Film school is fucking expensive. And even if they get to film school, women still run the risk of having to deal with an old guard that probably thinks Title IX is a long-lost Orson Welles experiment they'll pretend to know about at parties. Luckily, filmmaker Jen McGowan (Kelly & Cal) saw a gaping hole in the educational and mentor system for female filmmakers and created Film Powered, a volunteer-run, knowledge-sharing community for women looking to break into Hollywood — or independent filmmaking. Its varied offering of courses runs the gamut from three-hour workshops on the basics of storyboarding to a hands-on RED camera intensive. Men and women alike donate their time to teach and mentor the next generation of auteurs, but membership is a little exclusive, because to take free courses, you must be able to teach other ones in trade. Film Powered has partnerships with Alliance of Women Directors, Film Fatales, the Producers Guild of America, Film Independent Fellows and a few other groups whose members can take or teach classes. If you're not included in the lengthy list of eligibles on its website, it might be time to urge your organization to make a deal with Film Powered.

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