For those of us not immediately going off to graduate school or planning on moving back home with our parents after college, we are on the brink of complete independence and limitless opportunities of freedom. I was able to somewhat embark on a simulation of what my future life could entail this past summer, while interning in Los Angeles and living in an apartment with another working roommate.
Not only was I living outside of the confines of my parents and college, but I was also working in the center of LA’s entertainment industry; in the public relations department for an un-named high profile company on the Universal Studios lot.
As a LA celebrity obsessive fan, I began this lifestyle with the mentality that this is where I plan to work and live for the majority of my young, professional life. However, after this summer I was extremely turned off by the entertainment industry as the recognition of true talent is severely altered in the eyes of the rest of the world. I found that the town was divided strictly into two groups: the talent (the celebs) and then—everyone else. The height of the pedestal that the talent, no matter how successful or not, are put upon is unimaginably high. The epitome of this realization was when the cast of a newly and hugely popular singing reality show came in to our department for a PR meeting.
As an intern, my job was to pick the talent up at the parking spots in a golf cart and drive them to the opening of our building. Let me tell you that their parking spots were directly underneath the building we were in. AKA, they had to be driven from their parking space about 50 feet to the elevator doorway. I had to walk a marathon across the Universal Studios lot just to pick up the golf cart and then drive it back to our building and ten pick them up at their parking space and then drive them the short distance to the elevator doorway. From there, I had to open each door for them, while sporting the ‘sorority girl fake rush smile,’ and make sure they were situated in the conference room with the food and beverges to their liking, not to mention the exact air conditioning temperature for their extreme comfort. Many times, this included me sprinting across the street to the local market to grab something in particular that they had requested from me.
Unfortunately, I found that the hierarchy in this town is unfathomable, and I could never picture myself working on the business side of the entertainment industry. I would not feel comfortable representing and working for people whom the majority I consider to be unappreciative, under-educated, and insecure. Additionally, I now know that the business side of the entertainment is truly where the talent and hard-workers exist, however those people will never get the recognition let alone the pay check that those in the spotlight do. This hypocritical and relatively false idea that the rest of the world should bow down to celebrities ruthlessly contradicts the backbreaking labor that those on the business side of the industry dedicate themselves to; exemplified by the surprisingly realistic show Entourage, which I thus ask you, who has the real talent, Vincent Chase or Ari Gold?
All in all, my summer internship experience was worthwhile because I now have a complete understanding of the respect that should be given to those behind the scenes. While I do understand that I, as an intern, should not have expected any sort of praise or appreciation in the fast-paced antertainment world, I had a difficult time witnessing the underappreciation for the unbelievably dedicated business men and women, who will probably never receive the thanks that they deserve. My advice for all you entertainment go-geters: Go out into that big, bad world with a thick skin, a big smile, and the utmost appreciation for all of your superiors! And maybe a glass (or bottle) of wine…