Learning, Education and Training – Why Mixing Them Slows You Down
People say they’re no longer beginners, but still learning. They’ve shot, edited, written, yet they’re not sure where they actually stand. Workshops, film school, training programs all get thrown into the same bucket, like it’s all the same thing.
It’s not. And confusing these concepts easily costs people years.
The problem starts when we call everything “learning”. In reality, in this industry, there are three very different things, even if we rarely separate them properly.
Learning is mostly self-development. It happens when you watch, read, ask questions, observe others and reflect on your own work. There’s no syllabus, no diploma, no finish line. And that’s not a weakness. In film, learning never really stops, no matter how experienced you are.
Training is different. Training is about solving concrete problems and improving specific skills. How you communicate with a director. How pitching actually works in real situations. How set hierarchy functions beyond theory. Training doesn’t ask “what is cinema?”. It asks “what do I do next?”.
Education is the structured side of things. Film schools, long-term programs, theory, shared language, historical and cultural context. This can be useful if you’re entering the industry, need orientation, or have the time and resources. But let’s be honest: a degree does not equal industry readiness. Many graduates struggle in real-world environments, and many professionals never went to film school at all.
Workshops, labs and mentorship sit somewhere else entirely. They’re short, intense and focused. Mentorship, when done right, is personal, contextual and often brutally honest. This isn’t education. It’s acceleration. And it works best when you’re already doing the work and want to avoid unnecessary detours.
Curious where you feel you are right now: learning, training or education?
