The Last Week

Last weekend on Dec 1, the program Director hosted a holiday party for ICLA and all IC alum. It was a bit overwhelming with so many people, but nice to see everybody dressed up and looking nice!

The remainder of the weekend was set for paper writing and completing final course assignments. For the two papers, I was able to write about youth culture in media influences its viewers (Senior Seminar) and how technology has improved sports' broadcasting on American television (Electronic Media Criticism). Both of which research papers were quite interesting and I actually learned a lot about each of those topics.

At my last week of Authentic, I continue transcribing and logging footage for the two sets of shows I am working on -- My First Home (on TLC) and the two IGN shows (Geek Love and Next Game Boss). Friday was my last day at Authentic; I got a delicious free lunch out of my producers and I just didn't want to leave, at all. I was sad.

I was able to take off one day of internship and work as a talent escort for the CBS holidays' show -- A Home For the Holidays. It was a lot smaller and more intimate, compared to the Mexican Billboard Awards in October; I did have a similar task though, to guide my assigned talent (Jillian Michaels) through the backstage and press areas for the show. Other stars who were featured on the special were Wayne Brady, Kevin Frazier, Phillip Phillips, Rascal Flatts and a few others -- all of which, at one point, I was within arms length from. The one-hour holiday special will air Dec 19th at 8pm, on CBS.

Thursday at CONAN would have been my last day here, but luckily I am able to stay a few extra days and continue the internship. Unfortunately, it was the last day for many of my classmates/coworkers; it was bittersweet! Besides the bittersweetness of the day, nothing too crazy happened behind the scenes, on stage, or in the office.

Getting Ready to Leave

It is crazy to think that the semester is almost over... just two papers (well one, since I already finished one -- yea, go me!) to go and that's it. Besides the "emotional" reaction to the end of the semester and leaving LA, everything has been normal the past few days -- continuing to discuss relevant topics in class, familiar routines at my internships, and still dealing with the worst public transit system in the nation.

As stated, I am still doing familiar tasks at Authentic (transcribing interviews, logging chyron sheets, creating VO scripts, researching various this for the Development department, etc) and CONAN (sorting and distributing mail, writing late night and research summaries, running on equipment errands for crew, answering phones, etc).

Friday evening/night (it gets so dark, so early!) was Authentic's annual Christmas party; complete with festive music, yule log on the monitors, egg nog, Christmas tree (sorry for the bad picture quality), and just overall fun times!!

Thanksgiving Week

As many of my fellow ICLA friends went home, traveled, or simply took off work, I went into my internship office at Authentic for the full day of Monday and Tuesday. Since CONAN was on hiatus, there was no need for any interns to sit in the office.

Monday and Tuesday were odd, since I generally do half days (since I have class the other half), I was not used to staying in the office for two full days after the other at Authentic. Even though it was days before a major holiday break, there was plenty of tasks for me to do; mainly transcribing more interviews for various shows, one of which was being worked on as a pilot about the cake-making business (it made me really want a cake). For Game Boss, I was assigned to find pieces for their new set -- which was being built over the following weeks. Although my time at Authentic is winding down, I got really excited about the opportunity to help out on a makeshift-studio shoot in the next week or so.

Since some of the ICLA kids stayed back in Los Angeles for the holiday break, the program coordinator helped us organize a group potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Although I had plans with a close friend for a traditional Thursday turkey dinner, my roommate and I stopped into the program's potluck dinner Wednesday night and enjoyed delicious food, drinks, and company with some awesome people.

Week 13: Authentic Fun + Weird CONAN Schedule

Authentic has been good lately, been able to see more of the post-production work of various shows -- mainly My First Home, Geek Love, and The Next Game Boss (GBS). For Geek Love, I continued logging b-roll footage and transcribing event interviews; for MFH, I was assigned to create a "blur list" (where the editors blur out parts of logos, faces, license plates, etc) as well logged more production stills, created the VO script, and Chyron log. The Next Game Boss is a new show I started working on, as part of the new IGN line up Authentic is doing. Much of the pre-production and pre-interviews have been completed, now I am reviewing the interviews and logging important topics, while transcribing it at the same time.

CONAN shows for Wed and Thur have previously been taped; Conan was not in the office, nor was half of the staff. Some of the staff are at a TV conference and the staff on site are working on various segments for online or future episodes; us interns have fewer things to do, because of the lesser staff in the office. One of the tasks, I haven't done in the past, is completing a guest summary for the research department. For this task, we have to review the past show tapes of an upcoming guest and summarize the interview -- so they know what to talk about on the guests' next Conan appearance. Since the show is on hiatus next week because of Thanksgiving, the staff hass slowly but surely headed out of town -- leaving the office pretty much completely empty!

