TV internships cover production, technical, marketing, and audience research aspects. Undergraduates can apply for paid or unpaid internships, with most offering college credit. Major networks offer extensive internship programs, and cable news networks offer more variety. Professional associations match students with internships in various categories.
Most television internships involve assistance in the production process. In addition to production, there are internships related to the technical, marketing, and audience research aspects of producing a television program or news program. There are several genres of entertainment to work with, in addition to sports and news programs. Most television internships are short-term and offer some form of college credit.
Graduate students have no market cornered on television internships. There are many television and news programs that offer internship programs for undergraduate students as well. Some of them pay a stipend in addition to offering college credit. Even if the internship is unpaid, there is often an expectation that credit will be given or that the intern will have more courses to complete.
A large number of television internships involve assistance to a producer, his assistants or coordinators. Major networks can sponsor an extensive internship program that allows interns to work a variety of prime or daytime jobs, depending on their areas of interest. Interns are exposed to everything involved in the production process and can help with the production and creation of certain segments of the show. There may also be some exposure to the script writing process.
Television shows also need interns who are interested in the technical aspects of producing a show. These stages focus on camera work, lighting, editing and recording. The work may be less creative and strategic in nature, but it exposes the student to behind-the-scenes aspects of television. Some networks offer graphics internships that specialize in designing the show’s on-air graphic layout.
For students who are interested in producing live news segments, several local and cable networks offer internships in television production, technique, writing, and audience research. Cable news networks can offer a little more variety due to the fact that they are on the air 24 hours a day. Business administration students who are interested in operations, marketing research, or the strategic side of running a news network may be interested in one of the strategic operations or audience research internships.
There are companies and professional associations that sponsor television internship programs for students. Rather than trying to search for available internships across multiple companies, these programs focus on matching the student with the best available internship in a given geographic location or discipline. Some of the internship categories available include animation, entertainment news, casting, writing, directing, cinematography and television development, which consist of show creation and sales.
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