Looking for a chance to experience the real world and see what career is right for you? How does a trip to Hollywood sound? This past winter break, five Tufts students packed their bags and headed to Los Angeles to participate in weeklong 'Winternships' in the entertainment industry.
Launched this year, the program was developed by the director of the Communications and Media Studies (CMS) program Julie Dobrow and president of the Los Angeles Tufts University Alumni Alliance (TUAA) Andrea Gall Schmitt. Their goal was to help students working on CMS minors to get intensive, hands-on experience in the entertainment capital of the world: Hollywood.
"In the past, Winternships were orchestrated by where you lived," Dobrow said. "Students from New York could do Winternships in the New York area and students from LA could do Winternships in LA. We wanted to open this up to everyone."
Opening up Winternship opportunities in California to students from all over the country was not easy, however. The idea required both funding and people who were willing to host the students.
"We were successful in getting TUAA to approve subsidizing travel for five students," Schmitt explained. "They gave us a grant for about $4000."
With the money for transportation out of the way, Schmitt and Dobrow turned their attention to finding industry professionals willing to let students shadow them for a week.
"We wanted to be able to match up our students with some of our terrific alumni who are very well placed within the entertainment industry in LA," Dobrow said.
Using the alumni network, they found Tufts graduates working in entertainment who were eager to help fellow Jumbos get a foot in the door of the entertainment industry.
"Out in LA, we basically picked up the phone and started cold calling people," Schmitt said.
The calls yielded five media and entertainment Winternship options in various areas of LA. They included positions at National Public Radio (NPR), Bravo and "Days of Our Lives," among others.
These Winternships were offered to CMS students who focus their work for the minor in one of three subject areas: mass communications and media studies, film studies and multimedia arts.
"Our students take a variety of classes that are both humanities and social sciences-oriented," Dobrow explained. "What we really try to do is give our students tools to understanding how media works."
By shadowing industry professionals, students are able to gain such an understanding while experiencing first hand the inside world of the entertainment industry.
Sophomore David Naden, a Spanish major and CMS minor, spent his week out West working for Bravo and shadowing Manager of Programming Mark Scholnick (LA '02).
Although he only interned for a short time, Naden felt he gained some valuable insight into the world of television production during his time at Bravo.
"You would be surprised how much you can learn and get a feel for in a certain area or in a certain industry in just a week," he said. "Being there from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday, I learned a lot about how [Bravo] functions and how things get done."
Besides following Scholnick to meetings with producers and hosts, Naden had the opportunity to sit in on a scheduling meeting at Bravo.
"They were putting together this countdown of the hundred funniest movie moments," Naden said.
Naden was surprised to learn that the countdown was completely objective and not dictated by any personal preference.
"I found out that those countdowns are really just about appealing to the audience - not necessarily based on what people's opinions are," he said.
The Winternships weren't all meetings and office work, however. Senior Jessica Brauser described her week shadowing Ted Schachter (LA'76) of talent management agency Schachter Entertainment as a "crash course in Hollywood entertainment."
"I got to go on the sets of some sitcoms, went to power lunches, sent out headshots," she explained.
Brauser even managed to bump into Hollywood actress Melanie Griffith and famed singer/husband Nick Lachey while on the set of WB sitcom "Twins."
"It really capped off the Hollywood experience," Brauser said, laughing.
For Brauser, the Winternship was about more than just star sightings and getting on sitcom sets - it was also a step towards figuring out what to do after graduation this coming May.
"Through Ted, I made some great connections with big Hollywood people," Brauser said. "I feel like I laid a foundation for going back."
Brauser had originally planned on doing a Birthright Israel trip over winter break. However, when the trip fell through, she decided to try out the Winternship program in LA, which she now considers "the capstone" of her education at Tufts.
"I would tell people to definitely pursue the programs that Tufts offers," Brauser advised. "Tufts is such a wealth of resources. This opportunity nearly passed me by."
At the end of their week in LA, Naden, Brauser and their fellow participants, sophomores Eleanor Hiedkamp-Young and Eliot George and senior Julie Rapaport, had one final brush with big-time Hollywood. Film producer and Tufts alumnus Albert Berger (LA '79) spoke to the students at a reception following the end of their Winternships. Berger - who most recently produced "Cold Mountain," starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renee Zellweger - sent the students on their way with some words of advice and a friendly offer.
"[He] gave us his business card and said 'Call me anytime,'" Brauser said excitedly.
