There’s a sad, sad fact that I will be facing in just four weeks – my time interning for Red Productions is coming to a close. After a semester of learning the industry and probably asking way too many questions, I’m actually pretty sad that I won’t be spending my Mondays and Fridays with this group of people that are both passionate and excellent at what they do. Luckily, four lucky interns will have the chance to join Red for the Spring semester, and boy, do they have a lot to look forward to.
My day-to-day is pretty different any time I come into the office. Some days, I’m working with Harrison on paperwork and the client-facing side of Red. Other days, I’m on set right in the middle of the action. Just last week, Red purchased VIP passes for all the interns to attend the Lone Star Film Festival at Sundance Square. We spent the entire day listening to panels and watching shorts and feature-length films, so many of which have been created by Texas natives!
The most special thing about Red is by far the people that work there. The office environment is atypical of anywhere I’ve ever worked, and I’ve outlined a few reasons why “Red rocks,” and why anyone considering applying should stop considering and just apply.
- It’s not all work
Being a business major, I had a picture in my head that really busy offices involved really busy people with not much time to interact. Contrary to my misconception, Red is a place where really busy people have a really fun time. I don’t think there was a day where I didn’t hear about a new project or listen in on a phone call with a new client, but despite all of the to-dos, we still had “Taco Friday” and were encouraged to attend any and all events hosted by the Lone Star Festival. Aside from the fun office parties and festival outings, I’ve witnessed lots of sarcastic banter, and a lot of employees who are genuinely invested in the company and the people they work with.
- Dogs, dogs, dogs
This office loves pups of all shapes and sizes. The most popular occupants, Jesse and Momo, provide some of the office’s best entertainment. I’m not sure what I found more enjoyable – seeing Momo in his Mickey Mouse Halloween costume, or watching Jesse play the puppy-version of Deal or No Deal as she guessed which hand her treat was in.
- You are special and they get that
I came into my time at Red knowing diddly-squat about anything video production, other than the fact that I was intrigued to know anything and everything about it. As I learned the business day-by-day, I was also tasked with assignments that played to my strengths. I mentioned in my interview that I had a habit of dallying in graphic design, and on multiple occasions, I got to design graphics on behalf of Red.
- Life’s what you make it
If I’m being completely honest, this internship was pretty unstructured, and I mean that in the best way. There is always something to do, but Red makes it apparent that you are there to learn just as much as you are to work. A lot of assignments are truly dependent on what the intern is curious about and what they want to know. If you want to know what the producer does, Scott will let you sit in on a client call. If you want to know what operations does, Stephen will show you all of his fancy-shmancy HR software. If you realized that you live in Texas and know nothing about football, Harrison will walk you through the eight million penalties that can occur in a game. Ask questions, make friends, and be engaged, because that is how you get the most out of your semester at Red.
- Red is the new black
If you want to experience incredibly talented people do their jobs incredibly well in an environment where they are more than eager to share their knowledge with you, this is the place to apply. I am begging you to jump at the chance to work for this growing video production studio, because they are doing really big things for really big clients, and I am pumped to see where they go. (Is this title correlated? Not entirely sure. But it sure is clever.)
To sum it all up, I learned a ton, and I met some awesome people that I hope I still get to see after my semester at Red is over. So, how will you be so fortunate to land an internship with Red Productions? My best advice is to be who you are, and as cliché as that sounds, I think the people at Red really value that. BUT, regardless if you’re going for the Producing/Account, Creative Development, On-Set, or Editing internship, you can score big by hitting me up for my peanut butter cup cookie recipe. Yeah, I may have been called “Cookie Girl” for a day or so, but maybe if “Cookie Girl” applies for another semester on the team, she may get lucky and get to do it all over again.
Video production rocks. Peanut butter cookies rock. Red rocks.
