Tag Archives: Comm./Media

ESPN, Inc.

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ESPN, Inc.

Kyle Goodenough, 2010

This January term I interned at ESPN in Times Square in New York City.  I worked in market research with the Consumer Insights group.  The group attempts to improve ESPN’s brand and product by introducing new ideas to the company based on consumer feedback.  They do large amounts of research in order to receive a variety of fan feedback.  Most of the feedback they receive comes through survey responses and focus groups the team attends.  While interning at ESPN I worked on a few different research projects.  The main project I worked on was a youth study.  This study focused on current trends in teen behavior and technology use.  This was particularly important to ESPN because the company is looking for a way to better connect to teens and to expand their fan base among this age group.  In order to increase viewership among teens they first need to gain a better understanding of this age group and my research project helped them to do so.  I worked on a few smaller projects while I was there as well which consisted of summarizing statements and statistics from a particular research study and finalizing a report for that study.  I also was able to attend a conflict group in which the participants debated the quality of the ESPN brand.

I felt that I performed well during the internship.  I arrived early every morning and left later than my supervisor expected me to.  Every time something was assigned to me I was sure to complete the task thoroughly and in a timely manner.  I was willing to do anything that was asked of me, from making copies to writing research reports.  My supervisor gave me a lot of positive feedback and made me feel very good about my performance, but the evaluation he filled out will tell the real truth!

While I enjoyed working with the research group, I don’t think I want to go into research as a career.  The aspect I did like about research; however, is that the work is always changing.  It seemed as though there were about four or five projects to complete at the same time and if I got bored I could always set one aside and work on a different project.  I did have a chance to talk to a few people in the marketing branch at ESPN and their work appeals to me much more than research.  I am attracted to the creativity that goes into marketing and find it to be a more compelling career option at this point than research.

Interning at ESPN was an unbelievable learning experience.  I was kept busy everyday and felt like I was always doing something new.  Everyone was welcoming and friendly from the moment I arrived and they were all eager to work with me.  They took me to meetings, out to lunch and even down to Philadelphia to watch a focus group!  They tried to fit in everything possible to make my experience the best it could be.  My boss, who was the Vice President of Consumer Insights, made a point of sitting down with me for at least an hour every week to discuss current projects and ESPN in general.  Even though he was so busy himself, he took the time out of his day to sit down with me.  My supervisor was amazing as well.  I worked very closely with him during the whole month and learned a great deal from working with him.  We worked on some projects together and he was happy to show me the ropes.  Overall, I had an unbelievable experience and wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Please contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

NBC Universal

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NBC Universal

David Ellis, 2009

During the course of the internship I felt as though I performed extremely well.  The reason being that I was not only asked on a number of occasions to step in for my executive assistant but other assistants in the department as well.  Throughout the course of the month I was asked to cover the desk for three different assistants, sometimes for more than two days at a time.  The reason why I felt this said something about my performance was because it is not common that interns are asked to cover desks for an extended period of time and furthermore, the other interns that had been there prior to my arrival were not asked to cover desks while I was there.  I also thought I performed well because I was willing to step up to any task that they asked of me, whether it was reading a long novel and summarizing it or doing extensive research at the Motion Picture Library in Beverly Hills.  On each of these assignment I received positive feedback on the work that I produced both written and verbally.  I also thought I performed well because I successfully established relationships in the Production Development office.   I frequently met with the top executives at Universal and gained some extremely valuable career advice. Each person had a unique way about how they arrived at where they are today and were able to provide some great insights for me post-graduation.

One thing that I learned about myself is how much I really need to be in Los Angeles if it is my intention to be successful in the motion picture industry.  The west coast is much different from say New York in terms of media because everything is geared mostly towards film and television whereas in New York television is the primary focus with film as a secondary focus.  I think that this experience also allowed me to realize the steps that I need to take in order to be successful.  There are many paths that I could take, but the trick is to learn how to progress in the entertainment industry.  One thing that I learned about myself is that I have an ability to adapt fairly quickly to my environment.  When I first arrived in LA, I thought to myself that the only thing that was really missing were my close friends and family.  But after letting myself get lost in exploring LA I really became much more comfortable being out there not knowing very many people.  However, I am still going to try and convince everyone I know that LA is the place to be because I know that they would have as much fun as I did while I was out there.

