Your final blog post is  a reflection on your internship experience. In thinking about what you did over the course of the past semester, include information about the following:

1. There are a few important questions to consider coming out of an internship: is this a company would like to work for full time? are there positions in the company/field I would like to pursue? OR Having done this internship, I know this is a career/industry/position I would never want to have. Which one of these describes your situation? Be specific. (For example, I worked as a production assistant for 6 months and after running around getting coffee, sitting for hours on a set wait for one thing or another, I knew production was not for me.)
2. What is the most important thing–good or bad–that you learned from this experience?
3. Did you network as much as you could? Are they people you will be able to stay in touch with?
4. Would you recommend this internship to other students at QC?

Feel free to add other information that might not be covered in these questions. Throughout the semester, you have offered insightful comments and questions about your internship experience. I wish each of you the very best in your search for a paid position -- the one of your dreams.

Dr. Fuqua

How I will make it in Broadcasting

After many years of being in an out of college since 2003, I will finally be graduating in may of 2015 with my Bachelors in Media Studies from Queens, It has been a long journey but it’s finally coming clear as to what I’ll need to do in order to begin my career in Broadcasting. I have 7 months of school left before the job hunt is officially on. Until then, there are a few steps I’ll need to do in order to best increase my chances at securing an entry-level job in the field.

As some of you know about me already, I’ve been lucky enough this semester to land an internship at NBC/Universal, on Saturday Night Live in their photography department. This internship is only a small step in the greater pursuit of my intended career path in broadcasting. As it comes to a close, There are few things that I feel I need to do before my time at SNL comes to a close, such as:
Revise my resume with my mentor in the department to help me accurately describe the detail of my day-to-day duties
Reach out to the Internship department at NBC to find other available internships for the upcoming spring semester
Asserting my career intentions in conversation to my superiors, to see if they’re in any position to help me further my pursuit.


 As Chapter 1 states, aside from the educational background, job recruiters in the broadcasting industry look more towards real world experience, rather than just the education in the subject. If I can’t get a job right out of college, I’ll bite the bullet and continue to intern within NBC or elsewhere if offered. One optimistic point of chapter 1 is that it states that in the area of broadcasting , jobs are expected to increase by 16.7 percent by 2016. With already a foot in the door at a major network like NBC, I plan on using it to my fullest advantage. In order to do that, I’ll need to conduct thorough research of my potential short and long term opportunities that come available.

Felix Nunez JR, Blog Post 2

Hello fellow interns.

First I'd like to say that I'm excited to be part of this small community of students, all reaching to advance our careers within the world of Media Arts. I will give a short introduction to my time in the entertainment industry, and how I ended up interested in the world of media.

I started my secondary education many years ago, majoring in Jazz at City College. Coming from a family of musicians, it was the logical move at the time. Halfway into completing my B.F.A., I joined a Bachata band called Xtreme (Bachata is the fastest growing and arguably the most successful latin genre today). I co-produced, co-wrote and also recorded on their albums (guitars and bass), eventually winning an ASCAP award for a song titled "Through that Window."

Because of the demand for travel, I decided to drop out of school. I can say I lived the "rockstar life" for a period of about five years while in the band. However, I later realized that this lifestyle while fun and glamorous, would eventually end. So, before it did, I decided to go back to school. However, I wasn't interested in a B.F.A. degree in Jazz anymore, but rather in the world of filmmaking. That's when I decided to enroll at Queens College.

I'm an avid fan of film, and as such I'm always looking forward to seeing the next thought provoking movie. In 2004, a documentary (and the only of its kind) on the genre of Bachata was released, called Santo Domingo Blues. It attempts to shed light on the genre from its rural beginnings in the Dominican Republic, up until the time it started to have an international appeal. However, I thought it fell way short in its execution. Many of us in the Bachata community felt insulted, and I personally rejected it as a documentary.

In July of 2013, a prominent Bachata guitar player friend of mine and myself decided to plan our own documentary on the genre. Eventually we formed a core group of six (a writer, a graphic designer, two producers, an attorney, and me as director), held several meetings, and laid out a two year goal to complete the project. As of today, it is tentatively titled: From Brothels to Billboard- The Rise of Bachata. We've been traveling back and forth to the Dominican Republic approximately every four months, since October 2013, and looking to have the project completed by July 2015.

