As an Intern at Entertainment Creative Group

Winterim finally arrived. An opportunity to get a real glimpse of what I think I want to do in the future. I sat on my computer for many hours, emailing ten different film studios. Hoping that somebody somewhere might want to take up a high school student as their intern for a couple weeks.

As unlikely as it seemed, I got a response from ECG Productions. I finally had an opportunity to see what the film industry was, how it functioned, and what area I’d want to specialize in. In early December I came for a quick visit to see the building and got to know everyone. Immediately, I loved everything about it. I saw so much opportunity and fun coming my way.

I Can Relate…

The first thing I noticed when I walked in on Monday morning was the sheer number of posters all over the walls. As a Studio Ghibli fan myself, I appreciated seeing a huge Princess Mononoke poster in one of the offices. Anime fans are hard to come by at my school. I was asking around about the anime posters and Collin (one of the editors in the studio) told me he used to be a DJ, and his DJ name was “DJ Totoro.” This man is a hero.

Later on, once I set up all my stuff in the Intern room, I noticed a collection of Dungeons & Dragons minis on a desk. They belonged to Cameron, another editor who works in the studio. Turns out he’s a Dungeon Master and runs quests for his co-workers here at ECG. I thought this was awesome, because I’m a DM, too. What are the odds almost everyone here plays D&D? It didn’t take long to get over the nerves of coming to my first real job. There was something around every corner I could relate to.

The Opportunities…

I grew up loving the idea of creating videos. Directing, filming, editing, acting, whatever it took to put together an entertaining video. I love it all. Being on set working on a real film is something I always wanted. To see how the pro’s do it. Seeing what it takes for one of my videos to be on tv or even in the movie theatre. ECG gave me this opportunity. I got to see behind the scenes of what I see in commercials everyday. It…was…awesome! I got to setup microphones, cameras, light reflectors. Anything you can think of, I saw it all. I had never been so excited to get up at 6am to go shoot a commercial. It was freezing, very early, and so, so much fun.

In the End…

At ECG I got everything you would want from an internship. Experience, advice, and an idea of what it’s like to be in the industry I want to pursue. However, I also got to meet a lot of good people who work together and have fun with each other. ECG Productions is more than just a business, I see a family here. And I am very thankful to have been apart of this family. I had a lot of fun here, and dread the day I go back to school.