Another thing that I learned about the motion picture industry is how much it is about whom you know.  I heard a lot about this before arriving but really wasn’t sure how this worked.  I wondered why there is even a Human Resources department if everyone is hired by word of mouth.  The truth is that Hollywood is very much a word of mouth industry and it is to a great extent about who you know.  I sat down with HR multiple times and the sense that I get from them is that even though their job is to bring in talent, most of the time people are referred right away, for a position that opens up by someone already at Universal.  This makes everyone’s job a little easier in that they really do not have to search too hard to bring in talent.  But this also creates a barrier for those people who are not connected to anyone in Hollywood who want to be a part of it.  I can say that I was one of those people and it is hard at first to make connections, but it’s the people who are willing to make the greatest sacrifices and rise above the competition that they are going to look for and not the people that will just accept defeat and move on to another profession.  I think one of the greatest lessons that I’ve learned in this experience is that if you have the will and passion to pursue something, there is really nothing that can stop you except yourself.

Overall, I thought that this was a truly amazing experience and I would recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to intern at any major studio in Hollywood to definitely do so, especially in production development.  I was able to learn how the business works and the skills that are needed to be successful.  I can definitely see myself living in LA and I am extremely excited to return there upon graduation.   I would also like to note that a lot of my experience thus far is due to internships that I’ve done in both the summer and winter.  Looking back, I would suggest to other students to start getting internships the summer after freshman year, as I did, because it really allowed me to have a strong resume to show people by the time I was approaching graduation.  Between my experiences in the summer and winter term I was well equipped for my trip to LA and had a really great experience.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

Benderspink

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Benderspink

Brett Dollar, 2009

During my month at Benderspink I worked full time and assisted in the day-to-day operation of a small film production and talent management company in West Hollywood, CA.  This included a wide range of responsibilities, including reading and evaluating script submissions, answering phones, doing personal errands for the producers and management agents at the company, researching the content and ownership rights of properties that might be adapted for film, and pitching my own story ideas at the weekly creative meetings.

This internship suited my interests very well.  Since I want to be a writer, it was illuminating to get an inside perspective on a company that both develops scripts for production purposes and manages working writers.  Reading some of the clients’ work alongside scripts that are in production and blind submission scripts has given me an idea of what industry professionals look for in a script across a variety of genres and styles.  The disappointing part of this is the importance that the industry places on proven formula and commercial potential over art, but it eventually became clear to me that there is still an important place for creativity and innovation in this commercially driven atmosphere.  There are fortunes to be made for the next interesting twist on a genre or recombinant story.

By all accounts I performed quite well as an intern, and I was invited back to Benderspink for the summer.  I definitely improved and learned a lot throughout the month, though.  Initially I was nervous on the phone, slightly intimidated by the system of relaying calls and clarifying essential information, but I adapted quickly and I was very comfortable speaking with clients and producers from other companies by the end of January.  I also quickly learned to research and condense stories, characters, franchises, etc. into “loglines”-quick, catchy, one-to-two sentence summaries-to be reviewed by producers for remake/development potential.  Blind submissions are accepted or rejected initially based on the logline that the writer submits, so the ability to boil down story into a simple but engaging summary is an important skill for a writer in order to get people interested in reading your script.

Living in Los Angeles was an important part of my internship experience.  For all practical purposes you have to be in LA to build a career in the film industry, but it’s a strange place and I wasn’t sure whether I could handle it.  There’s way too much traffic, too many impatient and aggressive drivers, too many superficial people, and not enough alternative transportation options or bikes.  Yet, as with most big cities, there is just about everything and anything you could want.  With a little searching you can find any subculture or community of people-I even found other vegan cyclists, eventually.  Then there’s the weather, with constant sun and highs in the 80s in January, and the laid back attitude you find throughout the west.  Ultimately I fell in love with Los Angeles, if only in comparison to the northeast.

In the end, this internship has allowed me to see the reality of trying to make it in the movie business and glimpse my own potential for doing so.  While I had previously taken comfort from my wide range of interests and potential for pursuing a variety of post-graduate options, I am now inspired and highly motivated to cultivate my writing skills and work my way up in Hollywood.

