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English major Kameisha Jerae Hodge ’11 (Washington, D.C.) spent her summer interning for MTV in New York City.
I remember the first thought that popped in my head as I entered the MTV building for orientation. Walking past the cafeteria, I glanced into one of the “meeting rooms” and thought ‘whoa, was that a pool table???’ From that point forward, my experience working for this large handle of Viacom’s umbrella was nothing but sunny days and flowery goodness.
As one of a hundred or so interns chosen from a pool of applicants numbering in the thousands, I worked as a development intern for The-N, one of MTV’s teen-based channels. I was treated as one of the regular staff: cool ID tag, employee discounts, bragging rights — you name it. Even the staff lounge fountain soda machines were at my disposal.
My responsibilities as a development department member included managing the department database by scanning new submissions, entering data, and filing hard copies of submissions and legal documents; reading scripts and writing coverage for development executives; researching and assembling a list of all un-scripted programming on air; managing the development department blog; attending and taking notes at the weekly development meetings; and performing administrative duties by assisting the development executives with various specialized projects.
In addition to this seemingly menial office work, I was allowed to be a live audience member for the show, TRL, where I met artists such as Timbaland, All-American Rejects, Rev Run, and more! I was also on a pilot episode of the prospective show, Dance or Drop, and partook in quite my share of screening parties. It was so much fun!
As surreal as everything seemed, however, I did learn a great deal about my future career path and preferred type of employer. To me, the most valuable aspects of any company should be the concepts of teamwork, drive, responsibility, and fun. I learned that the key to working in a friendly, open environment is the combination of all these elements, but each one requires a different level of attention. This is what MTV taught me.
MTV — a fun-crazy environment filled with suits and ties, sandals and graphic tees — taught me to do what I love in life, and oddly enough, it is not what I spent the majority of my time doing throughout the internship. I was not required to do much writing, creative or otherwise, and after a summer of not writing, I now know that writing is definitely the area of expertise I wish to pursue.