I spent the summer in Boston at WGBH (the flagship PBS station) with the show American Experience. While there, I learned more about myself, the media industry and working in a professional office than I ever could have imagined. Here are a few of the lessons I found most valuable this summer:
Dress the Part: I showed up to the first day at WGBH in my favorite 1960s era dress to find many people in the office wearing jeans. I felt out of place and overdressed. However, I remembered some very important advice my boss at my last internship gave me. She constantly told the interns to “always dress better than the person sitting next to you.” The next morning, I decided to opt for another vintage dress–this time bright yellow. By the end of the day the office was affectionately referring to me as “the Mad Men intern.” “Dressing the part” helped me become recognizable in the office, especially in a position–like an intern–that changes so quickly.
Introduce Yourself to EVERYONE: I made a point to say “hi” to the executive producer every day he was in the office. We got into a routine and began every day with a “Hi, Mark,” and “Hi, Laurel,” exchange. One day, I was in the web producer’s office getting briefed on an assignment and Mark came rushing into her office explaining, “I know you guys are working on something, but I really need Laurel for something else today.” Apparently, making sure to say hi to him, had assured that I stood out in his mind.
Share What You’re Good At: When I met with the web producer at WGBH, I made a point to mention that I had a lot of experience in social media. Excitedly, she yelled down the hall to the other person on the web team, “YES! She likes social!” Quickly thereafter, I started receiving a multitude of assignments relating to social media. I did everything from researching timelines relating to upcoming films to fact checking posts before they went live to writing content for Facebook, Twitter and the blog and even live-tweeting a press event relating to the film Freedom Summer.
Volunteer: Halfway through my first day, the series manager approached my boss and said she had a project for an intern. Without even waiting to hear what the project was, I popped up from my cubicle and volunteered myself. The project ended up being very tedious market research regarding Vietnamese and veteran organizations across the country. However, I soon became very knowledgeable about the kind of market they were looking for and often became the point-person for distribution questions relating to film.
Make The Work For Yourself: At some point in the summer the web manager casually mentioned to me that she had been working on an on-going project to develop a web series as an extension of American Experience. I pointed out to her that I had done a lot of YouTube related projects and had even been a video blogger for a period of time. She then forwarded me her notes on the project and gave me the task of coming up with a few possible episodes. At the end of the day, she was in a rush to finish up her work and get home to her family. Instead of offering to meet with her the next week, I offered to make a pilot episode of the series. That weekend, I wrote a script, made storyboards and converted my apartment into a film studio to shoot and edit a 5-minute short. I shared the episode with her the next week and she absolutely loved it. Together, we worked to revise some of the narrative aspects of the episode and now they are using the episode to pitch the project to funders with the intention of producing the series this fall. Working on the web series was by far the most rewarding project I did this summer. I got to research aspects of American history that fascinate me, use my media skills and work with really smart, supportive people. It was so rewarding. I can’t wait to see what happens to the project in the future.
Editor’s Note: This guest blogger was a 2014 Scripps College Internship Grant recipient. To learn more about the 2015 Internship Grant process, click here. Deadline Feb. 5.