Jared Rosenberg, 2010


Industry Revelations:

–       Networking is essential – The majority of any industry professional’s day seems to be staying in touch with their ever-expanding network of people and keeping those connections open. This point is particularly crucial for anyone trying to break into the industry.

–       As a result of recent economic woes, the industry has shifted its production focus towards pre-scripted and pre-produced material like novels, comics, or pulp magazine serials. The reasoning behind such shift is that investors are more likely to fund material that has already proven to have some marketable ability and fan base rather than an original screenplay.

–       Grad school is unnecessary and over-rated. This point applied particularly to writers. In Chris Bender’s and JC Spink’s opinion, one’s time and money would be better spent gaining real-world, industry experience and writing. (See next point) This assertion is supported by the fact that two other interns have their Master’s in screenwriting, and they were doing the exact same internship I was…

–       Write all the time. According to the Benders, most writers do not find their “voice, their style, until they have written at least five or six screenplays. For them, it is at that point that you actually become a writer, and so the best thing for a person to do is simply write, and write, and write… until you have found your voice.

–       “It’s just business.” – A studio might stall your project or have you replaced. It’s not personal, it’s just business. Usually it just it simply needs a fresh perspective to take the project in a new direction.

–        Star-power/business trumps skill/art – At one point, during casting for a film, everyone (the producers, director, casting director, etc.) had narrowed the choice down to Michael Fassbender and Matthew Goode. Everyone agreed that Fassbender was better tailored to the role in every way (performance, physically, etc.), but they ultimately chose Goode because they felt he had more star-power and would be more likely to attract an audience (especially with his upcoming performance in Watchmen). And there it is: a quintessential case of business trumping art.

Final Reflections:

Benderspink is a fantastic place for one to intern. Since it is a relatively small company, it maintains a wonderfully intimate and relaxed workplace environment. All the employees, even the heads of the company, knew the interns by name, and would periodically share some industry insight or opinion with them. Also, while interns elsewhere did little more than make coffee, I had the opportunity to engage in meaningful work, reading scripts, sitting in on meetings, and even pitching out new ideas to company executives. When it came time to leave, I went in to JC Spink’s office to say goodbye, and talked to him briefly about the future.  He sat me down and said, “Look, come back and work for us this summer. After you graduate, come see us again, and we’ll get you a job.” If that’s not the mark of a successful internship, then I do not know what is. Moreover, I returned to school with a new and better understanding of exactly how this industry conducts business. I think that sometimes at Middlebury there is a tendency to treat the film industry as some sort of obscure, abstract entity, and this past month as certainly helped to refine that image for me. Bottom line, I cannot wait to return to Benderspink this summer

Contact the Career Services Office or visit www.benderspink.com for more information on this internship.

Cabin Creek Films

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Cabin Creek Films

Luisa Covaria, 2009

I wanted to work full time in a documentary production house in New York because that is what I want to do after my graduation. I also wanted to give the best of me and take advantage of this internship as much as I could. So I went in everyday and worked eight hours per day and when it required, I worked a little more. I was a slightly shy at the beginning but the atmosphere at Cabin Creek Films was very welcoming and soon I felt at home. I cared a lot for producing good work even if the task didn’t seem of much importance in a broader sense. For example, if I had to write questions for an interview I made sure I researched the person really well and provided a short sentence informing the reader about the interviewee. These questions are used by producers, who usually don’t have the time to do prior research, and that is very helpful to them. During shoots I tried to ask questions when possible without being intrusive. I learned that I should always have a tape ready for the DP so that they loose the least time possible. I felt a little awkward sometimes during shoots because I didn’t have much to do, but I tried to keep everything organized and listen to the director giving instructions so as to learn.

Before going into the internship I knew that office work was not for me but I needed to find a way to get into the industry. During the first week I saw recent college graduates doing secretarial work such as arranging traveling plans and handling the director’s agenda. I was concerned since this is definitively not what I am interested in. But during the second week I got to go off for a shoot and I realized that  the action happens on and off. I also learned that if you prove that your forte is production and pre-production they are going to start giving you responsibilities on that field.  I showed interest in the shoots and in the topics they were about and thus they asked me to assist to more shoots.

