Internship

Long time, no see. After my last post, I simply was not getting anywhere in my quest to raid Hollywood. My dreams seemed to be more and more like they were just that--dreams.

Suddenly, I was granted an interview for an internship at a TV production company and after interviewing, I would begin in a few days. One of the golden pieces of advice for entertainment is to start off at an internship. As a college graduate, finding one was extremely difficult. By California law, companies must compensate interns with either pay or college credit. They'd rather not pay you, so most require you to be a full-time student.

I was lucky to find this internship that did not require you to be a full-time student. Here are some things I've learned:

• Personality counts for a lot in the interview. You may not have the best experience on your resume, but that's why you're doing an internship. Make a good impression. Be eager to learn and ready to do menial work in which you might not really learn much.
• Interning is a golden piece of advice for a reason. To get a job in entertainment, you need that first door to be opened. Internships have the most easily opened doors, and it could lead to more doors.
• Once you start an internship, learn, learn, learn. Again, your menial work might not give you much experience. But ask questions. Talk to people. Volunteer to do more than expected. Actively try get a good recommendation for your next career move.

So, how was my internship experience?  I was given a trial run of a month, and I decided not to continue at the end of the trial. I know, that doesn't follow that golden advice, the age-old semi-rule of interning. While I may not have necessarily made the best move for my career, I needed to take care of me. Here's my situation: I'm a college graduate with student loans to pay off and a dying car. I couldn't afford to do a full-time unpaid internship. I also wasn't learning much from this particular opportunity. I felt the experience did not justify the time. Most likely, it would only lead to another unpaid internship. Not  to mention, this internship made me want to pull my brains out with the amount of boredom I had to endure.

I still suggest you absolutely intern if you can. I would even recommend this particular internship that I did. My personal situation simply called for an end to it. But especially if you're like me, and your resume does not have anything related to entertainment, you have to start somewhere. Find an internship. And learn from it. Really. Especially if you're a student and it will be easier to land one.