Jill Kargman is an author, screenwriter, and has her own website where she shares everything from her favorite classic books to what books she is writing. Her newest book, Momzillas, which has been highlighted in the New York Post, tells the tale of Type-A mothers in Manhattan.
Kargman shares her love of movies, speaks about the wonderfulness that is Woody Allen, and discusses her own movie, The Intern. From an intern herself to someone who now has an intern, she offered advice on how to view the position and gave perspective on where it can lead you.
I had the pleasure to interview Jill Kargman, and as someone who lives part-time in New York and wants to make movies, I learned a lot from talking to her! Read the interview for yourself, and I promise you will leave it finding fun and helpful advice!
HerCampus LU: I love movies so I want to know, is there a movie that has changed your life?
Jill Kargman: I’m OBSESSED with Hannah and Her Sisters. It’s my #1 favorite of all time. I love all Woody Allen movies for the most part, but that one is kind of my audio-visual bible as far as relationships go. It totally captures men and women and their perspectives with the beautiful and hilarious interior monologues. It has tons of romance and yet shows morals can be elastic and not always black and white. I adore it.
HCLU: What is your most mortifying dating story?
JK: I was set up on a blind date with this guy who I had high hopes about and then I got there and knew right away there would be zero chemistry. During dinner I noticed all the multicolor sugar/faux sugar packets were all jumbled so I started putting the blue equals together, the yellow Splendas, the pink sweet n’ lows, etc. and he FREAKED on me and goes “COULD YOU PLEASE STOP F****** WITH THE EQUALS?!” Taxi!
HCLU: What is your biggest college triumph?
JK: Graduating in three years. When I got to Yale I signed up for a bunch of classes thinking I’d drop one but compared to boarding school it was mellow so I kept all my courses and just kept taking 6 so I had enough credits to graduate a year early and saved my parents a fortune.
HCLU: On your website www.jillkargman.com you talk about how hard it was to be an intern in the magazine world. You also wrote the 2000 Sundance movie Intern and a book called Summer Intern. If you could take out one piece of advice from your movie, book, and intern experiences on what to do and what not to do as intern what would it be?
JK: I would say a) be on time and seek out work and b) don’t get upset you are invisible. I wanted to badly to be noticed but years later when I had interns of my own I realized it’s not about them; I still tried to thank them all the time though :)
HCLU: What made you want to make a movie about your intern experience and what was the first thing you did to get started with the movie?
JK: I had shown it to a producer for advice and she ended up wanting to make it. So it was great and I really didn’t have to do that much in terms of rewrites or anything. It wasn’t what I had imagined in the end but at least the NY Times said the script was clever!
HCLU: My dad lives in New York, so it was a huge change coming to school in Appleton, WI. If you had to make the same move, what one New York item from home would you make sure you brought?
JK: My black wardrobe :) You can still import some NY chic wherever you go…
HCLU: Besides seeing your Sundance film Intern and catching up on your books, what else should our readers look out for from you?
JK: Facebook-friend me! I update activity and readings via Jill Kargman Beach Reads and hope to stay in touch with fabulous young readers…
HC Lawrence would like to thank Jill for her time and letting us get to know her a bit better! Be sure to check out her book, Momzillas!