Steven Spielberg
Sorry, Spielberg did go to school - Cal State Long Beach. But, I agree that film school isn't the beginning and the end of making it in the industry, there are guys out there who started off working in the industry as runners and PAs before they made it into other work like directing or being a DP. However, I also have to contest the view that people who have degrees in film school don't have to start off being PAs and such. Every lecturer or mentor that I have ever had has told me the same thing over and over - starting off at the bottom of the ladder is the only way to break into the industry. In fact, Richard Crudo's column in the March 2005 edition of American Cinematographer highlighted this issue. He said that people don't want to have to get experience before they start their 'dream job'. People do a course in cinematography for a year or three, or even more, and then expect to be DP the first time they work on a set. Sorry, but guys like janusz kaminski, asc and his peers have in excess of thirty years to their name. How can someone who has a three-year degree in cinematography try to oust someone with three-plus decades of real experience. Try actually being patient and learning something from someone who has had to tackle problems like broken camera mechanisms and night shoots for years.