Looking for advice (Another film school thread)

For feature and TV productions in Canada, Vancouver or Toronto are the places to be.

Vancouver is crazily expensive though: rent is higher, so too buying a place ($1.2m for a small townhouse, about 21x the average salary). Toronto is expensive as well but about 30% or more cheaper than Vancouver.

Can you afford to study in either place? Do a full budget and work it out for yourself.

You could go to your local film school (and avoid taking on lots of debt), then move to Toronto or Vancouver later. The downside is that you would miss out on the valuable contacts you would make at a film school in Vancouver or Toronto. Once you are in the industry, you would start making contacts though...

Hello,

There are many universities outside Vancouver. There is the University of Victoria in Victoria, which is the capital of the province, there is the University of Prince George, and there is the University of the Fraser Valley.

As for moving to a different place, I don't know how old you are, but, if you're in your late teens or early 20's, you may want to stretch your wings. That, as the other posted noted, can be expensive, so you should decide what to do, given your finances. In terms of making contacts in the city you will want to live in, yes, that is a factor, but, over time, that factor will be less and less important. If you want to live in the Greater Vancouver Region, then, yes, the local institutions will give you a head start. But many, including me, have gone to other cities, with no contacts, and started from scratch - just network, advertise, and everything should work out.

Last, but perhaps not least, if this is your first degree, you may want to take a variety of courses, to broaden your horizons. You would be surprised at how much you can learn.

Good luck.