Screenplay and acting?

Screenwriting and/or acting schools in NYC (for the summer)?

• I am a 17 year old high school student in Boston and I am exploring different fields of entertainment related studies. I do in fact want to be somewhat of an entertainer, but since I'm not confident in my acting potential or abilities, I want to stick to my strengths (writing and story making) pertaining to film such as screenwriting. I was planning on attending New York Film Academy for a summer program, however I heard some negative reviews for some of their courses including acting and screenwriting. I am not that familiar with New York, but I chose New York cause it's one of the best cities for diversity and am sure has almost everything on the planet there. Boston doesn't have much acting or film, as we are more of a medical/manufacturing city. Can anyone suggest a few affordable, yet good, screenwriting or acting classes/workshops in New York for the Summer 2011? I don't care if it's a small place or not as well known as NYFA, just something that actually does some work and is serious and legit. No offence to NYFA, but I don't really have thousands of dollars lying around. Since I am in Boston, I probably need some housing for a little bit, maybe a dormitory of some sort. But I just need a list of good film related schools or even an Art School that has some film or screenwriting classes for affordable prices. I might be asking for too much, but has anyone an idea or recommendation (from personal experience or from living in NYC). I mean, I do intend to go to college at an Art School or Film School, and I'm not ruling out actually moving to NY or Cali (I'm planning that anyway). Just that I want to have some preliminary experience and an insight in this industry. I recently started on a screenplay for a film, however I'm only a beginner and need some instruction so that I can see if I have potential. Well thank you and I hope I'm not being too picky, it's just that I'm not that rich lol

• Answer:

  As far as I have been able to tell the negative reviews of NYFA can be traced back to one or two sources. I have seen basically the same person spread his story over the same four or five sites. I guess the school can't please everyone, but what school does? NYFA's short screenwriting program is great in that you are basically focused on completing a draft of a screenplay in eight weeks. New York is also an incredible city to write in (as you've more or less stated). If money is a concern, I would say avoid New York City all together; it's incredibly expensive to live in NYC. So ultimately my suggestion would be to take on online course (NYFA offers one, as does UCLA), pick up Robert McKee's book Story and save the money you'd be spending on accommodation for whatever may come from your journey to having your script produced.