international student body, is one of the most expensive on this list, students pay for access to an alumni network that spans both indie and studio, narrative and nonfiction filmmaking (The Perfect Neighbor producer Sam Bisbee was nominated for best documentary feature at this year’s Oscars). While new courses include Practical Uses of AI in Storytelling, Art and Design, Columbia has never really prioritized emerging tech, instead choosing to focus on filmmaking fundamentals with working faculty like new screenwriting professor Minhal Baig (We Grown Now).

TUITION $73,868 (undergraduate); $77,840 (graduate)

ALUMNI Jennifer Lee (Frozen); James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

As entry-level employment across Hollywood continues to dwindle, recent graduates’ ability to keep at it in entertainment can be dependent on their student loan load. It is notable, then, that DePaul has launched full-tuition scholarships for incoming MFA students across directing, creative producing, screenwriting and animation, in addition to expanding the number of merit-based scholarships it will hand out to students pursuing graduate degrees in the arts. The school also has launched a postgraduate fund with $100,000 in cash and production resources for alumni looking to produce proof-of-concept pieces for larger projects. As AI becomes a larger presence in postproduction, the virtual production concentration in DePaul’s Master of Sciences film degree sees students implementing AI workflows into VFX and postproduction coursework.

TUITION $48,179 (undergraduate); $25,558 to $35,388 (graduate)

ALUM WME’s Katie Irwin

Like Southern California real estate, film programs can be about location, location, location. UCLA housing a film program in one of the state’s most prestigious public universities that happens to (still!) be in the center of the entertainment industry goes far in terms of its appeal. Newly installed dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu wasted little time in her first year as the head of the School of Theater, Film and Television. In the past year, there has been more than $2 million in new gifts, including more than $600,000 from Carol Burnett for scholarships and equipment, eight AI summits and new courses and summer workshops focused on virtual production. As for alums, Garrett Bradley, director of the 2020 Oscar-nominated doc Time, was named a 2025 MacArthur Fellow, while Reed Van Dyk’s debut feature, Atonement, landed at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

TUITION $19,640 (undergraduate resident); $57,242 (undergraduate nonresident); $38,100 (graduate resident); $50,345 (graduate nonresident)

ALUM Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard)

A vintage motel and a three-story apartment building are among the additions to the school’s sprawling backlot coming in the fall, along with a new 9,000-square-foot soundstage. With an arts-focused college, students can expect a hyperspecialized curriculum, including a new minor focused on horror content creation. Being located in a major production hub, students get the opportunity to gain experience on studio film sets, as was the case for 13 students who worked on the most recent Scream film. The school has been known to graduate a fleet of below-the-line talent, with 211 SCAD alumni and students working on 21 Oscar-nominated films this year.

TUITION $42,975 (undergraduate); $43,965 (graduate)

ALUM Emmy-winning sound designer Matt Yocum (Widow’s Bay)

Despite being thousands of miles from both NYC and L.A., the Florida state school continues to punch way above its weight in terms of alumni accomplishments — and all at a fraction of the price of other schools on this list. Last year, Oscar winner Adele Romanski produced the indie darling Sorry, Baby, alum Max Allman was an associate producer on best picture Oscar nominee Marty Supreme, and Alex Ullom’s directorial debut, It Ends, was picked up by Neon out of SXSW. The school’s optional third-year MFA program, which launched in 2023, sees students produce an entire feature film, and the first project out of that program, NoSeeUms, has landed North American distribution with Quiver.

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)

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ALUMNI Barry Jenkins (Moonlight); Wes Ball (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)

A 20-seat Avid editing lab, four Canon C-80s and an online master’s in screenwriting and development are among the new additions at CCC’s School of Film and Television. Diversity is one of the school’s strengths, with an undergraduate class that is over 60 percent female and over 50 percent BIPOC. The school’s semester in Los Angeles program, built with an emphasis on internships and networking, recently relocated to the Sunset Gower Studios.

TUITION $35,948 (undergraduate); $35,880 (graduate, degree dependent)

ALUM Disclosure Day cinematographer Janusz Kaminski

This Florida school is better equipped to prepare below-the-line talent than the majority of schools in Los Angeles and New York, and with no graduate programs to contend with, students are getting their hands on equipment early and often. Its production facilities allow for training in virtual production, from Unreal Engine to LED wall operation. Elsewhere, a new Branded Entertainment certificate is meant to prepare students to work with brands that are increasingly investing in narrative content.

