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NBC Universal - LXTV

Professional Internship Summary Paper

Completed at NBC
30 Rockefeller Center
New York, NY
By: Robert Gomulka

Communications Department
For COMM*4955*I11 (64396) INT/NBCU/LXTV STATIONS
Kean University

NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the

development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global


audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment

television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production

operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of

leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is also a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

NBC is known for iconic television such as Saturday Night Live, The Office, Today Show, Parks

and Rec, Friends, and the Tonight Show. In a company so large there are plenty of job

opportunities in the field of production.

After taking TV production, field video production, TV news, and media performance

classes inspired me to pursue a career in production. Professor Gina Gili, Brian Oakes, and

George Falkowski instilled a foundation that I have definitely used to breakthrough into the field

making me a more prepared person for interviews. I applied to the internship online and it was an

interesting experience and much different than any other internships that I have applied to

before. The process after making it passed the first step of them checking my resume and cover

letter, I had my first round of interviews. This first interview however, was a video interview

where I record my answers and submitted them. This was bizarre and more stressful in my

opinion than a person to person interview, but with my experience of being on camera for Kean

classes I was able to work through the initial stage fright and did well answering the questions.

You get 2 minutes to answer each question which ranged in a wide variety of topics to help

NBC’s human resources see if you can make it through and determine what department is

suitable for the intern. After that I had an in person interview about a week later with my

supervisor and decided to take NBC’s offer over an ABC Newsone internship that I also applied

for.
The onboarding process was very simple and all done over the internet. I received my

identification card on my second day on the job no longer needed a guest pass to access the

elevators. Just walking through the halls of within my first days I’ve seen many cast members

from SNL walking around which include Kate Mckinnon, Heidi Gardner, and Mikey Day. Also

I have seen Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, Lester Holt, Savannah Sellers, Chris Pratt, and

many more strolling about 30 rock.

My official title was broadcast operations intern.I worked for LXTV an affiliate station

under NBC Universal throughout the spring semester on Mondays, Wednesday, and occasionally

other days for special shoots. My hours for normal weekdays were from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and for

other special shoots the times varied. My supervisor was Mark Monroy who is the Senior

Operations Manager at LXTV. He gave me projects and delegated work to me from various

shows. There were three other interns in my department working with me. Two of the girls

attended Rutgers University while the other attended FIT. There were events for interns to meet

and network such as a lunch where we all watched the olympics in a conference room and

another which I was unable to go was a tour of Top of the Rock. My desk was located next to the

one of the producers of Talk Stoop, Eric Stringer. My desk had an Apple Mac computer with two

monitors for me to work on which was very nice. I fell as though it is essential to have to screens

when doing work or editing now.

My commute to 30 Rockefeller Center involved me taking New Jersey Transit Line from

Linden train station to New York Penn Station. The train ticket for round trip costs $17 and is

around a 40 minute travel time each way. Once I arrive at New York Penn Station, I take the 1

train uptown two stops which first stops on 42nd St. Times Square and then to 50th St. where I
get off the subway. From 50th St. I walk two blocks and arrive at my workplace. It has become

second nature to me traveling and getting around New York after experiencing the commute for

over a year going to my fall internship with W-ABC channel 7 and now with NBC. This was a

paid internship at $13 an hour. Each day I worked I ate at the Studio 9C cafeteria where I would

get the special of the day which included a drink for only 8 dollars. Employees do have the

option to use a service called freedom pay which links your work id and bank account where you

recieve more discounts but, I never signed up for it.

My knowledge of getting around the city has dramatically went up due to the runs I was

sent on. When I was sent to go on a run to pick up or return something I didn’t question and

figured out how to get around the city. I was given a corporate card to pay for any expenses the

show wanted me to get as well as transportation for myself. All receipts were to be kept for

expense reports to be done at a later time. Some runs were for on set supplies and food or to pick

up repaired tripods and cameras.

The shows I worked for include Talk Stoop with Nessa, 1st Look, Open House, and

George to the Rescue. On Talk Stoop, Nessa interviews actors, musicians, athletes, politicians

and host of other characters — on our infamous stoop, now in Manhattan. “1st Look” is the

Emmy-winning, lifestyle show that takes you to the country's hottest destinations for amazing

eats, thrilling adventures and crazy fun nightlife hosted by Ashley Roberts and sometimes

celebrity guest hosts. They are currently looking for a new person to host the show and one of

my jobs was to put together a list of potential candidates and organize them into a talent list.

