"I can only describe my summer at Fox Searchlight as truly amazing, I learned so much, not only about Hollywood, but also about the company, script development and the pre-production side of filmmaking in general. I had a great summer working at Fox Searchlight and got to fulfil one of my big dreams."
Annika Sell, 3rd Year student, Film and TV Studies
The experience
Three Nottingham students got a taste of Hollywood in summer 2009 as
they took up prestigious internships at the studios responsible for
Oscar hit Slumdog Millionaire - Fox Searchlight.
The internships were set up by Gianluca
Sergi, Associate Professor for Film Studies in the Institute for Film and TV Studies after the department was contacted by alumnus Peter Rice — then President of Fox Searchlight.
Fox Searchlight
Intern Annika Sell explains: "Katie Sexton, Anne Facompré and I were chosen from 53 applicants to spend the summer 2009 as interns at Fox Searchlight in LA.
I worked three days a week in the Production
Department, giving me the chance to explore California.
The Production department
concentrates on the script development and the pre-production of Fox
Searchlight’s films."
The internship
"Amongst my jobs as an intern, I had to read a lot of different scripts
and write a
summary and a commentary about the submission for the studio's executives. I was amazed by the importance of the tasks we got to do for the department.
We weren’t treated like an intern, but they actually cared about our
opinions on their projects and trusted us to complete research for
project development of their current and upcoming projects."
The industry
"I always believed Hollywood to be a really competitive industry, where
everyone just cares about their own future, but as I found out, it was
quite the opposite.
Everyone I met during my internship was friendly and very helpful. I was told that if you want something you just have to make
yourself known. If you are shy and always keeping quiet, you won’t
get anything."
Inside knowledge
"I want to work in the German film industry, so when we met Peter Rice, the former
president of Fox Searchlight gave me some great contacts. When I returned to Germany after
my eight week internship, I met up with Gabriela Bacher, Head of Fox
International Productions Germany. I am now helping her out
with reading scripts, writing summaries and commentaries, but also
helping her with script development."
Find out more
The film internships were set up by Gianluca Sergi, Associate Professor for
Film Studies in the Institute for Film and TV Studies.
Watch him in the
video below talking about how the internships were arranged.
If you are interested in doing an internship, please contact your personal tutor or the Careers and Employability Service.
Peter had studied in the Department of American and
Canadian Studies and had fond memories of his time at the University. He
wanted to know if there was anything he could do for us and offered
places on the Fox Searchlight internship programme. That’s a real hot
ticket in Hollywood, so we said yes.
Dr Gianluca Sergi, Associate Professor for Film Studies