Eager screams rise up
twenty-three floors to the MTV production offices at global
headquarters in New York City, known as "ground zero." It's 3:30 and
time for Total Request
Live, MTV's hour-long
weekday afternoon show that counts down the channel's top ten
requested videos. During this time, masses of young adults cheer on
the sidewalk below the studio and try to see handsome TRL host VJ Carson Daly through the
studio's block-long windows that provide a panorama of Times Square.
For an MTV intern, TRL is the in-house sundial that signals
the halfway point in the workday. The MTV studio and the
production offices mirror the electric youth of the programs. There
is no dress code, and funky fabric prints are MTV's "basic black."
You are as likely to see a beanbag chair and lava lamp in a
producer's office as a swivel chair and electric pencil sharpener.
Flat-screened glass televisions project the channel in reception. The
pantries even have soda taps and candy machines. Orientation day is the time
that interns transition to MTV's vibrant look and results-driven
up-tempo. At orientation, you take a floor tour, learn how to be
professional around celebrity talent, and how to use the video
archive computer system. Interns rotate between shows to assist with
several phases of show production, from initial research to final
edit. The work you do is mostly behind the scenes. Even so, interns
are show extras in a pinch. Every task helps to maintain
a show's steady pulse. Jobs include running errands, doing Internet
research, setting up the studio's green room for guest talent, or
giving a studio tour. To adapt to MTV's rigor is to become a part of
the meticulous preparation that gives MTV its spontaneous appearance.
Seldom could I predict a workday. On a shoot for the "Countdown to
the Video Music Awards" special, my job was to park the MTV van while
the production team boarded a Statue of Liberty ferry to get the
footage they needed with VJ Amanda Lewis. That day I added van
driving to my corporate tool kit, a skill I could not have predicted
I would learn by necessity. I was an intern at MTV last
summer and this January Term. Most recently, I worked on the
TRL Superbowl special and on a special
that will ring in the one-millionth video aired. It was exciting to
return to MTV two days after the New Year's Eve millennium gala.
Confetti still rained in Times Square. MTV has too much charisma to
downplay any aspect of the nicely organized internship program. Where
else does everyone in the office hum the final TRL music in synch at the end of the
show?
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