film-school Building a solid film-making meetup for Learning

So I'm interested in creating an environment, a safe space for filmmakers to play in.

I understand, a lot of this path is focused on getting known or recognized for talent/art. And this is good when you are looking to land a high profile/high paying gig. There is a whole lot of work that can go into marketing and networking. That in itself is an art in my eyes. That could be its own separate class or event. And it usually is.

Most groups seem to focus more on connections for that one, award winning, fame gathering film. There is nothing wrong with that, but in this sense, it seems that they just become a staging area for focusing on one filmmaker at a time, rather than a collaborative environment.

Outside of this, you usually have friends you know willing to help... And that in itself is great for learning and growing as a filmmaker, because you both struggle and improve together. That's good, but this doesn't always work for people that are anti-social or struggling to make friends.

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What would it take, in your opinion, to create a playground space or meetup that filmmakers of all types and stripes can work together... Maybe even in something that isn't necessarily going to win any awards or money, but build on skills and familiarization with gear?

Think of a school like environment, but without needing to pay crazy amounts of cash.

The idea is to get away from the Youtube Guru and forge a pathway to learning from working. The end product might not be something you want to send to festivals, but in the end, its something you made with others in an effort to grow.

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BLUF:
How can you create a group that works together like a group of film college kids, but without paying tons of money?

If anyone has run social/team building groups like this, I'd love to hear your story about how it succeeded or failed.
 
You can post in places like IT and if you’re lucky you can find a person or two that will be part of your group . That’s all there is to it. - finding that kindred spirit and there and different ways to advertise. It certainly helps if you have a project going or if one of them has a project going. The key to learning by working is simply to work and I don’t think you have to make a big hurrah out of it
 
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For this kind of thing, I think a good platform would be a local community center. Someplace that has a budget to keep itself going and an existing network of sorts into the community. Pitch it to them as you are going to volunteer as a teacher and offer a workshop. YMCA is one that comes to mind and most cities in the US have some kind of community center. Also I would think about approaching a community college. Not as a teacher per se but as a volunteer who wants to offer a service to the community to help teach and give possible vocation training to people who otherwise would not have it available. Once you have a location secured, and the basic platform, you could then invite friends as well as get the word out to meet new people in the community who want to get involved. You could also pitch it as a fund raiser to a community center. That people will pay 20 bucks or something for a few hours and you will donate all that money to the center. Or some places might require rent to use the space, and you could charge to cover that. Use the room as a meeting place to work out what will be shot and brainstorm ideas and so on. Note I have not done this. But I have seen things like this done before. And even attended workshops like this (not for film but other arts) at community centers.
 
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