TUITION $55,760 (undergraduate)

ALUM Jeff Fowler (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Alumni Josh and Benny Safdie had a banner 2025 withMarty Supreme and The Smashing Machine, respectively, while Jane Schoenbrun took her latest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, to Cannes. The school is in the middle of hiring three new positions, including a professor focused on vertical filmmaking, a field where many recent film school grads are finding early employment opportunities. Students have begun learning at the school’s new studio production facility, with the film program dedicating $100,000 in production funds for student projects.

TUITION $73,024 (undergraduate)

ALUM Train Dreams producer Marissa McMahon

As alum Dylan Clark gears up to film the Blair Witch Project remake at Lionsgate, he still thinks about lessons learned in his advanced directing class. “Directing is all about communication and making decisions, sometimes under immense pressure and time constraints,” he says. “That class deliberately put us in high-pressure positions to do both.” In addition to a BFA in film, the Roy H. Park School of Communications, which also houses a top journalism program that educated onetime news anchor turned Disney CEO Bob Iger, also offers a B.A. in Documentary Studies. New additions include two ARRI cameras.

TUITION $59,440 (undergraduate)

ALUM Liz Tigelaar (Once Upon a Time)

With the rise in AI and falling job prospects for entry-level tech work, there has been plenty of talk about the resurgence of a liberal arts education. If this is well and truly the case, there is nowhere better than Wesleyan. As projects shot on film continue to stand out at festivals — the biggest sales out of Sundance and Cannes were shot on film — and dominate the box office, like Sinners, the film program’s longtime commitment to celluloid is particularly prescient. The school covers the costs of film stock and processing on all 16mm production courses.

TUITION $75,915 (undergraduate)

ALUMNI Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind); Mike White (The White Lotus)

BFA and MFA students can expect a new production studio space as well as new cameras and lenses thanks to a partnership with Sony Electronics. As for nascent filmmaking fields, the school is debuting an AI and emerging media minor — a new AI Filmmaking class is focused on generative tools — that will combine “AI literacy and ethical decision-making.” A creator economy minor will also launch at its Center for the Creator Economy, which is co-led by the Newhouse School.

TUITION $69,180 (undergraduate); $37,548 (graduate)

ALUM Pixar president Jim Morris

The top film program in the Cal State system, CSUN houses the Cal State University Entertainment Alliance, which is focused on helping graduates across the entire university system connect to industry resources and relationships. Alum Dave Caplan (Roseanne spinoff The Conners) heads up the school’s comedy mentorship program that sees six screenwriting students from underserved backgrounds paired with working writers to develop their own scripts. Other new additions include a course on motion picture and television production accounting that is run in partnership with Lionsgate, as well as $3 million in support from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

TUITION $8,330 (undergraduate); $9,459 (graduate)

ALUM Sound editor Odin Benitez (The Last of Us)

The ideal RIT student is someone looking to combine a love of technology with a passion for storytelling. The school, which stands out thanks to an emphasis on applied research — i.e., problem-solving research in animation, VFX and film production — and boasts the nation’s first major in motion picture science, routinely graduates leaders in below-the-line roles, with alumni like Emmy-winning sound editor Matthew E. Taylor (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy) and Dolby researcher Jaclyn Pytlarz, who has earned two Engineering, Science and Technology Emmys.

TUITION $63,508 (undergraduate); $64,542 (graduate)

ALUM Frame i.o founder John Traver

In its decade of existence, Feirstein’s graduate film program has become a formidable force among New York-area public programs thanks to industry backing and a campus based in an existing studio facility. While its alumni base is growing and can’t yet compete with the private NYC programs (it didn’t start graduating students until 2017), alums are finding ways to work together, as was the case with the feature Caity, a selection at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which was directed by 2020 grad Lindsay Calleran. As for the fall, True Detective producer Richard Brown will be teaching at the school, along with There’s Something About Mary writer Ed Decter.

