What did you do for your summer vacation?
You have answered it a million times, written essays on it and probably never have an exciting answer. That is, unless you are 20 year old Manny Jaquez, a senior Writing for Film and Television Major with a minor in health communications and worked just feet away from the president of ABC.
As an intern for the Entertainment Programming division of ABC Television, Manny did the typical tasks like “mastering the coffee run” and creating new filing systems, but he also got to do some pretty incredible things and experienced television in a whole new way. He updated logs, watched pilots, read scripts and saw the inner-workings of one of the biggest entertainment corporations in the world. The experience was incomparable; Jaquez had a hard time choosing the best part.
For a television junkie like Manny, it was “really exciting to watch the pilots, [he] saw everything for the new season and not just the pilots that will air, but also multiple cuts with different plots and parts re-casted.” Watching each version of the pilots was not just entertaining, but informative too. Jaquez says, “I was able to compare and contrast what I learned in the classroom and seeing how that is or is not applied to scripts in the real world…and to see how the executives give notes and the thought process behind each one; it was fascinating.”
Then, there were the people. As a part of the internship Manny was able to have one-on-one meetings with the eternally busy executives of his department. “I am so grateful for the chance to talk to them, I really wanted to know their stories and to find out how they got to where they are because that’s the best way to learn: listening.” Overall, he says, “I love the company because they really care about their employees not just as workers, but as people and their voices and what they have to say.”
For anybody who wants an internship, Manny has a few pieces of advice. Starting with interviewing, something he is all too familiar after going through five rounds of them to get the ABC internship. Manny says for phone interviews, “make sure your surroundings are ideal, quiet and relaxed…the interviewers want to get a feel for who you are as a person, after all, they will have to work with you; never forget to be professional or yourself.” Once you get your internship, Manny recommends listening. It may seem simple, but as he explains “it is your job as the intern to know not just what they are saying, but what they mean and to stay one step ahead of them.”
Although sure he wants to work in the television field, Jaquez is still undecided on a future career. Manny hopes to figure it out during his semester in LA where he wants to continue his work with ABC, but this time as a part of the studio department. After getting to know the programming and logistical side of the industry, the studios offers a more in-depth look at the creative production part of television.