Hello reader,
If you are interested in a career in the film industry, this blog may have some usefull information for you! In this blog post I will specifically be talking about my experiences doing an internship at a Dutch documentary prodcution company. If you are currently studying and looking for an internship yourself this might give you some good insights into; what there is to learn, what to expect, and how to integrate your research most effectively. I will be sharing experiences that were personal to me, so of course these will varry depending on how you approach your internship and the company you chose.
What I Learned
I did my internship at the Dutch documentary production company; de Haaien. From the start of my internship I was thrown right into the deep end, allowing me to gain real life experience in the field. I had much more responsibility over projects than I initially imagined which allowed for many crucial learning moments. If you are looking for a hands-on experience, this might be the internship for you! With documentary production you are expected to think about all steps of the process, look ahead into forseable problems, and come up with quick solutions. This might seem daunting at first but I found that I was always enganged in my work and excited to take on new challenges every day. During my internship I mostly learned how to quickly tackle problems, and most importantly how to prioritise these problems. What are long term tasks and what are tasks that need to be done as soon as possible. Something that really helped me was to make a to do list at the start of every new assignment. It also help to write down every task that you are given or that you notice needs to be done, this way you can always hold yourself accountable.
What to expect
This will depend very much on the internship you choose, but it is always crucial to check the requirements before applying and make sure these fit your goals for the internship. As an intern you can expect to get a lot of first hand experience, but also know that there might be some tasks that are less enjoyable. For me these included organizing spreadsheets and making reservations (eg. hotel, flight, taxi) for clients, although these tasks were a bit tedious they do teach you valuable lessons in precision and attention to detail. Also expect to improve your communication and people skills. Being in an office setting for the first time can deffinitley be intimidating but get to know your colleagues and especially use this opportunity to expand your network!
The Research
To ensure your research process goes smoothly I recoment to start early, communicate with your supervisor that you are working on your research and try to get inspiration from the projects you are working on. During my internship I did qualitative research on the documentary industry. I collected data by interviewing my colleagues as well as documentary makers from outside of the company. This was also a great networing opportunity and a good way to get to know proffessionals within the field. I found quite some interesting results from my research, this was also attributed to the fact that I was motivated by my topic and it was well integrated into my internship. Although the company didn’t incorporate my research specifically in any way, it was interesting for my colleagues to view their work from a more academic standpoint and gain a deeper insight into how the documentary world functions from a theoretical perspective.
Thanks for reading and best of luck finding your internship!