I Spent the fall entire semester worrying about what I was going to do at the end of college and what I wanted to be, now I am sitting waiting for school to and so I can go and be a part of the world that is right in front of me. All weekend I worked on a MTV production called WANNABEES and then tomorrow I will be working on a MTV2 production called UNPLUGGED. I am still an intern so I am not getting paid for these positions but on site I am treated as a Production Associate, which I would like to become once I graduate. I am very excited about the future and what is to come.
I am working in the Production Management division of MTV Networks. Production Management is the division of the company, which makes the production happen. They get a show idea from the creative teams and then turn the show into reality. They make the budget and then they scout out locations for the show, they hire camera crews, caterers, get insurance, fill out guest release forms and basically anything else that goes into the production aside from the actually filming and making for the show. It is production management's responsibility that production stays within the budget and if they do not that they have a valid reason for not and that there is money available for the extra cost. And they are also in charge of all the pay sheets. When a shoot takes place the production management team are the first people on site and the last people to leave. The production management division is divided into different teams. Each team is assigned different shows for which they are to work on. My team is the special weekends and studio show team. The shows that have fallen under my teams control over the past three months are THE NEW ORLEANS MARTI SPECIAL, ROCK AND JOCK, SPRING BREAK I BET YOU WILL, SPRING BREAK BUSTED and all studio productions.
I started by internship on February 8th 2002. I was so scared and had no real idea about what to expect when I got to the office. Everyone was very nice and understanding, when I got a little confused (which happen a lot at the beginning). On the first day I unpacked a lot of supplies that had just come back from the ROCK AND JOCK and MARDI GRAS shows my team had just worked on. Other then that, to be honest I really spent most of the first day in the wrong elevator. The Viacom building has different elevators, which go to different floors, and well it took me a while to figure out what goes where. So after the first day I was really excited about the people and the company but kind of worried that I was going to spend my whole time at MTV in the storage closet with supplies. But, I did not have to worry for long though because before the end of my first week I had an opportunity to go into the studio and see what things where like in there. On my first Friday it just so happened that Britney Spears was in the studio. It was nuts. There was security everywhere and little girls screaming (actually there were even boys screaming). She was coming to TRL (the daily live show in the studio) because her movie was coming out that night and TRL is the perfect way for her to market her movie to the right audience. So me and another intern did coat check for the audience members of TRL. I know that coat check girl is nothing too glamorous but I was just happy to be a part making something happen and getting an idea about what goes on within the studio.
As I sit here trying to think of details to let people in on my internship it almost makes my head spin. I have learned so many things and met so many people that I feel as if to go into any story I would right would lack detail and without detail there story would not be done justice. So I guess I should tell you about the biggest lessons all the stories collectively have taught me. Number one: Take the opportunity to meet people, especially interns. People are either in the same place as you or were once in the same place as you. They want to help you and unless you make yourself accessible to them, they are not going to just hand things to you. Which takes me to my second lesson: Take risk. Even if you do not get everything right ail the time people do notice that you are trying and then they will remember you for it. Even asking for help can feel risky sometimes if you feel like you are supposed to know what you are doing, but just put yourself out there. I am the youngest of four children and I hate asking people to help me, but its better to ask then to do something wrong. The third thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as an 8-hour workday. If things need to be done then they need to be done, regardless of the time. I have broken so many plans since I started at MTV simply because I had to stay on sight or in the office because something needed to be done. This is the nature of the business and it will never change.
Those are the three biggest lessons I have learned since I came to MTV but the biggest question I have been asked is: "Do you meet famous people working at MTV." Although I am not in the studio all the time, I did actually get to meet a few famous people. It is the craziest thing when you are in the studio and someone famous just walks by you, the first couple times I actually completely lost all sense of what I was supposed to be doing. But, then again, famous people are just like you and me they are only on television. The green room is where the guest get ready before they go on whatever show they are at the studio for and I unfortunately was not aware that the green room was not green at all and just happen to wander in there one day. It was my first day on a new show called VIDEO BLOCKS and I did not really know what I was supposed to be doing so I decided to take a seat on this be comfortable coach I found. Well about 5 minutes later the band Good Charlotte walks in. Realizing that I was not supposed to be in this room I jump up and yelped, "I'm not supposed to be in here" they kind of laughed and told me it was okay. I was so scared I was going to be in trouble but then again this was an amazing band and they told me it was okay to sit back down, so I did. They ended up being really nice people and I did not get in trouble because they were not mad, but I defiantly learned where I was not supposed to be hanging out. Later that same day I was walking around the studio and saw the lead singer from one of my favorite bands Unwritten Law. He was just standing around looking kind of lost so I said hi and told him I had been at his concert the night before and went to walk away. I guess he really was lost because he kept trying to talk to me. I was weird to be talking to someone who I had paid money to go see the night before; he ended up coming back to the studio about two months later and remembered who I was so that was pretty exciting and made all my friends jealous.
As my last days at MTV approach I am ready for a rest but I am sad to be leaving a place I feel so a part of. I feel like I am leaving the network as a part of the team I have worked with and not just as an intern. The group that I have been working for have told be that once my Canadian working visa goes through that they are defiantly going to be looking for me to help fill roles a freelance production associate on shows. I am very excited about this and can only believe that as time goes on that will figure out what it is I want to be doing and that hopefully my friends and mentors at MTV will be there to help.