New Beginnings - From Small Town to the Big Apple

Standing in Time Square and looking around you will see promotional shoots, commercial shoots and photo shoots taking place on Military Island, you’ll see the crew of MTV’s TRL recording its weekly episodes, and of course the various feature film shoots taking place on 42^nd Street and other various New York areas. New York City is one of the hubs for the film and television industry. It is the city that never sleeps, or I should say it is the city that is sleep deprived. This is my world and I have been newly inducted.

For the last 2 months I have been working for MTV Networks in New York City, and before that I was a college student completing my last requirement before graduation. The last 6 months have been a whirlwind of events of which I can only recall bits and pieces. In the entertainment world the biggest thing you have to remember is that it is all about who you know and being in the right place at the right time. I feel that if I’m not careful my luck will run out because the last 6 months have been nothing but luck. Let me take you back a few months just to give you an idea of what I mean.

April 24 was the last day of my internship. My final evaluation was to be the following day and then I was to spend the weekend packing up my dorm room and moving back home to begin my search for “real work”. At 5:30pm I was asked to give a tour to a visiting VP and his family. No one else in the studio wanted to do it so I was happy to volunteer. The tour went relatively smoothly, minus getting scolded half way through the tour, but as the tour ended I was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up and if I was familiar with editing software. I answered to the best of my ability since I was slightly intimidated from being scolded earlier, and as this VP walked his family out the door he told me to send him my resume. That night, I didn’t think anything of the day’s event and did not send him my resume, but at 10:30 am the following morning, with my school internship supervisor standing beside me, my studio boss walked towards me with a huge grin. After introducing himself to my school internship supervisor, he informed me that I had an interview for a job with the VP from the previous day.

Today, I have just completed my first month working as the personal production assistant to this VP and beginning preparations for this summer’s VMAs (MTV’s Video Music Awards).

Six months ago, I would never have dreamed that I would have the position that I am enjoying, right out of college, nor would I have imaged that I would have an official production credit to my name resulting from my work on a special MTV program that aired June 7^th. So, a little tip to anyone reading this, never doubt yourself or the unexpected because you never know who you’ll meet some random afternoon and what impact that meeting could have on your life. Anything can happen if you go that little extra mile, put yourself out there and show honest and sincere passion in whatever area or field of work you have an interest in.

I hope in this column I can give you an inside view of what it is like to live and work inside the film and television industry. I would like to share some of my stories, some of grandeur and some of horror. But before I begin, let me officially introduce myself.

My name is Hannah and I am a member of the class of 2004 from a small Massachusetts town high school who recently graduated from college in 2008. I have always loved watching movies and sharing them with my brother, but my awareness that I had a deeper interest to make movies a part of my life began my sophomore year while sitting in an American Cinema class. We had just finished watching Bonnie and Clyde and I couldn’t get the images from the final scene out of my head. That night there was a special on Entertainment Tonight with a guy whose job it was to watch films and catch all of the mistakes and technical errors before the films are released for theatrical distribution. I thought, how amazing it is that there is a job like this in the film industry. I decided that night that I would one day be a part of the movie business production process. I give thanks to my cinema and drama teachers for giving me the support I needed during my high school days to push myself in the direction of my dreams. Looking back on my school years, I believe if it had not been for my cinema and drama classes, I most likely would not be sitting at my desk working feverishly assisting with schedules and research for upcoming MTV programs and projects. My play in the industry is something that I only dreamed of and have now come true, but getting here was not at all easy or a bed of roses, but was a long roller coaster ride, with more treacherous track to go. I look forward to sharing the wild and crazy ups and downs beginning my career from my own personal school projects, to working in the production office of a Wesley Snipes film, to being an extra in a few recent feature films, to future adventures wherever they may take me. I want to share my stories with anyone interested, and to maybe help someone find their own path into this crazy world or another, and let you know not to give up or think it can’t be done.