Where Did the Summer Go?

 NYC Time Warner Offices 

With less than a month left in my internship at The Next List I have come to the point when I begin to ask myself, “Where did the summer go?” It happens every year like clockwork. We lament the summer’s slow beginnings and then suddenly the summer slips through our fingers like so many grains of sand on the overcrowded beaches.

I feel like I just started at CNN and at the same time like I have been here forever because (most of the time) I actually know what I am doing. I have a gotten into a routine and I am used to things like waking up (and going to sleep) early; things that were once foreign to me. My daily tasks as an intern vary depending on the day, what is going on with the show, and who needs help. I jump around between the show's numerous producers just trying to make all their lives easier and assist with anything that needs to get done. I also work closely with the production assistant (PA) on social media and increasing the show's following. 

 As an intern, one of my main jobs is to research information related to the person we are profiling for the show that week or just cool science/technology/entrepreneurial based things going on in current events all to share through our twitter feed. Scouring the web has become a talent of mine and I enjoy finding articles I think are noteworthy and entertaining. There are so many people doing interesting and innovative things in the world and while we cannot profile them all on our show, we can share the love through social media. I use the articles I find to compose many of the show’s tweets for the week. I like writing the tweets because it gives me practice in trying to see what works (and does not) in terms of attracting attention from followers.

Another task I have become skilled at is logging tape- which is a fancy way of saying transcribing interviews. This is a non-glamorous and intern designated task. However, over the past few days of transcribing I have gotten increasingly better and much faster at typing. Also, I find the people we profile and their subsequent interviews for The Next List fascinating. While the task of logging tape is tedious at times, I see this as a way to be involved in every aspect of producing an episode. I like listening to the interviews and then seeing what each producer chooses to include in the final episode. In some cases, they have even asked my opinion and told me to highlight sections I find interesting or important while transcribing.

Not the real CNN building, but a sign
(I was confused on my first day)

Also, in my down time, I have been watching the editors put together the episodes using Final Cut Pro. If you have read any of my blog, you know the love/hate relationship I have with FCP, but these guys (and gal) are all equally amazing. I love seeing each editor’s different style and just watching them work. Scenes that look good to me they will tweak a dozen times until it is just right. I admire their technical skills, but most of all I am in awe of their patience. Our editors will work tirelessly with the producer to make sure the episode is perfect before it airs. Everything from the image on the screen to the music (which I have had a hand in selecting for certain parts) is examined. I find that watching the editing process is one of the most intriguing parts of my job because it really is where everything comes together.

Even though I am excited to start my senior year of college, I plan on enjoying my last few weeks at CNN. Next week the other intern and I are going to shoot and edit our own digital short for the website (more details to follow). I am also working on an intern project that I have been assigned with a group of six others where we are free to do propose anything we can come up with to improve CNN.  I suddenly feel like there is so much to do and so little time. I also have a whole list of things I want to accomplish outside of work such as going to the MoMA, seeing one of the many outdoor movies around the city, and going to see Into the Woods in Central Park. I plan on making the most of this entire experience because who knows when I will get a chance like this again?

Summer in the City: Recap & the Beginning of my #Lifeofanintern

I think I have a little explaining to do on my absence from the world wide web. Most of it can be explained by the fact that my house has terrible wifi and my computer refuses to connect. The second half of that has to do with the fact that I have an internship with a CNN show called "The Next List" (view the Blog here) that can be seen at 2 pm ET on Sundays (shameless plug).

When I was thinking about my plans for the summer I never imagined I would be here. I thought I would be working as a cashier in my local grocery store again and potentially studying for the GREs. I never imagined I would have this opportunity. For once in my life I consider myself lucky. 

I would not have received this internship without the amazing support from the T. Howard Foundation. T. Howard seeks to place students of diverse backgrounds in internships in the media industry. I have been wanting to blog about my orientation with them since it happened in the beginning of June, but the aforementioned circumstances have kept me busy.  Let me just say that it was two and a half wonderful days where I met some amazing people learned more then I could ever have hoped about the industry, networking, and general business etiquette. It really made me think (and I am still thinking) about the kind of life do want to have when I leave college and what that means in terms of a career. All real life, pretty scary things to think about. There is so much about the media industry that I do not know about, so many jobs I could have that I have never even heard of yet and orientation opened my eyes to the numerous possibilities that are out there. After leaving I feel a bit more prepared to take on the world; although I am still partially in denial that such a thing as the "real world" exists. 

Me in my fancy work clothes

Nevertheless I started my internship about a week and a half ago. Things that were so scary on the first day (like remembering everyone's names) have become easy by now and I am getting the hang of working in an office. CNN is a lot more casual then I expected it to be. I was afraid of this huge corporate environment where I would be a lowly intern sent to fetch coffee in a scene not unlike one from The Devil Wears Prada. However, that is not the case at all here. Everyone in my department knows my name and I have worked with each one individually. On my second day I was calling people and looking for a location where we could shoot -not your typically intern tasks. The other intern and I even get to work on our own project as something that we can take away with us. I have only been here a short time and I have learned so much already. 
I have already started thinking about changing my schedule for next year so I can take more production classes. I want to learn more. I want to take the skills I have learned in the classroom and continue applying them in real life situations. I am not sure yet what I want to do with my life, but I know I am taking steps in the right direction to make my dreams (whatever they may be) come true.