Focusing on Film Schools

As a 31-year-old free-lance editor, I take exception to NYU undergraduate film student Ari Taub’s remark about graduate students who, at 25 or 30 years old, are, in his words, “kind of a joke” because they “don’t seem to know what they’re doing in life” (“A Student’s Life on the Development Trail,” by Michael Cieply, March 15).

John Huston was a boxer and Mexican cavalry member before making his directorial debut, “The Maltese Falcon,” at 35. Kurosawa’s feature debut was at 33, as was John Boorman’s.

One thing always evident in the work of truly great film makers is the experience of having lived real life for its own sake, a quality Taub and countless other impatient 22-year-old film school grads seriously lack.

But as long as the industry continues to snap them up like vultures, we can all look forward to more multimillion dollar comic-book pictures whose inspiration comes directly from other films, not real life.

ZACK DAVIS

Los Angeles