Top 10 Film Schools for Directing in 2027

NYU’s Graduate Film program is an intensive three-year conservatory in the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. It focuses on helping writer/directors develop a narrative voice, and you leave with a reel of short films and a feature film script. NYU Tisch School of the Arts is No. 1 on TheWrap’s 2026 list.

Chapman’s MFA in Film Production has a Directing emphasis, chosen at the time of application. The two-year program launched in Fall 2024 and replaced a three-year curriculum, and each thesis team gets $20,000 toward its production. Dodge College is No. 4 on TheWrap’s list.

UCLA’s MFA in Production with an emphasis in Directing runs three years: foundations in the first, faculty mentorship in the second and an intensive thesis production in the third. The school is No. 5 on TheWrap’s list.

LMU’s Film and Television Production MFA offers two directing specializations, fiction and non-fiction. All students direct two short films in their first three semesters, and fiction directors graduate with three directed films including an 8-to-15-minute thesis. The school is No. 6 on TheWrap’s list.

UNCSA’s School of Filmmaking lets you pick Directing as one of seven concentrations after two years of hands-on projects. In senior year you travel to Los Angeles with faculty mentors to screen your films for industry executives. It is No. 8 on TheWrap’s list.

DePaul’s MFA in Film and Television Directing is a three-year, 96-credit-hour program run by the School of Cinematic Arts. The DePaul Cinema Studios Scholarship covers full tuition, and students use a 60,000-square-foot production space at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios. It is No. 15 on TheWrap’s list.

Florida State’s MFA in Production takes a maximum of six students in Directing per cohort, with a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Directing specialists each helm six unique M1 projects, across two years of six consecutive semesters. It is tied at No. 16 on TheWrap’s list.

Columbia College Chicago’s MFA Program in Film and Television Directing requires 56 credits. Directors make several short films in the first year, then series production and the thesis film in the second year. It is No. 19 on TheWrap’s list.

SVA’s MPS Film Directing is a master’s degree that runs over nine months, in less than one year, and each student directs a professionally produced short film. SVA is No. 30 on TheWrap’s list.

Brooklyn College’s MFA in Cinema Arts is 66 credits with directing projects from the first semester. Tuition is $10,567 per semester for New York State residents and $15,282 for nonresidents. The college is No. 48 on TheWrap’s list.