I also worked in the research of a documentary about gun violence and talked a lot with the producer about the topic since it really interests me; especially because during my stay in New York I was staying in a community being affected by gun violence. The producer perceived my enthusiasm and asked me to come during the summer and help with this project. I understood that I had to spend sometime at the office in order for them to delegate me with more responsibilities. In a small production house like this I will have the opportunity to be in close contact with the production of documentaries, even more so than in a big company.  I learned that if I keep on interning at Cabin Creek Films during the summer that will be a good way to start in the field of production.  I have to have a little bit of patience and understand that college graduates have to do some office work and run errands because making films is not only about being behind the camera.

One of the most valuable components of this experience was the people I met. I guess everyone has always talked about networking. But beyond networking, I had the possibility of observing great professionals performing in front of my eyes. Next to me sat one of the producers, a petite high- power woman who had the faculty to talk to three people at the time. From her I learned to call people and be direct, even if you don’t know if people are willing to talk to you or take part in the film. Always be polite but informal and make people feel like they are talking to old friends. I like her way of approaching individuals. One has to be persuasive and at times insistent.

I also worked very close to the twice academy award director Barbara Kopple. It feels me with hope to know that a woman, who has worked so hard on something she loves, is still able to work in it and live out of it. Barbara Kopple is a woman, who at 60, works 25 hours a day; always thinking about all aspects of her documentaries from the pre to the post production. This energy is much needed in a field like documentary. Her vitality is a proof of her passion and love for her profession. She became a role model to me and this is important in a field in which there is no set path for success. One is usually discombobulated after graduating and without much hope regarding economic reward. So after working with her I feel that my energy and passion will one-day give some return not only economical but also regarding personal fulfillment and professional recognition. More over, now I have the opportunity to contact her for guidance.

The way the office is run taught me a lot of how the industry works and how I can sell myself when applying for jobs in the field. The atmosphere is very open; everyone’s opinion is respected and Barbara, yet strong in her character, cares about the people who work for her. It was interesting to observe how much they have to guard their budget. Their equipment is not the best and they didn’t make the best decisions while buying it. She started in a time when filmmakers used very different technologies and she needs people around her to advice her with the latest technological advances. I realized that there is no one in the office who is very tech savvy. This made me think that this is an aspect of myself I could exploit. When necessary I helped out with computer and technical issues, which definitively gave me a plus. I  also have to think that I want eventually to get hired, so that I can get paid for what I love. By observing the industry from this close, I realized what some documentary production houses might be lacking.  When I apply for jobs I will make emphasis on my technical skills.

In general this internship made me reaffirm that this is the field in which I want to work after I graduate. Having the opportunity of working regular working hours and adjusting to the pace at the production house served as an experience that proved to me that doing something like this for a year would be a great start up point. So now I have a little more defined idea of what to do and where to go after graduation. I actually never expected to be able to go out for shoots and I had the possibility to go to three. I learned that it is a matter of compromising and doing some office work in order to be able to produce documentaries. This field is hard; having a college degree doesn’t instantly send you to do the most exciting tasks.  But this internship helped me realize that I definitively love this area so much that I am willing to put all my capabilities and energy to learn more until I’m able to take a more central part in shoots. This is enough for the moment to keep me going.

Please contact the Career Services Office or visit www.cabincreekfilms.com for more information.

BBC News

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BBC News Intern

Bilal Sarwary, 2010

Read about Bilal on the BBC Here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5283580.stm

During January of 2009 I worked as an assistant producer at the BBC Kabul bureau.  I was mainly working with correspondents Ian Pannel and Martin Patience, who were working on stories about tribal police forces, the lack of reconstruction progress, and the lack of security in the volatile southern and eastern provinces.  We also worked on stories regarding the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. I was responsible for gathering news from across Afghanistan for television, radio and online news services.  I also recorded and arranged for interviews with Afghan officials and tribal chiefs.  . I was also responsible for translating from local languages into English. I also helped produce stories, for instance a story on the difficulty of traveling in the northern snowbound provinces .and the cold Afghan winter.

