“This summer, I worked at WIGS, a YouTube channel that makes scripted, highly produced dramas all with female leads. I spent most of my time working on post–production for the Paloma and Susanna series. It was awesome to be working on the forefront of the digital content movement, and the exposure to established Hollywood directors and producers like Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia was invaluable. I also spent three weeks working as a production assistant on an indie feature called ‘Counting for Thunder,’ a film about a southerner who leaves his job as a Hollywood assistant to go back to Alabama and spend time with his dying mother. It was amazing to learn first–hand how professional crews operate, and the opportunity to contribute to the project was very exciting.”
— Nihaar Sinha, Wharton ’14, Post–Production and Development Intern at WIGS
“I worked at Nickelodeon Animation Studios this summer, and it was everything my 7–12–year–old self hoped it would be. Specifically, I was the production intern on 'The Fairly OddParents,' a show that, yes, is still on after a whopping 13 years. Although they still managed to give me the usual intern grunt work (hello, scanner, my old friend…), as a “Nicktern” I was working alongside and befriending multiple–Emmy–winning artists, was able to sit in on recording sessions and writers’ meetings, and was even given classes on things like production and storyboarding by show directors and series creators alike. I even got to show (and sell!) my own artwork in the official Nickelodeon gallery after lots of help from the shows’ art department. It was incredible to work on a show I truly loved as a kid. The only thing that would’ve made it better? Slime.”
— Faryn Pearl, College ‘14, Production Intern at “Fairly Odd Parents”, 34th Street Ego Editor
“I worked for David Stern (one of the writers behind the cartoon 'Free Birds' that’s premiering later this year) and Stuart Gibbs (an Edgar–nominated children’s book author). I mostly helped them do research and proofreading. Additionally, I wrote coverage, ran errands and even worked on a couple sets. One of the really big perks about the internship was that it was a chance for me to get a lot of my own writing done, which was great, since it’s rare to get a couple professional writers who are willing to read your work and give you feedback. It was also just really convenient to be in Los Angeles and to get around the city, since I’m planning on moving out there after I graduate.”— Danny Eisenberg, College ’14, RealArts @ Penn Intern for David Stern and Stuart Gibbs
“While in L.A. this summer, my thesis research became a low–budget, pseudo–noir detective movie. I spent a lot of time in museums, libraries and archives digging up information, as well as rendezvousing with several (secret) contacts in odd locations to track down certain famous missing artifacts. The first case involves Alice Brady’s 1937 Best Supporting Actress Award (which she won for ‘In Old Chicago’), which was allegedly stolen onstage during the ceremony when an unknown man accepted the award for the bedridden winner and, reportedly, vanished with it forever. The next concerns a 1952 home invasion that resulted in the burglarization of Vivian Leigh’s 1951 Best Actress Award for ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ The final case concerns Hattie McDaniel’s 1939 Best Supporting Actress Award for ‘Gone With the Wind,’ which went missing from its display at Howard University during the civil rights protests in the 1960s. In short, my research trip made me feel like the dogged, unlikely protagonist of a heist movie, and I managed to uncover some amazing information that I’m not yet at liberty to disclose."
— Olivia Rutigliano, College ‘14, Thesis Research on stolen Academy Awards for the Undergraduate Humanities Forum
