Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication
Cinema & Television Arts
Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication
Cinema & Television Arts
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Internships

Internships Overview

CTVA Internship Program

The goal of the CTVA Internship Program is to instill in students the knowledge, expertise, and creative skills that will allow them to pursue their goals in the entertainment industry.  The CTVA Internship Program promotes the critical, analytical, creative, ethical, and conceptual thinking that will enrich the students’ professional career paths. Through this program you will build skills, explore career options, network and receive credits towards your degree. Internships can often lead to employment after you’ve completed your studies.

Many internships are non-paid positions although virtually all the major studios, networks and production companies offer paid internships. 

CTVA offers:

CTVA 494A & 494B (3 units) which equals approx. 9 hrs./week (approx. 135 hrs./semester)

CTVA 494C & 494D (6 units) which equals approx. 18 hrs./week (approx. 270 hrs./semester)

You may take a total of 6 units for internship(s) towards your degree.

Information Sessions / Resume Workshops

Fall Semester 2024 sessions:

Monday, Sept. 23rd @ 7pm in Manzanita Hall, Room 130

Monday, Oct. 21st @ 7pm in Manzanita Hall, Room 130

Monday, Nov. 18th @ 7pm in Manzanita Hall, Room 130

To be qualified for a CTVA internship you:

  • Must be a senior in the semester that you want to enroll in the internship course (have 90+ units)
  • Must be in good academic standing
  • Must have completed the required lower-division CTVA major courses
  • Must be in a CTV A major area of emphasis

You must find an internship BEFORE you receive permission to enroll into the internship class. This means you should start looking for an internship as early as the semester before you would like to intern.

Once you find an internship, email Professor Karen Dee Carpenter (karen.carpenter@csun.edu):

  1. Your current CSUN degree progress report                                  For instructions to download it go here. 
  2. The name of the company and internship supervisor
  3. The course/sections in which you want to enroll CTVA 494 A&B for 3 units (135 hrs) or CTVA 494C&D for 6 units (270 hrs).

Please don’t email the CTVA Office staff or go to the CTVA Dept. office. The CTVA Internship Enrollment Process is done entirely online.

Atieh Bandehyazdani 

 

Atieh Bandehyazdani (CTVA '20), was selected for a full-time, paid internship in development, production, business management and distribution with Hulu through the prestigious Television Academy Foundation Summer Internship Program. While the program was altered significantly under COVID-19 restrictions, Atieh was nonetheless awarded an Academy fellowship, along with the rare opportunity to interface with a select group of peers among multiple industry professionals. The online substitutional sessions include one-on-one visits, online panels and customized seminars covering topics such as leadership, personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. A television production major, Atieh devoted the last two years to mentoring fellow CTVA students as an Academic Peer Coach Leader  through the Mike Curb Student Success Program. Particularly inspired by a Fall '19  course in Business of Media, she previously worked under the direct supervision of the head of Operational Management of Amazon Studios.

 

Christian Ramirez

 

Christian Ramirez (CTVA ’20) has been selected for one of 30 coveted spots in the NALIP Latino Lens Workshop Series: Industry Fundamentals. The workshop’s focus is to develop its participants’ skills that will lead to success in the entertainment industry. This workshop will immerse its participants in the inner workings of the business of the industry while building proficiencies that are necessary to be relevant and competitive in today’s workforce. Ramirez was a Fall ’19 and Spring 20 intern in the prestigious Nickelodeon NICKternship labs, where he worked on digital series production. In 2019, Ramirez  landed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences coveted Academy Gold Internship, the exclusive film industry enhancement program offered through the Academy Gold Talent Development and Inclusion Program.

 

Nicholas Griffin

 

Nicholas Griffin (CTVA ’20) was selected for the prestigious 2020 Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project,  a year-long program which identifies emerging writers from United States military backgrounds and provides them with the tools and insights to nurture their work and successfully navigate the entertainment industry. Participants are paired with a WGA member-mentor bringing experience from beloved movies and television series of the past and present, each personally committed to guiding the voices of the future—from a weekend retreat through monthly follow-up workshops and special events. A five-year United States Marine Corp veteran, Griffin is a comedian, screenwriter and sketch comic who interned during Spring ’20 at Solve!, the #1 true crime show in the world. Since the show’s debut in 2018, over 30MM fans have tried to solve true-crime-inspired mysteries on Snapchat, Instagram and podcasts everywhere.

 

Kaelin McDonald 

 

Kaelin McDonald (CTVA ’20) has been hired as a post-production assistant at Dirty Robber, where she interned in Fall ‘19 and Spring ’20. Dirty Robber specializes in telling athletic stories, including the feature length film Breaking2, documenting Nike's quest to break the two-hour-marathon barrier and recognized as a landmark achievement in branded content and marketing. McDonald has been placed on one of the Academy Award-nominated production company’s television shows for a top global streaming service. She also interned as assistant to Silvia Bizio at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards Hollywood Foreign Press Association Viewing and After Party; and in 2019 served as an intern with The American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival. She is a 2019-2020 Hollywood Foreign Press Association Scholar.

