After flying into Los Angeles from a small town is Western New York, I had no idea what to expect from working on Hollywood Boulevard, or the West Coast in general for that matter. I was a marketing major about to start an internship at a video production and whiteboard animation company, Rip Media Group.
On my first day, I over-predicted traffic and arrived about an hour early, a little overdressed. However, by the end of the day, the panic I’d been feeling about whether coming to LA for a summer was the right decision had disappeared. Not only was the office building’s environment extremely social, with many entrepreneurs and exciting companies sharing floors, but the team at RMG also wanted to provide me with an interesting internship experience that I could learn from, instead of just viewing me as a student who was only capable of mundane tasks.
I immediately realized that even though this was a video production company, the greater aspect was creating a marketing strategy for companies that came to RMG for an explainer video. I was able to apply what I’d been learning in class to what I was doing at RMG, as well as witnessing the creative process for a client from start to finish. I gained a number of new experiences including working on set for a commercial shoot, something that the LA tourist in me (that I had tried so hard to keep subdued) couldn’t help but feel had made my three-month stay complete.
I enjoyed getting to know everyone I worked with at Rip Media, and they really made my time here in LA not only well worth it, but really fun. I’m glad I found a place where I could simultaneously learn, be useful, and have a great experience.