In one sense, I have now become a one-man news service, filling everyone in about events in post-Taliban Afghanistan. – The BBC has learned to trust my judgment.   I know my country:  when I sit next to Afghan officials, intelligence officers, tribal elders and warlords, it is my job to keep them talking. At some point in a conversation, I usually find some connection with whomever I am speaking.  My British colleagues would not be able to understand what is being said. – I talk to people in Pashto, the melodious-sounding language of the Pashtunes, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group.  By now I have won the trust of my sources in the Afghan government and community, and when I speak with them a surprising tale always emerges

My affiliation with the BBC goes back a long way; during the in-fighting among various Mujahideen factions in 1992, I used to listen to the BBC‘s Pashto and Dari news bulletins broadcast in Kabul the about the war that left 70,000 dead and destroyed Kabul. I was not exempt from the conditions of war- I lost everything. Like any other child, I always woke up to a warm breakfast, but during the war, everything was taken away from me. When I moved to Peshawar in Pakistan, I had to make my way by selling water on the streets of the city. I could no longer go to school, watch cartoons or play with my friends as I used to in Kabul. Given the circumstances, I continued to receive my education from the BBC, and the BBC World Service Educational Programme called “New Home, New Life.”

Through BBC radio, I was taught about my culture, my language, and my situation. While eating in our home, my family would listen to the BBC. The BBC was known as the 6th daily prayer among many Afghan families.

I had never imagined that I would end up working with the BBC, reporting the news in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, Hindi and English. I have never imagined that I would travel to London, the United States, or India. How could such an extraordinary life come to a boy who sold water on the streets of Peshawar, worked for a transport company smuggling carpets and dry fruits, and flogged fake antiques?

After 9/11, I returned back to Afghanistan; the country where I had witnessed the worst tragedy of my life, one that I will never forget or forgive. It is through this experience that I resolved to always work to prevent such atrocities, and it is as a result of this credo, that my BBC career began.

With all of this in mind, I hope to become the full-time BBC News Online reporter and Producer for the Kabul Bureau for Afghanistan upon graduating in 2010. When in Afghanistan this past January I   traveled to distant Afghan provinces in search of the best stories, while cultivating an array of contacts. I utilized this method, and it proved tremendously effective. As a result of my efforts the BBC has access to many Afghan provinces, governors, police chiefs and intelligence officials. On top of this, I have developed a large network of contacts in Kabul due to my trips to these provinces.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information about this internship!

The Addison Independent

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The Addison Independent

Brian Fung, 2010

My internship began as a very sudden idea. As someone who is interested in journalism as a potential career, I knew I needed experience with a local newspaper and that my work with The Middlebury Campus was insufficient if I wanted to find a job with a large daily like the Wall Street Journal.

When Winter Term registration rolled around, something reminded me that January wasn’t just for skiing and classes about Bob Dylan. I remembered that writing could be fun, and might help me get a job to boot. So instead of registering for classes, I chose to take advantage of a great local resource-The Addison Independent.

The Independent‘s reputation as a strong newspaper with a small staff meant that I would be working alongside veteran community reporters with years of expertise under their belts. What’s more, I’d be writing stories of my own, learning more about working on deadline and conducting interviews beyond the comfort of Middlebury’s secluded campus. It would be the perfect balance of work and observation.

My first few meetings with Angelo Lynn, the newspaper’s top editor, were less nerve-wracking than I’d anticipated. He went about outlining his expectations of me, and I had a chance to ask him questions. In effect, I would serve as an additional reporter, submitting two stories weekly. My first two stories, I had already written while in London. The first was about British perspectives regarding the recent U.S. presidential election. The second was a more personal piece, filled with my reflections on studying abroad.

Both stories ran several days after my return to Middlebury. My work was teased on the front page with my headshot and a catchy blurb. Though my writing was buried deep in the back of the paper (just above a large ad), I had had my first experience getting published in a professional newspaper.

As I kept working, Angelo’s confidence in my abilities grew (and so did mine). I wrote about Middlebury’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events. I wrote about Sophie Shao, the cellist who performed at the college last month. I wrote about the three new police officers joining the MPD, and attended their swearing-in ceremony. I wrote about all these and more.

The journey wasn’t by any means easy. To be sure, I was only writing two articles a week, whereas the newspaper’s veterans routinely work five or six leads at a time, and churn out two to three stories an issue. But working full-time for a news organization (and actually producing the news, rather than standing by and helping to produce the news) was new and difficult in its own style.

I felt a great sense of freedom. I could set my own schedule, as long as I came out with a finished product on deadline. My life wasn’t being defined by my classes; instead, the internship allowed me to exercise more control. The disappointment was that while I could decide when to work, my life became defined by that work in other, unexpected ways. After a while, it felt as though I was doing little except writing, doing an interview, or setting one up. Each story could be reduced to a routine formula: receive the assignment, conduct interviews for background research and colorful quotes, then summarize in 600 words.