 

Andres Angel-Portilla

 

Andres Angel-Portilla (CTVA ’20) has been awarded the first ever Television Academy CSU Post-Graduate summer internship, one of five paid, full-time positions for an eight-week work period this summer in the unscripted/reality television space. The goal of the program is to cultivate and place recently graduated college students in positions where they can develop the creative and business skills required to excel in the industry and have some access to C-suite executives. At the discretion of the host company, the position may lead to full-time employment upon program completion. Angel-Portilla interned in Spring ’20 at Nasser Entertainment as an assistant to Joseph Nasser, producer of over 70 movies across all genres including the recent HBO action thriller, Recoil, starring Steve Austin.

 

Have an internship success story to share? Contact julieann.sipos@csun.edu

CTVA Internship Information & Requirements

To be qualified for a CTVA internship you:

  • Must be a senior in the semester that you want to enroll in the internship course (have 90+ units)
  • Must be in good academic standing
  • Must have completed the required lower-division CTVA major courses
  • Must be in a CTV A major area of emphasis

You must find an internship BEFORE you receive permission to enroll into the internship class. This means you should start looking for an internship as early as the semester before you would like to intern.

Once you find an internship, email Professor Karen Dee Carpenter (karen.carpenter@csun.edu):

  1. Your current CSUN degree progress report                                  For instructions to download it go here. 
  2. The name of the company and internship supervisor
  3. The course/sections in which you want to enroll CTVA 494 A&B for 3 units (135 hrs) or CTVA 494C&D for 6 units (270 hrs).

Please don’t email the CTVA Office staff or go to the CTVA Dept. office. The CTVA Internship Enrollment Process is done entirely online.

You're going to want to treat finding an internship like finding a job. Prepare a relevant and good-looking professional resume with any relevant experience, send out applications, and interview until you find the right spot. There's a range of ways to find these including:

  • entertainmentcareers.net - Aggregates jobs within the industry, make sure to select internships and you will see tons
  • Handshake - CSUN Handshake is also a great resource to find those internships
  • Studio Hiring Pages - Check the studio websites and their hiring pages i.e. WBD, Disney, etc.

You can also check this CSUNbox which has a bunch of resources on finding internships, as well as creating resumes and cover letters: Box Link

 

The CSUN Career Center on the 4th floor of Bayramian Hall is a great resource with counselors to look over your materials and give you feedback. https://w2.csun.edu/career

You may also feel free to contact the professor at karen.carpenter@csun.edu should you have additional questions, concerns and/or ideas about where you might like to intern around your personal areas of interest.

Students who have had internships are good resources for referrals. Talk to your fellow CTVA majors. They may supply you with useful contacts.

*Please note: Some studios and networks ask students during the interview process to provide proof that they will receive college credit. Please contact Professor Carpenter via email to requesting a letter of proof of qualification to enroll in the internship course. Be sure to attach a PDF of your current DPR.

You may perform remote, in-office or hybrid internships in observation of Los Angeles County health and safety guidelines. Unless you are working in a fully remote modality, due to insurance issues, internship providers must include Los Angeles County as an address of record; and any work you physically perform must occur  in the greater Los Angeles area (approximately the area from Ventura to Long Beach).

Most internships are non-paid positions, although paid internships are becoming much more common especially at the largest studios, networks and production companies. You must either be paid for your internship, be earning credit in exchange for your labor, or both.

Course #: 494A/B
# of units: 3 units
Minimum # of hours required: 135 hours (divided by 15 weeks is 9 hours per week)

Course #: 494C/D
# of units: 6 units
Minimum # of hours required: 270 hours (divided by 15 weeks is 18 hours per week) 

Be thoughtful about the number of units you register for. You will receive credit only for the number of units for which you have registered regardless of the time you spend at your internship.

The 3-unit CTVA 494A/B is repeatable, however, as the maximum number of CTVA internship units a student can take is six, you may only take CTVA 494 C/D once.

Students may NOT start their internships before the semester begins. Major studios/networks/production companies require that the student be enrolled in an internship class to be an intern. This means that the student must be enrolled in the class at the start and during the exact time of the internship.

CTVA WILL NOT approve internships with companies that don't abide by insurance and labor laws. CTVA students can ONLY intern with bona fide companies offering college course credit.

Employer: Internships, Jobs & Opportunities

Internships provide our students an important opportunity to develop and refine their skills set while gaining valuable work experience.

 

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Job Search Resources

CSUN endeavors to assist students in finding internships and employment. Below you will find links to online resources. This posting does not necessarily infer that CSUN or the Department of Cinema and Television Arts endorses any or all of these companies and/or services. This is a student managed resource and posted for the mutual benefit of students.

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