Week 12: MFH Lock Cuts and Visitors

Monday and Tuesday went by quick -- completing VO scripts and chyron logs for the air-ready episodes of My First Home, such episodes are the "locked cuts."

Wednesday came around and as part of the fun non-academic programs of ICLA, we were given the opportunity to win something on The Price is Right. Unfortunately, I did not win anything, but it was so much fun to be a part of the studio audience! Because of TPIR taping, I was unable to go into my internship for CONAN.

Later on Wednesday, I picked up a friend at the airport who came into town for the rest of the week and full weekend... I turned into a tourist and took her around LA/Hollywood, we had a great time catching up and relaxing throughout the weekend.

Now, back to work -- four weeks of internship, two research papers, and one presentation until ICLA ends :(

Week 11: Meeting the Owners + Fun times at CONAN

This week was has been fun -- at Authentic, I got to (along with the other interns) meet the founders and owners of the company and ask them anything I wanted about the media industry and their company! That was a really cool and interesting opportunity; the only downside to this was: they preached to us, the interns, the basic advice and tips on "breaking into the industry" -- which, personally, I already knew and am sick of hearing it. The more interesting aspect of the discussion was the part when we were able to ask about the company they created and have seen evolve over the past decade -- with changing technologies + audiences + staff + programming and everything else about the company. Following the discussion with the owners, I got back to work updating VO scripts and Chryon logs for My First Home, also logging more b-roll footage of Comic Con for Geek Love.

CONAN was the same 'ole stuff -- on Wednesday, I was assigned to the talent entrance where I checked talent guests' in and escort them to the green room, where they hang out and watch the show. On Thursday, I had an worth-while morning; I discussed the TV industry and the opportunities around it with one of the veteran stage managers and it was great so hear how she has seen the industry change in her time. I then wandered the stage and ended up sitting in the control room chatting with some of crew and other intern for part of music rehearsal, it was cool to see a different side of the production. I was able to sit in the audience during the taping; as usual, it is quite fun to watch the show from the seats -- a whole different perspective.

Week 10: Cornrows and COMICON

This week went by quite quick, didn't go in on Tuesday -- but had long days on Thursday and Friday. Monday and Friday I was assigned to complete VO scripts for My First Home then finish transcribing pre-convention interviews for Geek Love and after all this, begin logging and finally started to edit together six different camera angles during the sci-fi speed dating event at NYC ComiCon. All of these were lengthy and demanding tasks, but well-worth completing.

CONAN on Wednesday and Thursday was generally normal; besides on Thursday, Conan was decked out in a full spray tan and his hair done in cornrows, which was pretty awesome to see! General office duties occurred throughout other times (including answering a phone call from CHELSEA HANDLER, herself - not her staff or assistant, it was actually her!) and during the Thursday taping, I was able to sit backstage with Conan's assistant and other staff while watching the show, as well as stagehands bringing props and talent onto stage.

Week 9: Billboard de la Musica Mexicana

As my parents left early Monday morning, I quickly got back to work at my Authentic internship Monday and Tuesday. As various Authentic productions have more episodes shot and more post work needed on them, I have been given more tasks related to post -- Chyron / graphics logging, transcribing interviews / voice overs, searching for various clips, and other such tasks.

CONAN was usual on Wednesday (coffee runs, standing in for rehearsal, answering phones, etc) -- Ellie Goulding was on the show -- which was sweet, she sang her new single and it was awesome!! I also was assigned to organize, order, and pick up the editing staff's dinners; since the editors stay later into the night to ensure the show gets air-ready, the company pays for their dinners and I picked it up with another intern.

Now, you might be thinking why the title has something to do about Mexican music? Well... I got an email a few weeks ago about an opportunity to be a TALENT ESCORT for "a Telemundo event" -- it turned out it was the Billboard Mexican Music Awards! In essence, I escorted my assigned talent (Conjunto Primavera) from their vehicle to the red carpet to their seats, then to the dressing rooms, onto stage, throughout the backstage press area, and finally back to their seats. The whole experience was quite unique because I have never worked crew/escort on a live truck-broadcast event, based on a stage (like this awards show). Although I could not sneak a peek into the broadcast truck, it was all really interesting to see how everything else was set up backstage and in-house.

