Finding My Way In LA

At Ellen, the whole process was a bit different because I rotated to five departments throughout my time there. The audience department was my first and favorite department. I loved working with all the excited fans, whether it was on the phone or when they actually arrived at the studio for the taping. Probably the hardest thing for me to get used to was making people get excited to dance in the Riff Raff Room after they realized they wouldn’t be able to get into the studio audience. The staff members who work in the audience department are so close knit and really made work fun for me each day. 

 

After my first few weeks I moved upstairs to work in the website department.  I had a really chill boss, but there wasn’t always a lot to do. My main responsibilities included entering daily page views, searching for negative comments on the website and picking giveaway winners and mailing them there prizes. After website I was off to production. I basically sat in an over crowded office with a bunch of Production Assistants while we waited for errands to do. Typical jobs consisted of moving boxes, setting up tables, opening and closing the stage door during the show, getting food for staff members, passing out giveaways, and reading emails to find interesting stories. This department was fun when things were going on but often time there was a lull in the work.  I think the main problem was too many bodies and not enough communication on how we could most effectively split up the work that needed to be done.  

 

On my fourth rotation I worked for the human interest department. Before I started I was warned by other interns there was a lot of work to do. I was okay with the work load; it makes the day go by quicker and it made me feel like they had more confidence in me to complete certain tasks. The main responsibilities in this department were to find human interest stories for the show in newspapers, magazines, Tivo logs, online articles, and material people mailed in. This was sometimes a long and frustrating process to go through everyday because there is so much to get through and not always a story appropriate for the show. When we found a good story we were instructed to type up a brief summary and send them our work at the end of the day. If I found what I thought was a really good story, I would go right to the human interest office and tell them about it. Throughout the three weeks I was there, I found a few articles that ended up being pitched to the executive producers. In the end I don’t think those stories were used but it was still rewarding to know the story I found was being looked at by the executive producers of the show. This whole process was very good for my lack of confidence in my writing ability. It forced me write quickly and have more confidence in my work. 

 

I also learned how to convert online videos onto a DVD and edit tapes down from 20 minutes to 2 minutes to show only the best clips. The most exciting part of this department was when I was able to work with the guests on the show. I helped the coordinator by running errands and making sure the guests had everything they needed. Being able to sit in on the briefing the segment producer had with a guest was helpful for me so I could hear what questions she asked and how she went about doing so. I met Eugene Cussons, the trainer from the Animal Planet show, Escape to Chimp Eden and Jack Hanna and his trainers from Sea World. 

 

Research was the last department I was in. The intern’s job as a researcher is to log the magazines that come in, find stories about celebrities, make a copy of it, and put it in the appropriate celebrity file. As you can guess, this task did not take all day. In our spare time we would be the first ones called to sort and distribute the mail, stand in for rehearsals, practice a game being played on the show, and one time I went down to assist the audience department in making confirmation calls to guests. 

 

Overall I think sometimes there was a lack of proper communication in several departments, the intern guidelines were not clearly defined as far as what we could and could not do, we did not have an adequate work space, and there should have been a better communication of the tasks they wanted us to accomplish. 

 

Thinking back on the experience of working on Ellen, I am very grateful for what is taught me, the connections and networking I now have with staff members and other interns, as well as some jobs I now know I do not want to have in my future career. Plus, the extra perks to working as in intern included going to free movie screenings, free food Crafts Service provided and the catered meal on Thursday’s, the occasional giveaways we were allowed to take home, and tickets we were given to watch the show in the studio audience. When my family came to visit we sat in the row Ellen dances through and I was also able to bring my three roommates to Ellen’s Grammy Show at the Staples Center. So much fun and we got on TV both times!