Dov Simens Film School Hits Beijing

Update:

This event has been cancelled and will not be taking place on Aug 18-19 as originally scheduled.

This article is just paid advertising. Google the word "schlock" or "misleading"….Will Smith indeed, what a laugh!

This is NOT a scam. We are not going to take anyone's money without giving them an information packed two day seminar from a veteran film teacher. It's a great opportunity for anyone who is or aspiring to be a director, producer, actor, screenwriter or investor in the movie business to gain a wealth of knowledge from someone who fills a unique niche. We are bringing this show to Beijing because we believe there is both a large population of artistic and business oriented people who would benefit greatly from this.

Feel free to contact us at our website to verify all ticketing information.

Here is a positive review of the event.

"I went to the 2-day filmschool and can only say: ITS 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've wasted excess time in film schools that could have been shorter if they had covered the topics in a more precise way. And films schools can only teach technical aspects of filmmaking; they can't teach talent. You have talent or you don't. Period. Many of the best cinematographers, directors, writers and so on are self-taught and have no film school background.
All of us who attended Simen's course (and many were involved in big Hollywood productions) appreciated his efforts to share a lifetime of experiences and give such a truthful picture of the film industry. It could get depressing at times, but fact is fact and it makes you better prepared.

It may only be 2 days, but you learn more about the film industry (read industry, not filmmaking - this is not a creative course or talent course) in these 2-days than almost anywhere. Dov Simens may not be a famous director but on hearing him talk you can make out he's an excellent businessman. The filmindustry is 80% business and 20% creative efforts. All your work may not even end in actual profits for you even if distributors make millions. So, figure out what you need to learn if you want to sell your work!
Simens has worked on low-budget movies, and who else would fit better presenting how to shape a larger production on a shoestring budget?

The course was certainly worth my $400. You get a very real, no-nonsense overview what this industry is all about: business. If you can't handle it or don't feel you are business savvy enough, you can consider either to quite or make preliminary preparations to get a good agent that can negotiate on your behalf.

My only recommendation to anyone thinking of attending is: have some background in film, or at least a one month film course before you attend. Otherwise much of the information is going to be too much, too fast and too confusing. It was a perfect phase for me and I could assimilate everything because I already run a business and have some background in film. I noticed one or two people in the course asked questions that had already been covered in length because they were basically dreamers with no knowledge at all about film. So, to benefit the max from the course, you should know a little bit about film."