2-Day Film School – Web Film School

If you’re an aspiring filmmaker, you may be interested in Dov S-S Simens’ Web Film School or 2-Day Film School. Instead of spending four years (or more) in college and spending thousands of dollars on classes like chemistry and algebra, these courses claim to offer practical information and advice to help you succeed in Hollywood. The emphasis here is on the business side of filmmaking, however, so those looking for complex analysis of tracking shots and mise-en-scene should look elsewhere.

Dov claims a great amount of success as a teacher, with the students of his course reportedly earning over $6 billion in box office revenue. With former students ranging from Quentin Tarantino to Will Smith, those claims might not be as outlandish as they initially sound.

WEB FILM SCHOOL

Also known as the Streaming Film School, this online film school recreates the 2-Day live seminar in 16 one-hour streaming lessons, and a 400+ page downloadable workbook is also included. The cost if $395, but, as far as I can tell, that gives you unlimited access to the lessons.

Now let’s take a look at what you receive when you order the Web Film School. Keep in mind that lessons are broken up into “years,” which are meant to represent the increasing complexity of your studies.

Freshman Year (Write and Prepare Your Movie Package)

• Independent Filmmaking
• Screenwriting
• Guilds and Unions
• Pre-production

Sophomore Year (Direct & Shoot Your Feature Film)

• Directing A-Z
• Production Basics
• Post-production Process
• Digital Filmmaking A-Z

Junior Year (Market & Sell Your Movie)

• Budgeting A-Z
• Publicity & Marketing
• Cable & Video/DVD Deals
• Foreign Sales & Film Profits

Senior Year (Finance & Distribute Your Feature Film)

• Financing & Dealmaking
• Theatrical Distributing
• Film Organization A-Z
• Filmmaker’s Gameplan

DVD FILM SCHOOL

If you’re still stuck on dial-up or just like having something you can hold in your hands, you can also purchase the DVD Film School. Presented on 16 1-hour DVDs, you get the exact same information presented in the online film school. The cost is also the same ($395), but as a bonus you’ll receive a graduation certificate and a producer’s diploma.

2-DAY FILM SCHOOL

If you would prefer to receive your education in a face-to-face setting, you always have the option of attending Dov S-S Simens’ 2-Day Film School. As the name would imply, it’s broken into two days of learning, and lessons are divided up like college courses (freshman, sophomore, etc.). Just with the Web Film School, the total cost is $395. Glancing at their website, I noticed upcoming classes will be held in London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. Dov presents these classes 25 times per year, and I’m assuming that there’s something of an annual circuit. That means if you’ve missed him this year, you’ll probably be able to catch him the next time around.

Here’s what you can expect if you attend the 2-Day Film School.

Day 1

Freshman Year

• The Hollywood System
• Hiring talent and casting
• What is low budget?
• Purchasing hot scripts
• Budgeting and scheduling
• Guilds and unions
• 16mm vs. 35mm v. digital
• Filmmaking A to Z
• The key elements
• Contracts and agreements
• Hiring crew
• The 1, 2, and 3-week shoot
• Cameras, lights & sound
• Screenwriting A to Z

Sophomore Year:

• Hiring a production crew
• Budgeting tricks
• Directing the actors
• Directing A to Z
• Getting 25-35 shots per day
• ADR, foley & M&E
• Finishing your film
• Renting the equipment
• Scheduling
• Directing the crew
• Directing post-production
• Music, score & lab
• The answer print
• Digital Filmmaking A to Z

Day 2

Junior Year:

• The festival circuit
• Marketing do’s and don’ts
• Attracting a distributor
• Deal memo points
• Foreign sales
• PPV & VOD windows
• Hiring a publicist
• Creating a buzz
• Sundance & Cannes
• Which agent to hire
• Net vs. gross deals
• Video & cable deals
• Maximizing revenues
• Studio Dealmaking A to Z

Senior Year:

• Raising production money
• Forming a production company
• Securing investors
• SBA $750,000 guarantee
• Negative pick-up deals
• Packaging agents
• Securing bank loans
• Guaranteeing profits
• What to offer
• Play-or-pay deals
• International co-productions
• The 50-50 net deal
• Completion bonds
• Independent Financing A to Z

FROM REEL TO DEAL

In addition to the Web Film School, 2-Day Film School, and DVD Film School, Dov is also the author of From Reel to Deal. It’s purpose is to serve as a roadmap towards your first feature film, and it’s filled with tips on how to produce and direct your project. His website recommends this book for those who’ve yet to attend his class. It sells for $18.95 on Dov’s website.

WHO IS DOV S-S SIMENS?

About this time, I’m sure some of you are wondering, “Who the hell is Dov S-S Simens?” I managed to track down enough information to write a brief bio, and I even have an explanation for his seemingly bizarre name. It turns out that “Dov” isn’t odd at all if you live in Israel. It’s Hebrew for “bear,” and it’s actually quite common there. As for the “S-S” part, I have no idea.

Dov S-S Simens graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA in 1965 with a BA in Economics. Afterwards, he spent three years in Vietnam as a 1st Lieutenant in the Special Forces. With his obligation to his country fulfilled, he moved to Carmel, California and opened a successful bookstore.

He sold the store in 1980 and moved to Hollywood. There, he immersed himself in the art of the deal, pitching execs, rubbing elbows with stars, and making a feature-length film that won awards at various festivals. From there, he worked the next five years as a Line Producer and Production Manager, refining his understanding of the movie business.

This knowledge was shared with students in 1986, when Dov presented a class at UCLA called “How to Get High Quality with Low-Budgets.” He then taught an entire course at USC, and NYU came calling a few years later.