TUITION $10,567 (graduate resident); $15,282 (graduate non-residents)

ALUM Lindsay Calleran (Caity)

While an undergraduate major in radio, television and film is offered from the School of Communication, it is Northwestern’s highly selective MFA programs that are a particular draw for students looking to continue their creative education. The Writing for the Screen and Stage MFA program is fully funded, while students in the school’s MFA in Documentary Media can expect full tuition over the course of a two-year program on top of a living stipend, as well as a $5,000 grant for thesis projects. At the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, MFA documentary graduate Brittany Shyne won the Grand Jury prize for her film Seeds. New additions to Northwestern include a Podcast Studio Innovation Lab, with a professional-grade digital mixing console and a multicamera video setup, and multiple seven-figure donations that will fund programs like an annual trip for students and faculty to Sundance and the recently launched minor in game design and animation.

TUITION $71,802 (undergraduate); fully funded, depending on the program (graduate)

ALUM Greg Berlanti (Fly Me to the Moon)

Construction is underway on a podcast center that will house classrooms and spaces for audio production, adding to the school’s four other soundstages that support film majors. In spring 2027, the Department of Radio, Television, Film will offer a new course focused on generative AI, joining other AI-related curricula that teach students to use the tech for previsualization, production and postproduction workflows. Another recently established class in virtual production teaches real-time lighting design, environment creation and character animation.

TUITION $59,960 (undergraduate)

ALUM Age of Disclosure director Dan Farah

As New Jersey continues to boost production incentives (with Netflix taking particular advantage with a planned $1 billion production hub), the Mason Gross School of the Arts is well positioned to train the state’s entertainment workforce. Students shouldn’t expect extra bells and whistles, but Rutgers offers an education in the basics of filmmaking, from writing to production, all on a state school tuition, which should not be overlooked. Graduating students retain access to the school equipment after commencement during school breaks, which includes everything from a professional dolly system and a Foley studio to Bolex H16 RX4 16mm film cameras and a 4K color correction suite.

TUITION $14,933 (undergraduate resident); $35,758 (undergraduate nonresident)

ALUM Screen Engine CEO Kevin Goetz

ArtCenter College of Design

The film program inside this design conservatory counts Michael Bay and Zack Snyder among its graduates and puts a particular emphasis on the visual. Students choose from three tracks — directing, cinematography and editing — with courses including a PSA and commercial workshop.

Biola

Just outside Los Angeles, Biola’s Snyder School of Cinema & Media Arts has benefited from a multimillion-dollar investment that has given it production facilities that rival programs decades its senior. As faith-based content continues to find mainstream audiences, Biola combines Christian values with serious creative ambition.

Cal State Long Beach

With annual tuition coming in at less than $7,000 for California residents, a B.A. in cinematic arts from Long Beach allows students to pursue an education in film while worrying less about debt in the uncertain early postgraduate years.

Azusa Pacific University

Offering both B.A.s and BFAs in cinematic arts, Azusa’s unique entertainment executive concentration is geared toward students looking to take classes on subjects like marketing, financing and packaging.

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Pace University

This Lower Manhattan school offers both Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in filmmaking — the former focused on production, the latter incorporating historical and analytical study. Dedicated courses cover casting, story development and the film remake, and students have access to both digital cameras (ARRI, Blackmagic) and Bolex 16mm equipment.

City College of New York

The Harlem-based school’s affordable MFA program (tuition is $305 per credit for residents and $602 for nonresidents) covers both fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, for which the free biweekly Documentary Forum brings in film screenings and panel discussions that augment coursework.

SUNY Stony Brook

The MFA program is guided by indie film legend (and honorary Oscar winner) Christine Vachon of Killer Films, with a focus on writing, directing and producing. In addition to creative and practical production courses, producing students can expect classes on distribution and finance strategy.

Purchase College 

The conservatory-style program in the public liberal arts school gives an overview of the major positions on a film set, with students then choosing a concentration in their final two years. While most film programs focus on commercial filmmaking, Purchase, with alumni like Azazel Jacobs, offers an experimental film production degree.

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Our Criteria

In order to decide which programs make up The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 American Film Schools list — and 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 financial aid/scholarships. Also taken into consideration are the alma maters of the filmmakers behind awards-season contenders, box office breakouts and film festival winners. Note: THR has started a Top U.S. Animation Schools list, so the film programs that focus on animation, such as Rhode Island School of Design and CalArts, are not included on this list.

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