By Alessandra Brown
This summer I was lucky enough to have two wonderful internships at K&L Productions and Madison Wells Media Universe.
K&L Productions is Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect, Blockers) and Laverne McKinnon’s (Girl Boss) production company. I loved every moment of Professor McKinnon’s MSLCE class, The Power of Pitch and Persuasion, and knew that I had to work with them when I came to LA. Thankfully, the stars aligned, and I’ve been learning so much!
At K&L Productions, I was able to use the skills I learned in Laverne’s class. Each session with Laverne was a master class in learning how to find empathy with others and how to connect with them in a way that helps to get your message across to them. Everyone at K&L truly understands how to get their stories to the right audiences, and it’s been amazing to help them through that process for the past couple of months. My experience there has really demystified the development process and given me a good sense of what I can expect as a writer who wants to pitch projects to producers in the future.
Madison Wells Media Universe is a division within MWM that focuses on creating transmedia franchises. When I heard about all the cool things MWM was doing at MSLCE’s Speaker Series event with the CEO, Gigi Pritzker, I decided to keep an eye out for any internship postings. I was ridiculously excited when I saw Universe’s Creative Development Intern position, as it was directly applicable to a group project we’d worked on in our fall quarter Understanding the Creative Industries course.
During Understanding the Creative Industries, we created a transmedia franchise centered around a piece of existing intellectual property and I had a blast helping my team create a whole world based off of Rocko’s Modern Life. Using what I learned while working on the class project and the feedback I received on various projects at MWM throughout the summer, I was able to craft an immersive experience and build out a universe of stories for a board game that holds a special place in my heart.
When I started both of my internships this summer, I was worried that I wouldn’t have what it takes to make it in the industry. But I’ve learned so many new things and have truly changed the way I approach storytelling. As someone who is transitioning from a professional career in a different field into Film and Television, I had a lot of apprehension around what that shift would look like. But after working at K&L and MWM Universe, I now have full confidence in myself and my abilities—and I’m excited to continue to learn and grow as a storyteller!
I first heard about these internships through various events and classes that MSLCE offered. It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t have had such an awesome summer in LA without this program and the wonderful people connected to it! I truly feel at home in Hollywood, and I’m excited to start the next step of my professional career.