It was around this time that Dov S-S Simens decided to take his show on the road and create the 2-Day Film School. Presented 25 times per year, Dov claims that three out of every 100 students make a feature film within six months of attending the class.

CELEBRITY AND CRITICAL ENDORSEMENTS

Both the Web Film School and 2-Day Film School from Dov S-S Simens have received a number of celebrity and critical endorsements. I thought I would list a number of them here and allow you to judge for yourself.

• “Inspirational…Why waste four years at film school? I was a video store clerk. I got Dov’s audio film school, shot Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and launched my career as a writer who controls his scripts” (Quentin Tarantino)
• “Enlightening…After the 2-Day Film School was given in London, I partnered with Matt Vaughn and Trudie Styler, launched my career (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Swept Away) and married Madonna. Thank you, Dov.” (Guy Ritchie)
• “Superb…The course is great. I thought I knew filmmaking, but my partner-agent had me attend the 2-Day Film School…and now I really do.” (Will Smith)
• “Bad-ass training. Helped me immensely…After one weekend with Dov, my acting and producing career was launched.” (Queen Latifah)
• “I’ve produced and distributed over 400 films and have never known anyone who teaches filmmaking better than Dov. He presents the Corman school of filmmaking.” (Roger Corman)
• “Amazin’…Dov promised to save me $1-2 million or make me an additional $3-5 million on my next feature if I took his 2-Day Film School…he delivered. The dude is amazin’. (Sinbad)
• “Realistic…I wanted to learn from the best, so I hired Dov. He was amazing. He came to Neverland and showed me how to write, direct, and distribute a feature film without spending a lot of money.” (Michael Jackson)
• “Amazing…A massive amount of information.” (The Los Angeles Times)
• “The greatest film course ever.” (The Sydney Times)
• “Film school packed into a weekend.” (The LA Weekly)
• “Brilliant!” (The Wall Street Journal)

CUSTOMER COMMENTS

Of course, we all know that celebrities can be paid to make endorsements, and blurbs from critics can often be taken out of context. I’m not saying that’s the case with the section above, but the true test is in the unfiltered customer comments taken from across the Internet. Here’s what some of Dov’s former students had to say about the 2-Day Film School and the Web Film School.

• “I went to the 2-day Film School and can only say: It‘s totally worth it. It’s not at all a scam, and I don’t know who would claim that except someone who never attended the class. The man is a bit of a nutcase, but it’s all good. He has a no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase approach that I appreciate and prefer more than wasting years in film school that cost thousands of dollars.”
• “I took the DVD course two weeks before I shot my feature. Dov is eccentric and says up front that he is not a producer –he is a teacher. A teacher, I hasten to add, that has been a production manager and has made ‘the money work.’ He covers every facet of the business quickly.”
• “I think there are definitely good points hidden in there, but I also firmly believe you would have to really fish for them. I can’t listen to him. I bought the book. While there is still a bit of Dov crazy logic in there, it is mostly useful and the benefit is you don’t have to listen to him.”
• “I was skeptical of a ‘2-day film school’ as well, but I must say after working my way halfway through, it is well worth the money! He gives a lot of practical information about real world aspects of making a film. Most of us concentrate on the creative side and totally ignore the fact that filmmaking is a business. As he says, you have to write checks and you have to stay on time and on budget, so he gives you keys to do just that.”
• “It was worth every penny. He admits that he doesn’t teach you the ‘art’ of filmmaking, but rather the business. He does yell some, but he does it to drive the point home really well. He tells you things that you probably wouldn’t learn unless you were in Hollywood for several years.”
• “I just watched a friend’s copy of the 2-Day Film School about 3 weeks ago. I learned an immense amount from the DVDs and have the option to review them again as I go about writing my script and refining it in order to make my first film.”
• “I bought the course on audiocassette–back when they still made audiocassettes. I’m always looking for just ‘core’ information, instructors that strip away the touchy-feely crap that pervades the ‘how to get into Hollywood’ cottage industry. The DV Rebel Guide is a great example. The 2-Day Film School is another. He does some yelling on the tapes, but it’s usually to make a point or for comedic effect. I liked it.”
• “I bought his book and found parts of it good (the business aspects) and parts of it meh. If he had the class in my area I would probably attend, just in case I could pick up something valuable. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, you know?”
• “I took Dov’s class in LA in March and thought it was great. I would imagine the DVD is the same because it’s an actual 2-day class shot live. Dov can rub people the wrong way because he’s so direct and in-your-face, but c’mon…If you can’t handle Dov, do you really think you’re ever going to be a successful filmmaker in Hollywood?”
• “If you’ve never made a movie, the 2-Day Film School is worth every penny.”
• “Dov is first and foremost about the quality of the script above everything else. A bad script produces a terrible movie, a good script produces a mediocre movie and a great script can produce a great movie. His underlying principle is to just get the damn thing shot and allow your talent to be judged and valued for what it really is.”
• “Read Dov Simens’ book, From Reel to Deal. I haven’t taken the class or watched the DVD, but his book is amazing. The amount of info that he gives in his book shows that he knows what he is talking about. Just buy the book for $18.95, and, if you like the book, you will like his course. Of course, his book covers so much, you might feel like you don’t need the course.”

So there you have it. The majority of the comments were positive, although a few people did complain about Dov’s tendency to shout and be in-you-face. Still, I had a hard time finding too much negative criticism from people who had actually attended his classes or ordered his online film school. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether that warrants a purchase or not.

Whether you’re looking for online film schools, the best film schools, or screenwriting courses, you should also check out our massive resource on the subject:

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