Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has been named one of MovieMaker’s 25 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada of 2023. The annual list recognizes schools that prepare students for every aspect of moviemaking, spotlighting both world-renowned institutions and surprisingly affordable schools on the rise.
“I’ve toured the SCAD Savannah and Atlanta campuses and was in awe of the joy and energy on display everywhere – happy faculty, excited students, brimming with confidence and optimism about their futures. And with good reason – SCAD equips students for every possible challenge, from tried and true approaches to networking and pitching, to mastering all the latest aspects of their chosen crafts. It is a truly wondrous institution,” said MovieMaker editor-in-chief Tim Molloy.
“We are very proud to be recognized by MovieMaker,” said SCAD’s chair of film and television D.W. Moffett. “Our film students are uniquely set up for success in whatever realm of the Industry they choose. SCAD’s mission is to prepare talented students for creative professions and we are without a doubt, providing our students with the best education, hands-on learning, and professional experience. Two professional-grade LED volumes, an 11-acre backlot, state of the art camera and dolly equipment, no other university has that for its students–combine that with a faculty with deep industry experience and a state that boasts more film production than any other.”
SCAD’s School of Film and Acting is the preeminent program in the country for performing arts, film and television, production design, and sound design. Of the nearly 15,000 SCAD alumni from entertainment and digital media disciplines, 3,500 SCAD alumni work in the multi-billion-dollar Georgia entertainment industry. Because of SCAD’s ideal locations in Atlanta and Savannah, students work on real sets long before graduation from major studio features to hit TV series and indie films. While attending SCAD, students have booked over 500 roles in major motion pictures and television series in Georgia, earning their Screen Actors Guild cards while earning their degrees. Students and alumni were placed on Todd Haynes’ new movie “May December”, Clint Eastwood’s film “Juror #2”, and AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead”.
SCAD film and television students, sound designers, production designers, and performing arts majors are also the first in the world to collaborate with immersive reality, visual effects, and interactive design and game development students to produce context on a virtual production LED volume. SCAD is the only university in the country with cutting edge technology at this scale available to its students. The volume opened In the fall of 2021 as part of the expansion of SCAD’s Savannah Film Studio. A second LED volume opened in 2022 at the university’s Atlanta location. As its phased expansion is completed, Savannah Film Studios will be the largest, most comprehensive university film studio complex in the U.S.
SCAD also presents the SCAD Savannah Film Festival each October. The largest university run film festival in the world brings award winning films, celebrated filmmakers, legendary artists and honorees, and premiere films to our students, the city of Savannah, and the film and television industry as a whole. This year the festival will celebrate its 26th anniversary and will be held October 21-28.
And here’s the complete list of MovieMaker’s 25 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada of 2023:
AFI
Antioch University MFA in Creative Writing
Chapman University, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts / MFA Film Production
Columbia University
Columbia College Chicago Cinema and Television Arts
Concordia University
DePaul University
Emerson College
Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema
Full Sail University
Nashville Film Institute
New York Film Academy
New York University
Oklahoma City Community College
Ringling College of Art and Design
Rutgers Film School
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Temple University
Toronto Film School
UCLA
University of Colorado Denver
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
University of Southern California
University of Texas at Austin
Vancouver Film School
About MovieMaker
MovieMaker is dedicated to the art and craft of making movies. Our list of the 25 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada in 2023 appears in our new issue, with Blue Beetle star Xolo Mariduena on the cover.
