For this particular blog post, I want to touch on the importance of, and the means in which internships are a useful and necessary experience for college students looking to break into the entertainment management profession. Like any career track, this is one in which experience and exposure to the true nature of the job is vital for young college students who are approaching graduation and getting ready to start their careers. In this post I will attempt to talk specifically about the logistics of these internships, as well as how they can be important in the grand scheme of things for entertainment management.
Depending on what type of entertainment management track one would want to go on (films, music, sports, etc.), the locations of internships for college students are varied. For the purposes of this post, and based on most of them being present in one of these locations, let’s focus on Los Angeles and New York being the home base for these job opportunities. That being said, most of these internships are during the summer months, and can be either unpaid or paid, however most of the time they are unpaid opportunities.
For a detailed list of opportunities for this upcoming summer in Los Angeles from Entertainment Careers, click here. For another strong resource in pursuing an internship in entertainment management, click here.
Internships for college students at the top entertainment firms in Los Angeles are extremely competitive, with companies taking the best and brightest from respected institutions around the country. Companies like CAA, one of the world’s most famous entertainment representative companies in all major entertainment genres, has a very detailed application process, provided above, that allows students to apply for work in major cities around the country, including Miami and Nashville.
Part of the CAA internships information page. CAA is known as one of the world’s best entertainment management firms and has a renowned internship program.
While most internships are open to undergraduate and graduate students, I think it is better suited for upper level undergraduates to pursue these internships. While it does not hurt to do it as an underclassman, doing so later into one’s college career would leave him or her better suited to enter the industry after an upcoming graduation.
As mentioned before, having a student internship in entertainment management before graduating is a smart bet for a number of reasons. Not only will it provide great experience and knowledge about this job path before making a career out of it, it would also provide an opportunity to make a lasting impression on those who matter. In other words, hard work in a summer internship would go a log way in ensuring that those making job hiring decisions at various agencies would know who you are, and feel confident that you could provide something to help them. In this sense, internships in this field, as in others, are a means to be hired based on what you can provide in these internships.
Overall, whether or not students feel the need to pursue internships in entertainment management, it is simply important to understand the realities of these internships.
Angad Kanwal 