Though I started this project while still in school, its completion is my first goal after graduation. My direct boss at NGL Media where I intern at (Benjamin DeJesus) has been highly influential in my development as a producer/filmmaker, himself having found success in the field (he co-produced and directed the PBS documentary, John Leguizamo's Tales from a Ghetto Klown).

I read chapter six in the book Careers in Media, which directly focuses on the branch of Motion Pictures. It was a fresh reminder on all that is required in this very competitive but rewarding field. Reading the two personal profiles in the chapter, I wholeheartedly agree with something echoed by both individuals, of which I quickly came to realize in the entertainment business- have a great and memorable personality and make connections, connections connections!

The websites in appendix B in the book that most pertain to my short term goals are:

www.2-pop.com
www.afi.com
www.dga.org
www.mandy.com

Though I will be engaging these sites thoroughly and exhaustively along the course of our documentary, I will just as importantly be consulting the home for the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (www.nalip.org), as well as the site for Latino Public Broadcasting (www.lpbp.org). Both of these were suggested to me by NGL Media in order to raise and recoup funds for our project.

Blog Post 2

I found chapter 1 very interesting in the ways that they spoke about the media industry. I had learned about a lot of sectors from taking the Media Management course with Professor Einstein a few semesters ago. The class completely changed the way that I looked at the media industry and what I would be setting out to do. I had always wanted to become a "host" or "broadcaster," like anyone with big dreams and aspirations. Now, not that I do not still have those dreams, I have found that there are so many positions available  behind the scenes, it's not just being the host, the director. There are so many people that are apart of the team to get a film, a television show, a PR campaign, an ad, etc. out there and finished!

After doing several PA jobs and networking through family friend's, or at events, I really fell in love with development and production. I enjoy the idea of being part of a job from start to finish, sitting at a writer's table bouncing back and forth with ideas, and then being able to watch a project be executed and finalized.

I am graduating this May, as I am a senior. After I graduate, in order to find a job, I am definitely going to begin my research before graduation. This means, researching openings and opportunities through numerous websites. I am definitely going to apply through the big name companies, such as CBS, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney, NBCUniversal, etc. But, I also like the entertainment/media databases that I've seen online such as EntertainmentCareers.net. Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn are also great websites to find companies that are hiring. I definitely want to bulk up my resume by outsourcing to help PA on shoots in the NYC area so I am able to add them to my resume as well as my internships. As I have read in the textbook, as well as have experienced and heard from my peers and professors, the more experience one has on their resume, the more one will stand out to an employer. I definitely like to do my research on companies before I apply, such as the type of programs they produce, meaning the genre, where they shoot, how big the programs are, what sector (radio, film, TV, web). I also like to research the company and see how big/small and how many employees they have, if at all possible to find. Sometimes, I'll look through LinkedIn at the company's page, because employees sometimes post there. I like to research different events that apply to my interests in television production where I can network. Most recently, I went to the New York TV Festival in NYC at the SVA Theater and was able to see numerous producers and writers speak, and I was able to even ask audience questions to some of them, like Jennifer Konner from Girls, one of my favorite series on TV. She was able to share how she got her career started, that she started as a temp in the 90's for numerous people, building a network and client list that was able to jumpstart her career. Living in NYC is definitely an advantage because there are so many different events that are available to network. When I was looking for an internship, I knew there were some production companies I really wanted to intern at, yet didn't know whether or not they accepted interns. I Googled for days for specific companies, looking at how to contact people there. I've even looked on social media for people who work within the company or the company's social media page specifically. Most recently, I reached out to Last Week Tonight's Twitter page and asked if they hired interns. I was responded to by a producer via private direct message with her email and how to send over my resume and information. Connecting on the social media site landed me an in person interview for the show's second season this spring. I've found that taking risks and putting myself out there with people via email or social media sounds kind of odd at first, but it's a way to get my resume in front of someone at the company. A lot of companies that I am interested outsource their employment to social media I have actually discovered. Researching production companies also helps me find companies that produce shows I'm interested in such as comedy and comedy docu-series. Many of their websites also have a contact or connect with us button on the bottom of their websites, and provide an outside source to apply for employment. I think that interning has given me a way to see exactly how a company works from the inside, what the day-to-day life is like. Also, interviewing for internships has also taken away some of the nerves/anxiety of the interview process. Of course, interviewing for a full-time position may be a little more nerve-wracking, but at least we've had the experience! I'm most definitely going to continue looking for networking events around the city to attend before I graduate in May, and also hopefully when I obtain a Spring internship, I am able to network there, too, as well as fill my resume more.