Rather than being proud of every piece of work, I was often compelled by my deadline to submit stories that I considered less than ideal. Angelo was pleased with my writing, nonetheless, but I felt as though I could have done better with more time.

By the end of January, things started to pick up. I began working in earnest on a sort of final project, a longer article that involved original research and investigation. I chose to write about Middlebury Money, the area’s gift certificate exchange program. Pursuing this project, I learned a great deal about Middlebury and about the local living movement. I enjoyed it immensely. I felt as though I was breaking fresh ground, that my culminating report would educate people about something different and interesting. This is why I love journalism.

I’m more than glad that I chose to work for the Addison Independent this January. I’m thankful for it. Not only did I gain valuable experience that will surely prove useful in the years to come; I also became better acquainted with the community surrounding the college and discovered an appreciation for the dedication of five area residents who make The Addison Independent possible, week after week.

Read on of Brian’s articles here: http://www.addisonindependent.com/node/1809

Contact the Career Services Offices for more information on this internship!

Vermont Public Radio

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Vermont Public Radio

Julia Hurvich, 2008.5

Listen to the VPR report here: Vermont Public Radio- IBM Layoffs (Vermont Edition)

Over the past month at Vermont Public Radio, my work as an intern proved quite valuable, and my tasks and experiences spanned a variety of different aspects of radio production. I worked on Vermont Edition, the daily news magazine program hosted by Jane Lindholm which airs from 12:00-1:00pm on weekdays. I worked with Jane as well as the other members of the production team, including Sarah Ashworth, Patti Daniels, Tim Johnson and Chris Alberteen. As an intern, I was given the opportunity to explore all aspects of the show’s construction, from pre-production content research and scheduling, to interviewing guests, recording two ways and even to post production work in sound editing and web content management. Coming into the situation with little to no experience in radio journalism, I feel I have gained a comprehensive understanding of the day to day  process of what its like to produce a quality local news program.

The guidance I received under producers Sarah Ashworth and Patti Daniels and Vermont Edition host Jane Lindhold were incredibly valuable. They shared with me their experience, expertise and stories and helped me through my daily workdays. I never felt like I was being asked to do classic intern busy work such as Xeroxing or making coffee. They included me as part of their team; I participated in conference calls, sat in during broadcasts and interviews, went out and did field recordings, and helped form ideas and content for programming.

I was surprised and pleased to discover variety of responsibilities I was given. From scouring over local newspapers to going out into the streets of Burlington to get interviews and sound bytes, I feel the job forced me to engage with the community, and I reached a level of understanding and awareness of Vermont that I never experienced in the sequestered, and sometimes isolated world of the Middlebury community.I learned about the inside workings of radio production, as well as what was going on in the world around me. It forced me to answer questions about relevancy, interest, and awareness in a way I never had before.

During the very first program I sat in on, I learned how quickly a show could change from moment to moment. President of Vermont Public Radio, Mark Vogelzang suddenly announced his resignation, effective February 1st and named Robin Turnau as the new President and CEO. There had been another show planned for that day, but as soon as the news broke, the production team made some fast last minute changes, wrote a script, and ushered in the guests. After the show aired, I sat in on the daily de-briefing phone conference, which takes place after every show. Patti, Sarah and Jane call producer Susan Keese in the Manchester studio and analyze the day’s program – going over strong and weak points of the program, the quality of the guest, the listener call in responses, as well as what went well and what could have been improved both from the producers perspective and Jane’s. I learned to stay focused on the show as it aired, while completing whatever other task I had been assigned, so I could add my own opinions into the conversation – which were regularly called on.

Sitting in the studio during the live broadcast, I saw how quickly and efficiently the producer works with the engineers, the phone operator and Jane – the host. Throughout the show, Jane is in the studio with the guest or in the studio while talking to the guest who may be calling in from another studio. The producer is in constant communication with Jane by way of instant messenger. The audio engineer adjusts the levels of the studio mics as well as the remote studios or other guests who may be elsewhere, and then coordinates all of the different sound and digital components of the show – including advertisements, transitional music, and other sound bytes and pre-recorded segments that might be included. Tim operates the phone, judging quickly who will make a good contribution to the show, receiving calls and putting people on hold with quick turnover to maximize efficiency. All of these elements are timed to the minute in the script – which the producer hands out to everyone at the top of the show.

