“Chris Anderson is a senior at Middlebury. He is a Film and Media Studies major, writes for the Middlebury Campus and does reviews for current films. This past summer, with the generous funding of Middlebury Arts Council, Chris interned with Focus Advisory Services, an entertainment industry.”
During my time at Rogers and Cowan, I essentially worked for the 5 publicists in my music-sports department, who all gave me different projects consisting of: clipping newspaper articles about our clients, calling up and booking shows for clients, asking for invitations to Grammy parties for our clients, creating a celebrity hit list for our department’s Miles Davis exhibition opening night, creating a media hit list for that exhibition, calling everyone on the hit list to attend the party, putting together press kits for clients, writing press releases, scanning and cropping magazine/newspaper articles about our clients, mailing out client demos, researching celebrity contacts, and even escorting celebrities at the Grammys. Of course, I did do some of the tasks that are expected of interns too, such as ordering the publicists’ lunches, making copies, preparing the meeting rooms, and even getting them coffee from time to time.
On my last day, I really felt that I was walking away with one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I can honestly say that this was one of the most active internships I’ve ever had out of my pretty long list of past internships. I really got into it and did what publicists actually did. My supervisor(s) really wanted to expose me to their world, and so basically, they gave me portions of the jobs they actually had to do. I feel I did really well because I was really passionate about my job. I was really efficient with, fast in performing, and willing/wanting to do many of the tasks given out to me
From this internship, one of the most interesting things I learned was that we have to take advantage of all the resources we have. In the middle of my internship, a new spring intern started working in our department on Tuesdays and Thursdays, who would take my place after I left in February. He became very valuable because of one thing: his British accent. The week before our exhibition event, I had to call all the celebs and media on the hit list I compiled. However, I saw that I really wasn’t getting anywhere and really detested calling the grouchy publicist assistants. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. When I shared this with one of my supervisors, she told me to split the list with the other intern. I was to only call the males, while he called the females. This small tactic worked amazingly. Not only did we both get really good responses from the people we called (sometimes we were on the phone with these people for up to 10 minutes, which was pretty significant), but the people we called actually showed up to our event and came looking for us to put a face to the name.
I learned was that remembering a name and giving people, who aren’t necessarily celebrities, a level of respect, go a really long way. Because I was the one who actually created the guest list for our Miles Davis exhibition, I was able to remember most of the guest’s names. So, when I let people in without even looking down at the check-in list and talked in such a way that seemed like I actually really knew who they were, the guests (more so the ones who aren’t actual celebs, but those who are usually the ones backstage) really appreciated it and would later come back to ask what my name was. In this way, I was able to boost my networking skills and mingle with more people in the music industry.
Rogers and Cowan helped me realize that I actually do belong at a PR firm. I felt really comfortable in that scene and felt that I really did contribute to the firm. Through this experience, I was able to think on my feet quicker and became more creative in my approaches to different projects.
Overall, this is an experience I would recommend to anyone. The firm was awesome because of how they really integrated me into their work instead of pushing me aside. The events were a lot of a fun too because I got to directly interact with the people who were usually behind-the-scenes. Through them I learned a lot about the industry. And besides experiencing the life at a PR firm, it was terrific to be able to work the red carpet at the Grammys.
Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!
I think that the most important thing that I learned while I was working at “The Unit” was just how unnecessary it is to go to a graduate program if you wanted to write for television as a career. Of the dozen or so writers working on the show, only two had post-graduate degrees, and neither had a post graduate degree in filmmaking or screenwriting. What I noticed was a field in which there is a ladder type system in place and you work your way up to being a writer. For instance, each of the show’s four writing assistants were given the opportunity to write an episode, and in some cases more than a single episode. This experience can lead to being hired on the staff of whatever show you happen to be working on (“The Unit,” for example), but you can also use that script to get a writing jobs on other shows. I was also told anecdotally that most show runners and producers are more willing to listen to series pitches or story ideas from assistants and other people who had been working for the producer than someone with no experience with the producer.
In my case I had been planning on attending film school or pursuing a post graduate degree in some area related to film, however I am now questioning how wise a decision that this is, especially given that I would most likely find myself in the same position that I’m in right now, only two years removed and short thousands of dollars. It is definitely something that I will have to consider on a going forward basis.
I think that, all things considered, I had a good Winter Term internship experience. I was careful not to set expectations for the job too high, which I think is important for any future students who go on the same internship. You won’t be writing anything, and the tasks that I listed at the beginning were tasks that I was assigned to do, but actually being given a task was something that happened rarely. I think that Shawn Ryan was really interested in having students who were interested in writing come out and see what the working experience is like. To be honest this is less like an internship (where you’re saddled with asinine, menial tasks) and more like an experience shadowing a writer, which was much more useful and I feel like I learned more the way Shawn has the internship set up than I would have at a more traditional internship where I was asked to do chores that no one else felt like doing. As I mentioned to a few of my co-workers before I left, coming into this internship I felt that my strengths as a writer lie primarily in my ability to write dialog and develop character, but the ability to plot compelling stories has always seemed to elude me. I think that, like all things, this skill will come with time and practice, but being able to sit and watch (and occasionally contribute) the room has given me a greater understanding of how best to develop those skills. The experience has also led me to revisit past work to re-evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and although there is no question that I still have work to do, it has also given me confidence in my ability to fix those weaknesses. So, all in all I’m very happy that I got to have this experience, and I highly recommend it for other Middlebury students in the future.
Please contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.
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.
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.
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.