If there is one suggestion that I can make to anyone looking to get into the film business, it would be to get as many filmmaking internships as possible while at college. When I was a film student at Boston University's College of Communication (COM '99), I interned during the summer of each year and even throughout my senior year. These filmmaking internships provided me with a very important sense of perspective and gave me real-world experience in the film industry that cannot be taught in film school. More importantly, film internships are experience that you can put on your resumé for when you try to break into the film business and find a real job.

How does one get an internship in the film business? First and foremost there is usually a department at each college that is set up for this purpose. Some schools, such as Emerson, have a great film internship program where you actually intern for an entire semester. Boston University has a program like this now, but they didn't have it when I was a student. Even if your school does not have a program in place, it shouldn't stop you. Speak to your professors and your councilors as they will also provide insights on anything from writing resumés, interview skills, and the best places for you to intern based on your interests.

The first internship that I had while attending Boston University I found through talking to my professors. At the time, the university owned a local Television station called WABU 68, which actually had an internship program in place for students. At that time, during the summer of my freshman year, I was actually the youngest person who was doing the summer internship program. We got to go out in the field and drive the WABU van (Driving a windowless van in downtown Boston is an excellent way to learn how to parallel park - to the owner of the Ford, I'm sorry), interviewed people for the "Question of the Day" using big clunking BetaSP cameras, returned to the station and edited the segments together on an Avid Media Composer (Version 5), and then our segments were aired throughout the week. It was an amazing internship, not only because of the amazing amount of freedom that we had as interns, but also it gave us real-world experience in pre-production, production, and post-production.

Another way that one can find an internship is to grab the yellow pages or local production guide and start calling every place where you are interested in working. Some cities, such as New York or Los Angeles have a 411 guide (New York 411, LA 411) with local production companies. I was really interested in working at a post-production/editorial house, so I called every post-house in Boston. (There aren't too many.) Eventually one bit, so I went into an interview with my resumé and cover letter in hand.

In preparation for your interview, it is very important to do some research on the company. By reading up on the company's website or talking to others about the company, you will impress the person who is interviewing you. It is important during the interview to be polite, speak clearly, and express your interest in working for them. It is also a good idea to practice your answers to some of the generic interview questions before hand because they will undoubtedly be asked. Some examples are: "Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?", "What are your strengths/weaknesses?", "Why should I hire you?", etc... They are cliché, but I've never been to an interview where they were not asked.