The Film & Media Department Internship program is designed to give advanced film majors the opportunity to extend their film and media studies into the world of professional media production, distribution, exhibition and education with supervised internships in approved companies and organizations. Students can locate and design their own external internships with such organizations based on their academic or professional interests. The Film & Media Department also provides periodically updated listings of possible internships with approved film and media related organizations and companies.
To be eligible to do an external internship that relates to your film and media studies for course credit, you must be a declared film major in good standing with a 3.0 GPA and have completed 60 units of credit. Only 4-units of internship units may be counted towards the 28 upper-division unit requirement for the Film & Media major. These 4-units can be combined from more than one internship across semesters, but the same internship may only be taken once for credit. The internship will be a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 20 hours per week. (9-12hr = 1 unit, 13-16hr=2 units, 17-20hr = 3 units)
To apply, you must fill out an Internship Agreement from the Film & Media Dept. undergraduate office and meet with the undergraduate faculty advisor.
- Internships must be approved by the department based upon their relevance to the student’s academic training in Film & Media. Approved internships must be connected to an established commercial, non-profit or educational organization and students should provide information about what the organization does.
- Students must receive a letter of invitation from the internship supervisor on organization letterhead outlining in detail, the activities and responsibilities of the internship and hours of work per week. The letter must show that the activities are related to the actual work of the organization and have educational value. Secretarial receptionist, custodial work and other forms of normally paid labor, are not eligible for college credit.
- All application materials must be received and approved by the start of the semester of the internship.
- Students will meet with the Undergraduate faculty advisor periodically throughout the semester.
Internship Evaluation: At the end of the internship, you must write a 5–8-page critical reflection on you internship experience. Some areas the paper might address: what you learned from the internship about film & media creatively, intellectually, politically and how it relates your film studies. Did the internship meet your expectations? If not, what were the problems? Did you get to do the work that was promised? How did the internship impact your thinking about film & media going forward?
A final written evaluation of the quality and effort your work from the internship supervisor is also required and must accompany the final paper.