I started sending out resumes in July for my internship that would start in September. I went on four different interviews. Some were only fifteen minutes others were over an hour and involved being interviewed by several different people. As a whole I enjoyed the interview experience because it prepared me for getting a job after I graduate. I was pleased to hear from all of the interviews I went on that I got them. I had to choose between Cablevision, Madison Square Garden, All My Children, and Live! With Regis and Kelly. Live! was my first choice so my decision was made once I heard from them.
I was to be working in the Promotions department of Live! I have to report at 8:30am on Tuesdays and Fridays and I soon added Wednesdays to my schedule too. On my first day I met another intern who I would be working with on Tuesdays. At 8:48am we do the promo feed from the control room, where we send out the promos two days in advance to our affiliates. Then we pick up the feed upstairs and drop it off to a guy named Rubin who does I don't know what with it. After that we went back up to the office and watched the show on TV. At about 9:50am, ten minutes before the show was over, we went down to the studio. We got to do promos and tags with Regis and Kelly. I have to say it was a pretty cool experience. On the floor was Regis, Kelly, my supervisor, Michael Gelman (the producer), the other intern, and me. Regis and Kelly read special promos for "Kid Inventor Week" and tags for affiliates. For instance, the New York tag would be "Watch us on WABC-TV New York." They did that for a whole bunch of different networks. That was something that definitely stood out about my first day. The rest of the day continued just like any other day there.
A typical day in the promos department at Live! isn't terribly exciting but it's still interesting. First I'll tell you what I mean by promos. If you watch ABC at all throughout the day you will probably see one of our promos. It's those little commercials that say, "Next time on Live! With Regis and Kelly...actor..." and there will be a clip of the actor or singer or
whoever happens to be coming on. We organize those. We talk to the publicist of the person coming on the show and get clips from television shows the person is on or electronic press kits (EPKs) for a movie he/she might be in. We also get CDs and video clips for musicians appearing on the show.
A typical day starts at 8:30am. I report to the 6th floor where the promos office is. At
8:48am we go to watch the promo feed in the control room. Then I pick up the feed tape upstairs and bring it to Rubin like I said before. We then go upstairs to watch the show from the office.
When the show is over I go to the 5th floor to do a guest update. I check if anyone has been added or dropped from the lineup of the upcoming shows for about a month. If anyone has been added I go back upstairs and change it on the update, print it out, and fax it to DAW (the editing company we work with). I then find the guest's last appearance on the show using a system we have on the computer. I have to then go down to the tape library and find that tape, bring it back upstairs, cue it to the guest we are looking for, and bring it over to DAW which is about seven blocks away. After I get back, sometimes, if someone has not beaten me to it, I will call the guest's publicist and try to get clips or an EPK for what they are promoting. If they are in Los Angeles it usually takes a couple of days but if they are in New York sometimes it only takes a couple of hours to receive.
If we receive more tapes we check them to see what's on them and label them. I also log the tape from that day's Live! and pick out funny exchanges between Regis and Kelly. I take
those tapes over to DAW. Sometimes I have to go to National Video Services on 42nd Street or the BMW building on 57th to drop off tapes, usually for the nighttime talk show "Iyanla." That is also an ABC show so we sometimes do work for them too.
Basically, that is my whole day, making phone calls, doing guest updates several times a day, dropping off tapes, and logging tapes. It's pretty cool. They treat the interns well since our supervisors are all former interns. They don't have us picking up coffee, which I heard they make interns do in other departments. It sounds like we do the grunt work but we pretty much do the same stuff they do. On days they are having problems getting people to fill the audience, like the first day back after the World Trade Center attack, the interns are sent down to the studio to fill some seats. It's nice because the woman that is in charge of the audience is really sweet and appreciates it so much.
Everyone in the ABC building is really nice. I've run into a lot of people who do the news on WABC, like Bill Evans, Steve Bartelstein, Lori Stokes, Dr. Jay Adlersberg, Bill Beutel, and NJ Burkett. Of course I've seen Regis and Kelly and I run into Michael Gelman almost on a daily basis. I really don't care about seeing all these people although it does make the day a little more exciting; it's mostly exciting to tell other people because a lot of people seem to be impressed by celebrity.
I enjoy going to DAW because that's where they edit all the promos for the shows. Everyone there is really nice and willing to answer any questions I may have. I'm interested in editing on the AVID, which is what they use so it's the perfect place to ask questions.
Although it feels as though my supervisors are sometimes playing musical chairs, I get along with all of them. Sometimes we get lunch together and talk about jobs and what I want to do in the future. Hopefully, they will be able to help me out. I know that if there is no job in that department a lot of people on our floor and even the building will recognize me and hopefully think of me if a job should come up.
All in all, the first couple weeks of my internship have been fun and a learning experience. I enjoy the workplace setting. It's a completely different experience working there than it is just talking about it in school. I would recommend getting an internship to anyone who thought about it because it prepares you for the "real world" more than a classroom setting ever could.