Media Internships News Shows Morning Shows Social Interaction Shows
How to select an internship in the Media and Entertainment industry! Many will seek these internships, but few will understand enough to succeed in landing these plums of the industry.The reason for for this high rate of failure is fairly mundane - there are very few of them and they very seldom are vacant.
Lets talk first about your connection. Let's assume you are a junior at a university studying media marketing and performing arts. You have 4 hours each AM available and an instructor has suggested working as an intern would help you decide if you want to be before the cameras or behind it promoting the show. The first part is deciding if you have any opportunities in your town for this type of position. If you are in Portland, OR, the 4 largest TV stations all have morning shows. Each of the 2 or 3 news and social interaction shows on each of the stations will have 1 or 2 interns. So each station is hosting 4-6 interns in the AM and that gives us a total of 16-20 positions in town to look at.
What to expect in the way of duties: (1)If you are fussy about what you do, look for a different job! Interns are sent for coffee, clean up messes, run cameras, draw pictures and anything anybody else is too busy to do. You are here to gather experience on the sight and sound of an industry, so pitch in, grin and bear it! You'll meet more interesting stars and people in one week than a year in regular life! (2) You will be assigned a show and the star(s) will tell you what they want! AM news and social interaction shows are the best internship positions because there is a constant change of scenery, the pressure of getting the news out in a timely manner, keeping scheduled guests available for their appearrances, etc. etc.
Some pay, but do not expect much more than minimum wage, or no wage at all. The station knows how valuable this time is to your career and frequently you will be asked to volunteer your time. With the cost of gas and food these days, it may be that you cannot accept something that doesn't at least pay minmum wage. Figure this out in advance. Sometimes the show you are assigned will pay the tab, while the station merely hires and runs you through their payroll system.
Prepare your resume and be very specific about your training and experience to date. If you have none, state a desire to obtain experience before entering college classes in marketing or performance. Frequently, you become the extra pair of hands for a star on the social interaction show (AM Northwest as an example). You'll hear your star say, "Book this person for an appearrance in a month, give us a 5 minute slot, tell them to send over a copy of the book they are promoting so we can read it - you read it - and give me some notes!" and it goes on like that day after day.
Watch the local TV stations morning news and social shows steadily for about 3-4 weeks. Get to know the people who run the show, be conversant with the terms they use and how the show is run. If they have an audience, get yourself into the audience and watch what goes on - you may be doing it some day soon! Look for the interns! See what they are doing! Do you want to do what they are doing? They are easy to spot, these are the people who are constantly on the move in and out of the set, seldom get an opportunity to sit and do a little bit of everything.
Finally, you feel you know what show you want to work for, you've figured out who in the station heirarchy has the Internship program (frequently your instructor will know this person) or another intern in your program can lead you to this person. Dress up to the standard of the station and just a little bit more! A better tie, a nicer blouse, better shoes, newer jeans, etc. etc. Go to the station after you have called and made an appointment with the person most responsible for the intern programs. Don't go until you can get somebody's attention - its futile without it! Sit down and tell them what you have done to prepare yourself for this interview, and what you feel you can do for the show you want to intern for! Its that simple!
Let us imagine they have no intern spots open but you still want to work there! Go to the show and meet with the producers about your desires and see if you can promote yourself into a volunteer internship! Once there, you frequently can get it turned into a paying job if you are alert and do a good job. A student who wants to learn the trade is a good thing and many professionals you will see, got their first jobs from being an intern. They will always have a soft spot in their heart for the new intern - don't be afraid to put yourself forward and ask for these plums of the industry.