I assisted with a remote broadcast from the State House in Montpelier as the new legislature convened. I got to witness the amount of preparation and set up required for a very brief interview. It was exciting to be a part of the news coverage for the day, as I had never been to the statehouse before. The day came to an end with a nice staff lunch at a restaurant in Montpelier with Jane, Patti, and executive producer and Vice President of news John VanHoesen. This provided a nice opportunity to socialize a little with the people I work with.

The project I was able to work on most extensively was a B segment which aired on Wednesday January 21st about a non-profit organization and annual event called Ski for Heat. I contacted the founder of the non-profit organization, and pre-interviewed her over the phone. Based on some background research and my interview with her, I wrote a script for the interview, which Sarah edited, and which I then sat in on. Afterward, I edited the interview down for broadcast, which was then edited by Jane. Having worked on several of those elements in other programs on Vermont Edition, seeing one program through from beginning to end gave me a sense of completion and confidence, as well as a broader understanding of all the different components that go into a segment of that nature.

Working with sound engineer Chris Alberteen gave me some familiarity with the sound-editing program they use called Vegas. After observing Chris edit a program, having the Ski for Heat segment to edit on my own was a good test of the knowledge I had gained. Working with Tim, the web producer, allowed me to learn the interface for putting content online once completed. These elements, more technical in nature, are extremely useful for much of the work that is required in multi-faceted jobs in the digital realm.

The shows are always thoughtfully planned, but some things occur which are unexpected and more difficult to prepare for. Over the past few weeks, we’ve all been researching and preparing for the imminent layoffs at the IBM factory in Burlington. With no way of knowing exactly when they would occur, we tracked the news daily, preparing alternate guests and programs to account for the margin of uncertainty. They had guests at the ready, sound bytes prepared, and a story about the history of the plant to be aired in addition to the breaking news story. Flexibility and attentiveness to the latest developments were key elements to successful coverage.

Other topics I helped research included the  potential merger of all public institutions of higher education in Vermont, personal interest stories on radical and sustainable living, the Hardwick sustainable food movement, Dartmouth layoffs, countless budgetary issues, authors, artists and other events. The tasks in the office varied from day to day. One day I learned about the website and content management, another I would work with the sound editing program, and others I would comb the newspapers for current events. I prepared and organized reports for submission to the FCC, went to news planning meetings, helped write scripts and interview questions, and brainstormed new stories for segments and set the programming schedule for the following week.

The people I worked with were extremely helpful and patient – giving me the opportunity to explore all different facets of the show’s production. On certain occasions, I would have to listen to past shows to find a specific sound byte, and then use the sound editing program Vegas to extract it and render it to be used in a new program. These tasks helped me develop practical skills, as well as to become familiar with past programming.

My time at VPR happened to coincide with the inauguration, and so the first time I went out into the field with Sarah, we interviewed people about their expectations and feelings surrounding the event. Having a VPR microphone definitely helped with issues of legitimacy and immediate familiarity when interviewing strangers. We went to the high traffic location of the new Davis student center at UVM. This experience made me realize that going out and talking to people and allowing them to have a voice is my favorite aspect of public radio.

I was given three other opportunities to go out and get sound bytes in the field. Once I went around the Vergennes area and interviewed people about their feelings surrounding inauguration day. I got to talk to business owners and passersby, and engaged in some very interesting conversations both on tape and off. Then, on the day that the IBM layoffs were announced I got to go out and speak with people entering and leaving the IBM compound about their experiences. On my last day, I was sent out to the streets of Burlington to interview people about the current economy and how it’s affecting their daily lives.

This internship provided me with the perfect transition out of the classroom and into the real world. I was given plenty of guidance, support, and valuable information as well as the confidence and freedom from the people I worked with to try my hand at the vast array of tasks and responsibilities of radio production. The opportunity to work with professionals as experienced and knowledgeable as the Vermont Edition team was invaluable and I hope to take the practical skills and understanding I gained and apply it in the world of radio production sometime in the near future.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information!

