Looking Back on my Internships

Wow, it’s been awhile.  Sorry about the lack of updates over the last couple weeks, but I was enjoying my Thanksgiving.  I got to spend some time back home in Texas, and I even got to swing by Texas Student TV for a few hours.  I tried my hand at the new tricaster they’ve got and worked with some virtual sets on Videogame Hour Live.  They’ve got some pretty cool new stuff!

Anyways, everyone knows Thanksgiving break is just a tease for winter break, just a few short weeks after that.  And for me that means my semester of internships in Los Angeles must come to a close.  I’ve already wrapped up at one location, and I’m finishing up my other internship at the end of the week.  So this blog will be about looking back on my internship experiences.

Believe it or not, this semester was my first time interning anywhere.  I used to not like the idea of interning, specifically some of the stereotypes that get passed around.  I thought, “why would I just want to get someone coffee all day?”  Well I quickly found out that’s not what an internship is.

While I did make and deliver coffee to supervisors, which I actually ended up enjoying, I learned that I was actually contributing to the company’s operation, not being a mindless coffee boy.  I quickly learned how busy executives in Hollywood are.  They’re always taking phone calls and having meetings, and their assistants are just as busy.  If either of them went to get coffee, work would stop.  Calls would go to voicemail.  Clients would get frustrated while waiting for a meeting.

I was helping the operation run smoothly.  When everyone did their job, business kept flowing.  I was glad to be a part of it!  And since I’m fortunate enough to have had two great internships in two great settings, the walks or drives to pick up coffee were actually quite scenic and enjoyable.  And doing good jobs on those runs quickly led to more important errands.  So I’ve said goodbye to that misconception.

But in all honesty, I rarely went on such runs.  I usually had much more important work given to me.  Now that my internships are ending, I ironically want to keep up with that work.  One project I worked on had me reading the trades every day.  Not only did I find that this work kept me in the know, but it motivated to break into the job market.  I’ll keep reading the trades.

Reading script after script and book after book for coverage sharpened my mind too.  As I mentioned before, I’ve rediscovered how much I enjoy reading!  All of that literature sped up my reading pace and tightened my concept of story structure.  It’s also motivated me to get back into writing longer scripts for myself, as I now have 3 ideas for feature length scripts with a fourth one bubbling in the back of my mind.  And it’s just fun!  Gotta keep finding stuff to read, so I’ll find some script websites and get a library card out here.

And the networking!  While I made great contacts and friends with supervisors, interns, and others, I became more aware of how interconnected everyone in Hollywood is.  A couple of my projects entailed me browsing through names and connections on company accounts for IMDBPro.  I definitely have to get myself a subscription to that.  And it’s important to keep up with the contacts you make.

That’s a broad overview of what I learned, but there’s obviously too much more to fit into a blog post.  I’m super glad to have had such great internships, and I’m looking forward to the next step as I move into the job market.