Jacqueline Dolan (center) talks with COM252 students Craig Henderson (left) and Kelly Oko after a presentation

By Erin Couch
English, Junior

Jacqueline Dolan spent part of her summer at a desk cutting thousands of press clippings. Her mission was to find every newspaper or magazine article that mentioned the death of Buck Owens, a country music legend.

It is a common service called "media impressions" provided by the publicist she was interning for. The publicist is responsible for keeping track of each media mention of a client. Dolan took the mundane task seriously. She made sure each clipping she cut out was neat. "I got noticed for that," she said.

It was a reminder that there are no small jobs in the entertainment world, she said. But before you feel sorry for her, Dolan points out that later that week, she was guiding celebrities down a Red Carpet event.

Dolan, whose career ambition is to be a celebrity publicist, was assigned as an intern in the personalities department at Bragman Nyman Cafarelli, one of the top entertainment marketing and public relations firms in the country. She was one of two department undergraduates who earned internships in the entertainment industry this year. After leaving a summer internship at CNN, Jin Min, a senior in Mass Communication, traveled to New York to begin her fall semester internship at MTVK, the new MTV station designed especially for young Korean-Americans.

Both quickly learned the glamorous and not-so-glamorous sides to jobs in the entertainment industry.

Finding the internships

Both Dolan and Min found their dream internships on their own.

Dolan, a senior in public relations, began looking for a summer 2006 internship in the fall of 2005. She knew that an internship in the entertainment industry would not just fall in her lap. She was looking on online job sites when she found a listing for an account executive, but not an intern, for BNC. But that didn't deter her. She sent her resume and cover letter to the company anyway, asking about internship possibilities.

She did not hear back from the company, but that is when she took what turned out to be a decisive step: she called them. "I learned a valuable lesson: always follow-up," she said. It turned out the company had been waiting for her to contact them, to test her interest, so to speak. She underwent a phone interview and was offered an internship.

Min had an easier time. She simply sent in a resume and cover letter to an address on the MTVK Web site. "I was lucky because MTVK was only started in June and I think that allowed me to get this internship."

On the job

Dolan packed up her car in May and drove four days to California. A tiny studio apartment, with rent of $1,000 a month, in West Hollywood became her new home.

"It was all on my shoulders; it was hard learning a new city while knowing no one. I had to suck it up and meet people," she said.

Her first day on the job seemed more like a scene out of the recent movie "The Devil Wears Prada." A publicist dropped a pile of Louis Vuitton dresses on her desk and told her to return them. Dolan had no idea how to do this or where to go. She said she quickly learned to ask questions.

"I said 'I'm sorry, I'm new. If you tell me how to do this just once, I won't have to ask you again.'"

BNC offices in the Pacific Design Center, the largest office building in Hollywood that holds many of the leading publicity/public relations firms in the entertainment industry

Min said she began work at MTVK hoping to contribute new show ideas to the fledgling network.

"I thought I could come up with a lot of shows for MTVK to create, but it really wasn't that easy," she said. "They already have shows that have been approved and most of all, there isn't enough resources to just try new shows that people come up with."

Both quickly adjusted to the multitude of tasks assigned them.

Min said she did everything from assist in writing scripts for shows to general research, to running cameras.

Dolan said she quickly learned that getting involved and showing interest were keys to success.

"I came in very early and I was the last one to leave. I really had to pay my dues."

There were perks for her hard work.  Dolan attended events and launch parties. She worked at the Maxim Launch party media check-in table, hectically checking the credentials of the media covering the event. She helped guide celebrities through the maze of media at a T-Mobile Red Carpet event.

Dolan even organized invitations that were sent out for Toni Braxton's "Revealed" opening, stuffing, stamping, and sending invitations to everyone that was pertinent to Braxton's career.

During her time at BNC, Dolan was able to get to know some of the "who's who" of the P.R. industry.  By asking to meet with the agency's top publicists, and observe them in action during meetings, she was able to create networks that will help her in her future.

During her three-month internship, Dolan found that she was using a lot of the skills she learned in her communication classes at Purdue University.  One of the big skills she used was writing.
           
"I wrote a lot of press releases and what I learned at Purdue helped a lot in how to do it," said Dolan.

Future plans

Dolan plans to go to New York and conquer the fashion industry for her next internship. Through her connections that she made at BNC, she is pursuing another placement at an agency that represents fashion models.

Though Dolan's unpaid internship at BNC caused her to sacrifice a lot of what she wanted to do when she was in L.A., she said she found the experience unforgettable.

Min said she hopes to continue working at MTVK upon graduation. An internship, she said, is a valuable way to find out whether or not you truly want to do something upon graduation, before it's too late.

"I really just love what I'm doing right now," Min said. "I don't feel like I'm working. I don't mind the long and odd hours. I love that I can't really tell anyone what a 'typical' day is like."