Open House showcases the hottest homes on the market, interior design tips from the experts and

everything you need to know about stylish living, hosted by Sara Gore. For George to the Rescue
is hosted by George Oliphant. He and his team of contractors and designers rescue the homes of

deserving people. People can make submissions to be on the show online.

The show that I was working for the most is called Talk Stoop with Nessa, which airs on

channel 4 and on the USA Network. Our host Nessa also works for MTV and Hot 97 as a radio

personality. She is also the girlfriend of controversial NFL player and activist, Colin Kaepernick.

I have grown so close with the crew that I know that Nessa loves green tea and is Vegan. I am

credited on the show as being in Program Operations. For this show I worked closely with

producers and my duties include research, typing up questions for our host to ask our celebrity

guest, making runs for equipment, coffee or any other supplies that needed, worked the

teleprompter, taking notes during the show to make it easier to find content for editors later on in

the production process, operating a camera, and editing promotional videos for social media. I

worked closely with the production assistant as well learning so much from the whole team

during my internship.

Our set was located on 135 W 52nd St. at a top floor penthouse which is estimated at

around $16,000,000. Originally the show was shot in Brooklyn on an actual stoop of former

hosts home, Kat Greenleaf. Call sheets varied meaning different cameramen or audio people

would be working because most of them do freelance work and are not permanent staff.

One of my favorite things to do on shoots was to slate before the start of each interview.

The purpose of clapping the slate is to ensure synchronization with the video and audio

recording. It is also used for editors to know what the scene is and documents what is going on.

It also gave me chances to speak with some of the celebrity guests just being around them. I even

got to take some pictures with a select few of them such as Maury Povich, Sean Avery, and

Forest Whitaker.
The amount of people I have met through this internship is astounding and has almost

desensitized me to the idea of celebrities. I can safely say I can not get starstruck anymore.

Interacting with celebrities so much made me see them as just normal people. Some people who

have been on the show include Alicia Keys, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Martha Stewart, Wayne

Brady, Rita Moreno, Susan Lucci, Lo Bosworth, Mindy Kaling, Steve Madden, Josh Radnor,

Alan Cumming, Glenn Howerton, Melissa Rivers, Dennis Quaid, The Chrisley family, Rosie

Perez, Condola Rashad, and many more.

There was one day we had which was called a media junket. A junket is where a bunch of

media outlets and shows get a chance to interview the biggest stars in one day. The celebrities

make their rounds from show to show promoting what they are currently working on. All of the

shows for this media junket were exclusively from NBC. We had a three camera setup being our

A, B, and C cam as well as a go-pro that served as a timelapse of setting up and packing up. The

interviews happened one after another. For instance the cast of This Is Us would walk in do their

fifteen minutes and then Retta would walk in to do her interview. It was a hectic day but one of

the most rewarding days in terms of experience. In preparation for this event I was in charge of

doing deep research on all the celebrities looking for things that would not commonly come up

topically in conversation. For each guest I had to find out 5 interesting things about the celebrity

that was hard to find. Questions were then derived from my research and the celebrities were

impressed and surprised how much we found out about them.

I was also given the opportunity to work on two commercial shoots while I was interning

at NBC which were ACE Hardware commercial with paint and a Tylenol commercial. The Ace

Hardware commercial was an extremely early call time same goes for Tylenol commercial.

There was a process to the Ace commercial because it involved painting where Nessa would
paint and then professionals would step in and finish the room to make it look like she completed

the whole wall.

For the tylenol commercial I was in charge of catering and had to pick up the food for the

large crew. On set I was able help grips and move equipment and things around. I also was on

firewatch which is a shift just watching the expensive equipment in a room where workers

shifted out every fifteen minutes. The commercial was shot in a Stop N Shop extremely early in

the morning before customers could even enter the store. One thing that stood out to me was the

camera operator and the contraption he had on his back to carry this expensive camera. At the

end of the shoot I drove the crew back to 30 Rock and returned the rental van. That day I

attended class as well so it was a rough day in school. The many hours it took to film just a 30

second commercial put how much work goes into commercials into perspective. Apparently

having driving experience is a very beneficial skill many productions are looking for and is a

vital part of production.

