What It Is Like To Be A Hollywood Intern

Greetings. This is Drew and I thought I'd give my insight to what it is to be an intern working in Hollywood.

First, I intern at two production companies. Radar Pictures and Thunder Road Pictures. Radar is located in Beverly Hills and Thunder Road (hereafter referred to as TR) located on the Warner Brothers studio lot.

TR is really cool. I love walking on the lot in the mornings from the parking garage. Its cool walking around the studio, past the soundstages and seeing different TV shows and movies being filmed. Everyday I pass Ellen Degeneres' studio where her show is filmed, George Clooney's office, and Clint Eastwood's offices. So far on the lot I've seen Angela Basset, the dude who plays the Pie Maker on "Pushing Daisies", the girl who played Luke's sister in "Gilmore Girls", Clint Eastwood, Eric LaSelle, Ellen, her British DJ, the short bald angry doctor from "ER", the guy who plays Chuck in "Chuck", the bearded red haired doctor from "ER", and some others that I can't remember.

At TR I do errands on and off the lot and I read a lot of scripts and write coverage (basically a brief outline of the script with my comments). I would like to think that I can identify good writing, only because most of the stuff I read isn't the best, which makes me aware of my shortcomings as a writer. TR films include "Firewall" with Harrison Ford, "We Are Marshall" and the upcoming "Clash of the Titans" remake.

On the WB lot there are lots of production companies who have "first look" agreements with Warner Brothers. That means these production companies, when they have new projects in the works, Warner Brothers gets to see it first and then have the right to produce it or pass on it. TR is one of these companies, so on the lot there are many production companies.

Radar is a very different but equally awesome opportunity. There I answer phones, read tons of scripts and do coverage and notes, and other various office duties. They are located on the 14 floor and have a great view. Back in the day, Radar was called Interscope Communications and they did movies like the "Bill and Ted" films, "Single White Female" and recently they did "Jumangi", "Runaway Bride", "Pitch Black", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Zathura", and "The Last Samurai". Interscope also had a music label who first signed Eminem. So these guys are serious big wigs in town.

I really enjoy being an intern. More so if I was being paid...but that's how it goes. Thankfully, I will not be an intern forever and not for too much longer. Many of the jr. executives that I've spoken to all started as unpaid interns. From here I hope to get an assistant job at either a production company or an agency. From there its just a series of progressions within the film corporate ladder with hopes of being a producer eventually.

So that is my interning experience thus far. I still have a couple months left and both Radar and TR are helping me find an assistant job, which will be really nice, especially for Sarah (take the burden off of her for a change!). With that said, I am so lucky to have Sarah as my wife. She is so patient and understanding with me and me wanting to film here in LA. Its hard financially on us and it has been frustrating for Sarah and she has put up with a lot of crap, but I love her so much and I couldn't have asked for a beautiful, supportive, and goofy wife. I'm glad I can be doing what I love with the hope of providing her a comfortable life. She deserves it.