Students from De Anza’s creative arts programs joined others from around the country at a career event hosted by the Mountain Winery and the AEG Presents entertainment corporation, learning about internship opportunities and meeting a panel of entertainment industry professionals on Oct. 18.
Transcript:
0:00
[Zachary Francis]
Hello. My name is Zachary Francis. I’m a film production major here at De Anza College, and I’m also the student chapter president of our SMPTE branch.
0:08
[Sango Levonian (Narration)]
Zachary was one of many students from De Anza, as well as other colleges from around the United States, invited October 18th to attend a career fair event hosted by the Mountain Winery event venue in the AEG Presents entertainment company.
0:20
[Zachary Francis]
Getting here, right off the bat, bands playing from either side, and a very interesting community. We started with a presentation on resumes and how to build your resumes, the dos and don’ts. The program that they’re showcasing here is an application internship program where they teach you how to apply for certain things and they will match you up with opportunities for you as long as you’re trying your hardest to make a good application. Then we had a panel by the Mountain Winery staff here– all the heads of department making very interesting points about how every day is a new day with new staff working with different bands.
1:01
[Chase Thompson]
Something during the presentations that stuck out to me was some of the real world experiences that they were able to give. There was somebody named Drew. He was the production manager, and after the panel actually was over, he was starting to talk about some things he noticed about people he worked with, and I just thought it was really awesome that we really get an inside scoop as to what’s going on in the live event space.
1:23
[April Barfield]
I love the fact that the students are here to meet with the talent buyers, the marketing person, the general managers, the folks that sell premium seating and suites, and also like the production manager, so it gives them a sense of what goes on here at the winery.
1:43
[Zachary Francis]
All of them actually really liked making a point of you can start from any bottom, and as long as you’re looking to move and find opportunity, you definitely will. It’s just a matter of preparing for that moment.
1:57
[Billy Bob Thornton]
Don’t go trying to get a hit. Do what you feel, and if it becomes a hit, that’s awesome.
2:03
[Zachary Francis]
There’s so many well-established people in Hollywood that you’ll never hear about, and I think for me at least, and I bet quite a few of the people in the room, that’s what Billy Bob Thornton was, was just a well-established face that we’d never met before. I found what he had to say very insightful because he tried to make it seem as simple as possible. You don’t have to have those industry side secrets or whatnot. You just have to be yourself and never sacrifice that while you’re trying to work.
[Music]
2:40
[April Barfield]
For someone who’s on the fence of attending an event like this, I would just strongly encourage them to step out of their box, step out of their shell, and just give it a try because this is a great place to network. This is a great place to speak to the people and the players that are putting these events together or these shows together. It gives you a sense outside of the classroom what it takes and what it entails to put on a show.
3:08
[Chase Thompson]
I would just say you have nothing to lose. I mean, people may think that there has to be a specific thing that you’re going for, or maybe the career fair isn’t tailored to what you’re necessarily looking for, but no matter where you are, you can meet somebody that may have a completely different job or a completely different thing than you’re trying to go into and make a connection that’s better than any other connection you’ve made before. You just don’t know.