Not only do I go in the field for shoots but, I also edit videos. The program I primarily

used was Adobe Premiere Pro and occasionally Final Cut Pro. I started off making videos for

youtube making promo videos and stand alone videos for Open House. Open House showcases

mansion and other luxurious locations giving you a tour of celebrity homes, or architectural

wonders. I have made quite a few of these videos which were posted on the official Open House

Youtube. Also for Talk Stoop I created videos involving a segment called questions from a cup.

The idea is each guest leaves a question on a note card for other guest to answer on the show

after picking it out randomly. The guest then in turn leaves a question to be put in the cup. For

1st Look, an entertainment travel show, I edited multiple time lapses that were posted on their

Instagram. For George to the Rescue, a show where George Oliphant goes and helps families in
need with renovations, I picked the music for a whole episode and edited a scene where a green

screen was used in the home of a child who was being rescued. Using adobe stock footage I was

able to make it seem as the George was in various destinations like the Taj Mahal, Space, Mount

Everest and Hollywood for a funny effect.

Another special shoot I attended was for George to the Rescue. In Greenpoint, Brooklyn

a place called the Fisher Center was getting rescued and I was a production assistant and camera

operator on the shoot. I got to ride in the George to the Rescue Truck on the way to the shoot.

The day I was there it was Comcast Cares Day and Stephen Holt was a guest speaker. Many

volunteers came out in support to help fix up the Fisher Center. The center caters to the mentally

challenged and was due for an upgrade to their facilities. The cameras used for the shoot were 2

c100, a 4k black magic camera, and two go-pros. I was in charge of filming a mural being

painted and other scenes. It was interesting to be behind the scenes of a renovation show.

Based on how well I did on video editing I was asked to try to cut a commercial for

Chevrolet and George to the Rescue. After sifting through tons of footage and cutting a 45

second commercial they really liked it and sent it off to sales who approved my work. So I am

going to have a commercial I edited air on television. I have a sense of accomplishment from

working on the piece because it took nearly six hours to complete. The main idea of the

commercial was to show how putting up wallpaper is simple and can be a do it yourself kind of

project in homes.

Not all my work was as fun as it seems. On days when there weren’t any shoots going on

and nothing to edit, my job was a creating and organizing cue sheets. Cue sheets are spreadsheets

which contain metadata for music that are used in episodes. They are important so that the

people who created the music get paid. It is a very tedious aspect of the job but, I see the
importance of having them for the artist and in case of an audit. Organization is very important

when it comes to production. While going through the hundreds of cue sheets inserting missing

data and other miscellaneous tasks, I was advised to listen to music to make it less of a chore.

Another administrative task I would have to do occasionally was transcribing videos. I would

have write down every word for some episodes of Open House.

I also attended an event called NBC Spotlight for employees where it had Chief

Executive Officer, Steve Burke, and other guest speaking on how well the company is doing.

The panel was moderated by NBC’s snapchat news anchor Savannah Sellers. They also had stars

from Jurassic World on the panel which included Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. This

event took place in the historic Studio 8H where Saturday Night Live takes place. Employees

had the chance to ask questions or make suggestions. It seems that they have these meetings to

give employees a sense that the company cares about their input.

In terms of perks employees enter a raffle to be able to attend The Tonight Show with

Jimmy Fallon or Saturday Night Live. As intern I was able to get tickets to the Harry Connick Jr.

Show at anytime but, due to my schedule I was unable to attend a taping of the show. Full time

employees also have the opportunity to go to Universal Studios in Florida for free. There is also

a day where the park is shutdown just for Comcast and NBC employees.

Internships have this stigma that interns only go and get coffee. For me it was so much

more than that. I feel as though internships are an essential part of putting yourself above others

in the job search period after school. An employer will take a person who has lower grades if

they have experience with an internship than a person who has better grades but, no experience.

There was so many thing I have learned and experienced working at NBC that it will most

definitely impact the rest of my career.


Adding NBC along with W-ABC on my resume, I feel as though I can find a job with no

problem especially in production. After graduating from Kean University with a

Communications degree I hope to be successful in some capacity in the entertainment industry,

whether it be in front of the camera or behind it. After finding an entry level job and garnering

some more experience I think I can create and produce my own show sometime in the future.

With my foot in the door at NBC hopefully I can turn this opportunity into a career.

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