Months before I embarked on my journey to the famous and fabled city of angels, I was fully equipped with a California-centric playlist and an extensive "LA Bucket List." I had solidified an internship with a company that produced one of my favorite movies, Nebraska, and was going to be living in beautiful Burbank, the inspiration behind another favorite of mine, Edward Scissorhands. Excited? Me? Pshhh…. Fast forward to February, and I somehow was the last one to arrive in the entire program! But I hit the ground running. Mondays and Tuesdays were devoted to classes: Screenwriting, Entertainment Production and Media Law and Ethics. Wednesday-Friday of every week, I spent 10 hours a day interning at Echo Lake Entertainment, a management and production company known for its character-driven narratives.
Four months later and I'm sitting in my fully packed up apartment, trying to decide on a movie to watch on the cross-country flight back to Elon University, and missing my 9-7 "job." This semester was the first time I experienced such a structured work schedule, and while it took some adapting at first, it quickly became comfortable and exciting routine. My internship experience at Echo Lake was undoubtedly the best part of my semester for so many reasons. The people were incredible, the work was challenging and taught me much more about the entertainment industry, and the environment was welcoming and respectful. I read countless scripts for pilots, mini-series, sit-coms, feature films and foreign films; I learned how to properly transfer several million calls simultaneously; I covered the desks of assistants on multiple occasions, and I conducted various research projects for several different films and television shows in the works. The projects were my favorite part, as they often involved creativity, analysis and thinking outside the box. An example of a project is finding directors that could potentially direct a certain script. I would first read and analyze the script, find out exactly what kind of direction it called for, and subsequently research directors that have done similar things in the past. I found myself interpreting scripts in entirely new ways, a writer’s vision blooming in my mind in several different manners. The hefty list of directors I already knew was nothing compared to the mental list I left the internship with, as I found so many new voices in my research.
I did not know anyone going into the internship, but have left with several new friends and wonderful people to reach out to for guidance. I learned fun facts about various projects that are in production or have already been made (which very much makes me feel “in on the joke”); I've read the scripts of numerous productions that will be produced (SPOILER ALERT!), and I have become more confident in my abilities to work in this field. Apart from my internship, I made 2 short films, wrote a feature-film treatment and learned the ins and outs of entertainment law. Both of the short films I made with my friend Tommy Mackey were retro and stylized. I am very proud of both of them, and am infitely grateful for the experience of producing content in Los Angeles, as it is much more difficult than producing in rural North Carolina. My feature film treatment is in a great place and I believe I will continue to develop it, until it is a feature script. Storytelling through the visual medium of motion pictures just brings me so much satisfaction and elation. The various law terms and realities I have learned are inherently important to my career, and invaluable to maintaining safety, integrity and success in this field. Overall, a great semester.
I have never wavered in my passion to follow a career in entertainment, and spending the semester in LA was simply a test-run for what is sure to be my future upon graduation. The question of my dream job still remains. And the media industry is ever changing. I have had lots of "on set" experience at Elon through a number of productions, and out here in LA, I had the experience of working in a development office. I love both, so here's hoping that my senior year of continuously writing and creating content will help my decision making process.
POST GRAD EDIT: Senior year helped. Need to be writing and creating, that’s just my forever thing. But will likely start off in an office. Check out everything I made senior year under “videos.” Woo!