Applying to Film School: My UCLA Statement of Purpose

Most film schools you apply to require a statement of purpose. This is a seemingly intentionally cryptic document, usually between one and two pages long. I wish I had seen some examples of people who had gotten in when I was applying, so I decided to post mine. Not everything in here is current, or as well expressed as I like, but I’m surprised at the clarity that 60-100 rewrites of a one page word document can bring. Here we go:

In 1945 Hitler’s Sudetenland became Czechoslovakia, the village of Heinrichschlag became Jindřiš and my adolescent grandparents became “ethnic Germans.” A soldier appeared at their homes and gave them one hour to leave. After wandering through Austria and Switzerland for years they settled in the British sector of Vienna, where my father grew up in poverty. His resulting ambition served him well when he moved to America after falling in love with a Nebraskan exchange student.
Five years, two degrees, a daughter and a divorce later he found his way to Chicago and met my mother. He moved to Michigan to be with her and founded an agricultural export company. When I was thirteen, fed up with endless mispronunciations and using the name Smith at restaurants, he changed our family name from “Kosnopfl” to “Kohl” and we joined a long tradition of Americanized names.
It made for an especially hellish year in middle school. The only thing worse than having an unpronounceable name was the cowardice implied in changing it. I self-medicated with stories. I believed then, and still do, that stories can save you. I read voraciously and reading naturally led to writing. In my Michigan world of doctors, lawyers and businessmen I assumed someone had to write what I was reading. It had not yet occurred to me that people, let alone armies of them, made films.
Toward the end of my time at Kalamazoo College I took courses in German Cinema and Documentary film production. The critical contact with cinema and my primitive documentaries affirmed a lifelong love of cinema. After a screening a close friend suggested I go to film school, an idea that I wholly embraced.
During my Fulbright year in Dortmund I wrote and directed my first unwatchable short film. In my dismay I realized that becoming a visual storyteller would require great resilience and discipline. In his Letters to a Young Poet Rilke wrote “that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.”
I postponed applying to film schools and moved to Berlin, where as an Austrian citizen I am fortunate enough to be able to live and work. I took writing classes, edited short films and worked as a production intern. I learned professionalism and production by day and screenwriting and editing by night. I taught English and came into contact with a multitude of people, stories, ideas and films. I am now doing a 9 month intensive screenwriting workshop and internship wherein I will complete my first feature length screenplay. This year is dedicated to a daily focus on the discipline and craft of writing.
The cultural dialectic that produced me is a rich source for storytelling. I feel as comfortable writing in German about homosexual culture in Berlin as I do in English about an ice hockey referee in Michigan. Each culture shapes and informs my ideas on the other. My increasing fluency in French continues to enrich my perspective.
I am deeply interested in studying Film at UCLA. Its focus on independent filmmaking and technical proficiency, as well as its location and large university setting are exactly what I am looking for. At UCLA I could learn as much from a diverse group of students as from the teaching and professional staff. I am realistic about the intense competition in film and understand the value of graduating with marketable skills to use while I continue to develop as a director.
Filmed drama is quite simply the lifeblood of my existence. In my favorite film a character turns to the camera and says “I don’t know if this is a comedy or a tragedy, but it’s a masterpiece.” Art is a medium through which we can transform the mundane into the sublime. I can think of no task more difficult or rewarding to dedicate my life to.