Additional Information
While there are no formal guidelines or specific courses of study for
film critics, some education and a background in film studies, film history
or a related area are helpful.
Although some employers look for a broad liberal arts background, most
prefer to hire people with degrees in communications, journalism or English.
High school courses in English, journalism and social studies provide a
good foundation. Useful college liberal arts courses include English with
an emphasis on writing, sociology, political science, economics, history and
psychology. Courses in computer science, business and speech are useful as
well.
Once enrolled in a journalism degree program, a student can supplement
their coursework by taking several film studies courses. Many of the best-known
film critics actually have education or experience in journalism or have worked
as professional journalists. This is the case for some of the most famous
film critics around, including Roger Ebert.
"For people who are really into it, I recommend they either find a blog
that will use their stuff, or they create a blog and start writing their reviews,"
says film critic Peter Howell.
"It really is something you hopefully get better at.... It is something
you develop a knack for. It becomes more like second nature, so you just decide
for yourself whether it's just something that you're momentarily interested
in, or whether it's something that you really have a passion for."
Howell says young people can start building their film criticism skills
today.
"What they should do is they should go see a movie, and they should sit
right down and they should write a review of about 1,000 words," he says.
"Because that's the real test of it -- to come right out of the theater and
sit down and write your review, and you have to figure out what to say between
'It sucks' or 'It's great.'
"It's like, what's in the middle there?" Howell adds. "Anybody can go
thumbs up or thumbs down, but it's the part in between that really makes a
difference. And then you have to decide, 'Do I enjoy doing that? Is that something
I want to do more of?'"