Had they been in the audience at the Colgate Inn today, Moms and Dads who have children itching to be the new Quentin Tarantino would have heard the good news:

Instead of giving your child $45,000 a year to attend film school, give them $20,000 and tell them to go make a movie.

And. the folks who said that ought to know. This panel of eight professionals from a variety of backgrounds speaking as part of the Hamilton International Film Festival delivered advice as sobering as it was practical. To a person, they said there is no substitute for doing the actual work of film-making to learn the craft, and they also warned that may mean doing the work for free.

The panel -- The Business of Hollywood -- was moderated by festival organizers Grant and Todd Slater included:

• Dina Rosenmeier, director and producer of A Journey in My Mother's Footsteps;
• Cas Donovan, assistant director and producer;
• Matt Malloy, actor and HCS grad;
• Benjamin Busch, Hamilton area native, actor and director of Bright;
• Reza Dahya, producer and director of Esha;
• Richard Hanet, executive producer of Score!: A Hockey Musical;
• Angela Cheng, a publicist;
• and Nicholas Tabarrok, producer of A Beginner's Guide to Endings.

It was Donovan who suggested parents not send their children to film school. And, she suggested those serious about film-making get used to, at least while learning their craft, learn to live on a tight budget.

"I worked a lot for free," said Donovan, who is married to Malloy. "Unfortunately, this is the kind of business where that is what you have to do."

Busch, who has appeared in such successful TV shows as Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire and HBO's Generation Kill, said he still works gratis on some projects. In fact, he travels to Scotia near Albany Monday to appear in the film of a colleague he met in 2008 at a film festival.

"'If you ever need anybody ...' is a dangerous thing to say," says Busch, whose father was a Colgate professor.

Taborrok said that he, like many in the business, started at the bottom and worked his way up to beign a producer.

Malloy, who will appear in a new David Mamet film about the life of music legend Phil Spector (played by Al Pacino and starring Helen Mirren and Jeffrey Tambor), said he got his start in the business at the age of 12. He performed in 12 summer stock productions at Colgate. At the end of that summer, he was paid $50.

"You don't realize until you're deep in it just how hard it really is," Malloy said about show business.

He said he used to go to auditions for student productions at New York University just to develop his skills of reading for parts.

Producers Hanet and Tabarrok said the most difficult thing about making a movie today is getting financing. But, like others on the panel, they said that the important thing is to believe strongly in the project.

And, as Rosenmeier said: "Never give up."

The festival concludes Sunday. Showings include:

• 12:30 p.m. opening shorts Baby Boss, Page Zero;
• feature shorts are The Sea Is All I Know and Bright;
• 2:15 p.m. opening short Raccoon  & Crawfish;
• feature film is Patagonia Rising.

All movies are at the Hamilton Theater.