Dr. Lynne Lawner, author

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Author Intern-Dr. Lynne Lawner

Catherine Ahearn, 2011

Being that Lynne’s studio has no staff and I was the only other person assisting her, my work over the month was directly collaborative with her at all times. Everyday I would arrive at 9:30 and check my file on her computer. There, Lynne would list comments on my work from the day before, tasks to be tackled that day, and miscellaneous other notes that were relevant to my work there. My days varied drastically because we worked on three different projects that all demanded different types and amounts of time, skills, and attention.

The major focus of my time there was on a collection of Lynne’s poetry and photographs called Engadine Impressions. During my first week I read and re read about 120 of Lynne’s original work and together we chose 60 of these pieces to be included in the manuscript. After we picked these out, which proved to be very time consuming, we had to divide the poems into four sections and order them within their respective sections. Lynne picked the four section titles and asked me to sort them as I saw fit. After this she had me order them as I saw fit and we went through the final order together moving around anything she felt was out of place. It turns out that even after this was done Lynne kept going back to it and we ultimately re- titled the four sections, moved poems, replaced a few of the poems with others. Even though we started this project on the first day, it was not until my last week that we sent off the manuscript to Lynne’s publishers in Italy. Before we sent it off I did get to look at the images that Lynne was sending off with it, but as I am not familiar with photography, the photographs were something she worked on over the weekends with another intern.

Of course, this was also partially due to the fact that we worked on others things throughout this time. In between work on the poetry manuscript, I also helped organize a book foundation that Lynne is setting up as a legacy and a university in Perugia, Italy. The library will be composed of hundreds of books that she has personally collected throughout her life as well as all of her notes and video interviews. The majority of the books are concerned with culture and art, however more recently Lynne has decided to include any and all books of great merit so that the library is a bit more well rounded. My work on this project revolved mainly around organizational tasks. For example, I often had to catalogue new books so that Lynne had a record of what she was sending overseas and then package them according to genre. This often proved to be tedious and frustrating although I am very appreciative to have been given the chance to lend myself to such a great, selfless, endeavor. Although this work was more organizational and less academic I learned a great deal about my love for books and literature. This project proved very frustrating to pull together and if it were not for my genuine desire for these books to become a part of, not only a library, but a legacy, I would not have been able to do the work as effectively and whole heartedly as I did.

The last project we worked on concerned publisher’s catalogues. Each publishing season about 30 different publishing houses send Lynne their catalogues so that Lynne may order books in hopes that she will review any of them. Going through these catalogues is something that Lynne takes very seriously and her routine is something I had to master very quickly. I most appreciated this activity because I found it interesting to see the different trends in literature as well as the types of books each house published. After going through a few seasons, I could clearly detect the character of each publishing house.

I thought that my performance during this internship was up to Lynne’s expectations. That is not to say that I did not make some crucial mistakes in how I completed some of the tasks Lynne gave me. This was mainly due to the fact that Lynne has a very rigid way of doing things and any variation is simply not right. Taking this into account, I learned quickly to follow her directions exactly and ultimately did so without a second thought. Although the book foundation was the dullest project, I found that it was what I was best at because it predominantly demanded great organizational skills, which many of us at Middlebury already have, and nothing too new or challenging. My work on the poetry was much more fluid and I feel that I got much better at this as time went on because I got a sense of Lynne’s writing style, tastes and expectations from both her poems and comments on them over the course of our four weeks together.

Overall, I feel that my experience with Lynne was very successful in exposing me to many different projects and outlets of creativity. My work on the poetry manuscript was my favorite project not only because I worked on it from beginning to end but also because it combined my love for reading and analyzing poetry with editing. Sitting side by side with the author of the actual pieces I was working with is something I realize I will not be able to do again for many years and I valued it everyday. Lynne was always very open to talking about her work and the work of others and due to this I was able to quickly gain a grasp of what her tastes and feelings toward an array of things are and would be. Her writing is unlike anything I have ever been inspired by and throughout the four weeks I tried using her techniques and style experimentally in my own work. The other projects that Lynne made me a part of were interesting, but more educational for me in the sense that I gained a better sense of where my interests lie and where they do not. I was very lucky to have worked with her and to soak up as much knowledge from her in four weeks as possible. Any Middlebury student should jump at the opportunity to work with Lynne if she offers it.

Please contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!