Week 8: New Authentic Show + CONAN Hiatus

After a non-work day on Monday, I went into Authentic on Tuesday to a full day of tasks. In the morning, I had to check the MFH Casting email to see if any more realtors followed-up about being on the show. Then, I followed-up with the tasks from the previous week that I thought I did not finish, which actually were completed. Thankfully, my supervisor quickly put me in contact with a new show's producer, Geek Love and The Next Game Boss on TLC and IGN, respectively.

For the new shows, I created a spreadsheet for a "speed dating" segment (then printed 1,000 -- yes ONE THOUSAND -- copies) on Geek Love and researched new cast for The Next Game Boss. Surprisingly, these tasks were very time consuming and lasted all day!

Since CONAN is on hiatus this week (due to the MLB Postseason), duties and times of intern shifts are even more flexible and relaxed. Simply, we have to answer phones and sort mail -- no coffee, no lunch runs, no equipment runs, no discussions with crew, AKA nothing really to do! But since I need as many intern hours as possible, as per required for credit, I decided to come into the offices and answer the phones on Wednesday... fun stuff!

Week 7: Honey Boo Boo, Final Cut, and Late Night w Conan

The days at Authentic were quite hectic this week -- proof-checking lists of music clips for an Auction Kings episode; researched clips in Lost; logged a Chyron list for Honey Boo Boo (which is absolutely RIDICULOUS – took me 3 hours to simply review and log a 43-minute episode). Friday is much more hectic: received requests to complete tasks by two different departments at the same time throughout the day! For My First Home, I had to log Chryon text for the episodes that are being finalized. In the afternoon, I color corrected some dog photos on Photoshop and at the same time edited some Final Cut clips for the post department. At the end of today (Friday), there is a birthday celebration for all Sept and Oct staff birthdays -- yay cupcakes!

CONAN was typical but fun, as usual. As a group task, the interns need to digitize the list of all past guests on Conan’s show – starting way back in 1993 from Late Night until the current series of CONAN. We have to type up names and descriptions of every single guest and musical/ comedy act into a spreadsheet. Even though there are now about 3000 episodes of a Conan show on TV, we are about 85% complete. Another cool thing about this internship is that we summarize every other late night talk show -- so the writers don't replicate / remake any of their jokes on CONAN. It is interesting to watch these other late-night shows, while working at one also.

Week 6: No Conan Taping & MFH Photos

Monday, as usual, was a half day at Authentic and I had the task of logging hundreds of still photos from previously shot episodes of My First Home (MFH). As the first few episodes of the 5th season were recently shot, I have been going through each photograph to write captions and fill out the episode log summarizing all of the photos.

The next few days were Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, so I did not go into the office Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thursday at Conan there was no show taping (because it was previously shot). Because of the no-show day, there were fewer interns and lots of the staff left early; the usual intern tasks commenced: answering phones, covering assistants' desks, going through mail, etc.

Yesterday (Friday) at Authentic, I continued logging numerous episodes' still photography. I also helped the post-prod staff with straightening out some legal paperwork for the edits.

End of the Week 4

After the big hoopla for being on-air for one of the segments on Conan (at 9:14) of last week, Thursday and Friday went on as usual.

Conan on Thursday went by quick; it was a short morning and in the afternoon, I was green room / guest-entrance security. For this position, which rotates each day, the responsibilities include checking in guests of the on-air talent or show staff and making sure the talent  interns know when the guests arrive and such.

For Authentic, I began taking the next step for casting by calling those interested realtors that were contacted via email. The first few phone calls were awkward and choppy and I didn't really know what I was doing, after the next few calls -- I settled in and found the right groove. I initially thought that calling prospective cast members would not be fun or interesting, but it turns out realtors are very friendly and engaging individuals to work it (might be why they are realtors).

As the weekend concludes, Rosh Hashanah begins and I will not be working on Monday or Tuesday... so check back later this week for class/internship updates

ON-AIR for Conan!!!!

The first few days of the week started at usual... the normal tasks at Authentic (casting realtors and buyers, research various topics, brief video editing, and various paperwork) occurred Monday and Tuesdays.

Classes have been okay; bottom line is that they are classes, so eh! The Senior Seminar (one about youth culture in media) is kind of interesting: learning from various 1950s and 1960s films discussing the "teenager," how the term, and the actual teens were portrayed and lived in that time era. The Electronic Media Criticism (EMC) class is much more my style: watching television shows about various topics and simply analyzing the content and what the underlying messages are for each program.

Now, the BIG NEWS.... I broke into the acting scene, my first on-air gig was for CONAN. Not really, but I did make it on-air for CONAN. For one of the segments, the producers needed supporters for Andy (it'll make sense in the video) and I was selected.

