Los Angeles, California
Variety covers just about every aspect of entertainment you can think of: major movies, award show recaps, YouTube video clips, celebrity real estate and what’s new on Netflix–you can find it through Variety’s magazine or website. Variety Magazine gives interns hands on experience covering show business; an internship at Variety won’t just teach you how to be a red-carpet reporter, but how to balance the lifestyle of a busy journalist.
What It’s Like
From red carpet events to celebrity interviews, Shali Dore, the internship coordinator at Variety, said interns are given plenty of opportunities to grow as journalists. “The internship is very hands on,” Dore said. “Interns are like full on reporters; they write stories that are up there in print and online, they get to pitch stories, they’re sent to events and are taken seriously.”
Cool Stuff You Get To Do
“You meet famous people, make connections, go to after parties and report it all the next day,” said Jacob Bryant, a Variety intern. Interns don’t just get shuttled off to D-List happenings, either. They cover prominent events like the Oscars, Emmys or the Golden Globes. “Event coverage is (by far) the most exciting part of this internship. My favorite events have been Rihanna’s Diamond Ball, the UNICEF Ball and the premiere of ‘The Danish Girl,’” said Alyssa Sage, another Variety intern. “Interviewing both Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander is one of my career highlights.”
What You’ll Learn
Variety requires interns to interview celebrities, directors and producers so everyone learns how to conduct an excellent interview early on in the internship. Variety is also great when it comes to perfecting the skills of juggling multiple stories at once.
Skills that Impress Them
Experience, experience, experience. Variety is not for first-time interns. Prior journalism work is a must and applications with pre-published work stand out amongst the pack. Dore said she looks for applicants to sell their skills and be able to talk about past experience to really drive home why they would be an awesome Variety intern.
How to Prepare Your Application
Build a stellar portfolio with all of your top-notch prior work. After you’re past the interview process, you’ll also have to complete a handful of written tests. Applicants must rewrite a press release into a story in 30 minutes. It’s checked for grammar, punctuation and spelling as well as how well it’s written (obviously). The process isn’t necessarily easy, but neither is landing a journalism job in LA.
Perks
Sure, you get to mix and mingle with A-listers daily, but that’s not the only amazing part of a Variety internship. When it comes to the practical side of the job, Variety treats interns to a nice $10 an hour salary while living in LA. “Another perk is event gift bags. At my first event I was gifted a bottle of wine. Rihanna’s Diamond Ball also had amazing gift bags–a Puma backpack completely filled with gifts from all the event sponsors, which included her perfume and a bunch of make-up. Many events also offer three-course meals,” Sage said.
The Deets
There’s much more to the internship than the glamorous parts. “An average work week typically entails writing 5-10 web stories, conducting phone interviews for pieces, compiling profiles for print issues and assisting editors with other various tasks,” Sage said. “In terms of responsibilities, this internship very closely resembles an actual job, which is very rare to experience as an intern.”
Ready to start your career journey by nailing that summer internship? Check out four steps that make it easy here.
Were you a Variety Mag intern? Share your internship experience in the comments below.
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