Insider Knowledge: Experiences in a television, radio and film internship
This Insider Knowledge post features Kaiti Cullerton, alumni of the Television, Radio and Film Program (TRF). Cullerton detailed her internship experiences at Grandma’s House Entertainment in Los Angeles.
Cullerton was made aware of the internship opportunity at Grandma’s House through an e-mail from Professor Schoonmaker that was distributed to the TRF student listserv. There are several Syracuse alumni at the company, and Cullerton believes that connection helped her land her interview. Cullerton noted that during her interview (held over skype) she made sure to express enthusiasm for the company’s work and showed them her personality.
When Cullerton began her internship, the company was going into production on a TV show. At that time Cullerton found that her schedule was a little crazy.
Cullerton was on set as a production assistant (PA) on Mondays and Wednesdays and worked in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cullerton found that she was lucky to get experience in both areas, because internships are often limited to one or the other.
During Cullerton’s “set days” she helped set up video village, made sure everyone had what they needed, set up and broke down lunch and kept the set locked down. Cullerton’s office days were spent brainstorming and developing new ideas for TV shows, in the reality and scripted realms. She had the opportunity to sit in on and participate in brainstorming meetings.
Cullerton also had the opportunity to PA on a side project for Grandma’s House’s Director of Development.
Cullerton found that the best part of her internship experience was being hired as Grandma’s House’s Executive Assistant. In addition to the new job, she also found that getting hands-on experience that complimented her Newhouse education and meeting so many wonderful people were also great parts of her internship.
The TV show that Cullerton worked on is titled Gigi Does It starring David Krumholtz and will premier on IFC in October.
LinkedIn - Delisa Morris
Delisa Morris is a current master's in PR candidate and third-year law student at Syracuse University. She studied political science and communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her bachelor's degree. Delisa is originally from Chicago.