Screenshot of me on screen -- Video is posted below

Unfortunately, I cannot embed the video into the post, but if you click the following link -- I am "featured" briefly at 9:14
http://teamcoco.com/video/full-episode-weds-9/12-bob-costas-lake-bell-and-musical-guests-the-hives

Premiere PARTY TIME

Labor Day Weekend was fun (see the last post), but it went by quick and I got quickly back into work and class on Tuesday.

Luckily, Tuesday was a "short" day with only one class and a half day at Authentic Entertainment. During the short day, I continued researching and finding realtors interested in becoming new cast for the show I intern for (My First Home); at the end of the day (6pm), there was a show season premiere party for one of our productions (Flipping Out) -- which was so awesome!

The following few days must have went by really slow because I cannot remember what I did... Although Conan is so much fun and things are constantly changing, the general intern tasks become slightly repetitive and boring. As time goes by and we continue to settle into our roles, I hope I will be able to take on more challenging + interesting tasks.

Today (Friday), I was able to do some work with the post department at Authentic. I got to help with the editing of some new pilots and also had the task of reorganizing show file.

CONAN and more fun ICLA stuff!

It feels as if it has been forever since I last posted. So here is the update....

CONAN was not on air last week (my first day), so a new late-night comedian (Pete Holmes) was using Conan's studio space to shoot his own upcoming series. We were there to assist the crew with anything needed, similarly to what we do when CONAN is on air. It was a cool way to ease into the "real" internship -- learning the stage, the WB lot, the daily flow of the office, and such!

This week, week of 8/27, was the first week back from hiatus. I am working Wednesday and Thursday, while the other days I am fitting in classes and Authentic Entertainment. It was seriously so cool to work on the show... although the morning was relatively slow (coffee runs, sorting office mail, answering phones, etc) - once the afternoon hit, it all went down!! Rehearsal happened right after lunch, and Conan really knows how to rock the guitar; the director went thru various parts of the monologue for blocking, writing, and comedic factor; and practiced some interactive segments. Also, reading fan mail is quite hilarious...

Authentic has been slow; I have been working on casting for MFH (My First Home - the show I am assigned to) and research for other shows (within the general development department). There has been a little post-production work, mainly cutting together casting videos on Final Cut.

Besides the internships, we have explored much of Los Angeles. Some of the LA exploring was with the whole ICLA group (the Sign hike, LA farmers market, episode taping, Universal Studios tour/park, and yea) and others were just on our own (an interesting karaoke bar, In 'N Out burger, seeing old friends living in LA now, and more)... all of it has been so great!!

First Days of ICLA

... are surprisingly not too overwhelming!! With only two (and a half) classes and four full days of working at my internships, I am settling into the LA lifestyle very well.

Senior Seminar and Electronic Media Criticism (EMC) are the two classes I will be taking during this Fall semester. Senior Seminar is a course designed for seniors to discuss various aspects of media; the name of EMC is pretty much what the course is about, intellectually criticizing programming on various media platforms.

My first two days of Authentic Entertainment were slow, but quite interesting. I have been assigned to intern with TLC's My First Home, in all aspects of productions. Since the show is on hiatus right now, I was set to start researching for new cast members. I plan to work in the Authentic offices Monday, Tuesday, and Fridays.

On the other hand, my other internships (at Conan) begins tomorrow (Thursday). I am not 100% sure exactly what I will be doing. So check back this weekend to read about my first days of Conan.

Summer is officially OVER....

So as the rest of Ithaca students are just arriving back into the central NY campus, me and 91 other IC students are starting classes tomorrow -- out here on the west coast, in Los Angeles!!

The Ithaca College LA program is designed for Park School students to experience the Hollywood lifestyle by taking courses and interning at a company in their industry. For me, I will be taking three courses and interning at two different companies -- Conan and Authentic Entertainment.

Throughout the semester, I will be blogging about my experiences here in Los Angeles -- mainly about the productions, but also some about living in LA.

One of my photos from the hike to the Hollywood sign

 

Goodbye NYC, Hello LA!

So NBC Olympics was such an incredible internship and I loved every minute of it (check it out, from my previous posts here). Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end... and new good things start -- aka Ithaca College Los Angeles semester program.

As the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 games finished and my internship officially ended, I began packing my NYC things and got ready to fly out for LA. Thankfully, my boxes and things all arrived in LA -- as well as me, on an on-time JetBlue flight -- and I am slowly but surely settling into my apartment in LA.

Last time I checked (which was just few minutes ago), I will be interning at Conan and Authentic Entertainment for the semester. While taking classes and working for these productions, I will hopefully be able to explore and soak up all that the southern Cali region as to offer.