The best place to chat with other interns on the Warner Brothers lot is in the 9am coffee line at Starbucks. There I have the opportunity to talk to other students my age who spend their days, like I do, sitting in conference rooms reading script coverage, driving to odd locations all over the city performing personal runs for the big boss man, and occasionally answering the phone to find some Hollywood big shot on the other end (which is honestly the most terrifying part of the job)… ah the joys of being an unpaid, Hollywood intern.
When I came home for the summer I had no solid plans except the hope that I would find an internship in the industry to fill my time and learn a thing or two about this insanely fickle business I hope to one day be a part of. I was very lucky to have spoken to Julie Dobrow, the head of the Communications and Mass Media minor, who gave me the names of a few Tufts Alumni in the area who might be able to assist me in my job hunt and one AMAZING alumna came through and helped me secure an internship with a small production company on the Warner Bros Lot. I say small, but this is a company that has produced films like Get Smart, 10 Things I Hate About You, and is currently in production on American Sniper, a film starring Bradley Cooper… yeah, completely awesome.
Now, every Wednesday and Friday I brave the god-awful traffic on the 101 to drive down to Burbank in order to spend hours reading scripts and fetching coffee while learning a few things in the process…
1) Being an unpaid intern kind of sucks but is, in many ways, a necessary evil. As the lowest ranking member of the office there are definitely moments in which you simply have to sit there and allow your boss to let off some steam, but there’s this understanding that if you make it through the summer, and prove yourself as a hard and willing worker, good things will come. Which leads me to point two…
2) You can’t take things personally in this industry. Everyone is obsessed with the deadline and the next step; oftentimes your boss has no idea the impact their interactions with you have, they’re just trying to get stuff done.
3) ASK A BILLION QUESTIONS. Seriously, when asked in interviews if you have any questions, you are expected to have questions and that continues to apply during your internship. No one will fault you for asking a question about something that is unclear and if you happen to have a really engaging question, you never know where that conversation my lead. Its personal interactions with your higher ups—like the conversation I had about horror films last Friday—that will be memorable for both you and your boss.
4) Work as hard as you can, don’t complain about the mundane tasks, and keep your head up and you’re likely to learn something awesome. In the past three weeks I have read over ten scripts and have become a better writer (I think) simply by reading professional work… cool!
5) Pro-tip: Memorize your boss’s coffee order on day 1 (or better yet, ask another intern)… impress them by never having to ask again!
I complain but I am so lucky to have an opportunity like this to gain some first hand experience in this insane industry. I will be forever grateful to this awesome company and Tufts for helping me shove my foot in the door. And who knows… now when I have interns of my own I’ll have a broader perspective (oooh, that’s a fun thought).