Nashville, TN (population: 605,197) has three film schools within its city limits. Vanderbilt University, the highest ranked school in the city with a film program, has a total student population of 12,506. It is the 17th highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Tennessee. To learn more about film programs in Nashville, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of film professors at Vanderbilt University such as William Akers, Kathy Conkwright, Sam Girgus, Claire King, and Jonathon Rattner.
Film students from Nashville schools who go on to become filmmakers, producers, directors, film directors, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 79,780 people working as producers and directors alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $86,870. Also, Actors make on average $0 per year and there are about 39,880 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin area alone, there are ** employed actors earning an average salary of $*. Producers and directors in this area earn $67,380/yr and there are 350 employed.
Nashville lies in Davidson county, which is one of the 26 counties in Tennessee. Overall, the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin area has 719,830 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $19.13/hr average worker wage, and a $39,790 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.486 out of every 1000 jobs in Nashville are held by producers and directors, and **/1000 are held by actors.
Of the 3 film schools in Nashville, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institute of Tennessee-Nashville comes out as the most expensive ($30,998/yr) for film students, with Watkins College of Art & Design as the lowest, reported at only $18,876/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Nashville |
| Franklin | TN | 61,515 | 6 | 35.3023 | 121 | 16.9 miles |
| Gallatin | TN | - | 1 | 14.7314 | 31 | 24.0 miles |
| Lebanon | TN | - | 6 | 33.1353 | 162 | 27.4 miles |
| Murfreesboro | TN | 109,230 | 4 | 32.6865 | 176 | 31.1 miles |
| Dickson | TN | - | 1 | 26.7533 | 18 | 34.6 miles |
| Clarksville | TN | 121,429 | 6 | 21.4206 | 150 | 41.7 miles |
| Shelbyville | TN | - | 2 | 24.186 | 25 | 50.8 miles |
| Bowling Green | KY | 56,941 | 5 | 29.5084 | 365 | 58.5 miles |
| Tullahoma | TN | - | 1 | 18.8406 | 13 | 64.4 miles |
| Athens | AL | - | 7 | 24.5606 | 224 | 95.2 miles |