A Tribeca Film Institute Panel at the New School this week mulled over just this topic. From the program:

You’ve completed your school work and made a few films in school, and now you need to figure out your next steps. What career options exist for filmmakers? How can you develop and raise money for a film project and still cover your living expenses? This panel addresses these questions and provides examples and answers relevant to all makers of film and other media.

The panelists:

Sharon Badal (Moderator) is head short film programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Sandi DuBowski is the Director/Producer of Trembling Before G-d, Producer of A Jihad for Love, and Co-Producer of Budrus.

Macky Alston is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, an educator on issues of media and religion, an organizer within the worlds of philanthropy and media-making, and a regular writer and reviewer on film and religion

Moon Molson? graduated with a M.F.A. from Columbia University, where he won the New Line Cinema Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Award for his thesis film Pop Foul.

Buboo Kakati is a three-time Emmy winning writer, director, and producer; her work has aired on NBC, SHOWTIME, PBS, FOOD NETWORK and WNYE

(Hat tip: Notes on Video)