What film and TV opportunities are there for high schoolers?
Film and TV is a field high schoolers can start in right now, with a phone and a story. Options include summer filmmaking camps, student film festivals, school broadcast programs, screenwriting contests and online editing courses.
Many festivals have a category just for teen work, and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards include film and animation. You don't need expensive gear to begin. Plenty of strong student films are shot on a phone, with clean sound and a clear story doing the heavy lifting.
How do you pick a film program or festival?
Ask what you will leave with. A good summer program ends with a finished short you helped write, shoot and edit, plus footage you can cut into a reel. Check the crew size, since groups of three to five give everyone a real job. Compare cost, housing and whether cameras and editing software are provided. For festivals, read the rules on running time, music rights and age limits before you shoot, and note any entry fee.
How can you start making films this month?
- Shoot a one-minute film with one location, two characters and no dialogue. It forces you to tell the story with pictures.
- Learn a free editor, such as the free version of DaVinci Resolve, and cut the same scene three different ways.
- Join the school broadcast, AV or theater tech crew. Running sound or camera for a real show is practice you can't fake.
- Write a five-page script and hold a table read with friends. Rewrite after hearing it out loud.
- Watch a short film you love with the sound off and note every cut. You'll start to see how editors build tension.
Where Nextreks fits
Upload your shorts, scripts and behind-the-scenes photos to your Nextreks portfolio and decide which ones are public. Film is team work, so it also shows durable skills like collaboration and communication: getting a crew to the same place on time, giving notes kindly, and finishing when the edit gets hard.
Programs in Explore are run by other organizations. Nextreks lists them but does not run or guarantee them.