Abstract
The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, recognize and support new filmmakers as well as enhance awareness, accessibility and understanding of the art. An independent performing arts center, The Film Society hosts a 363-day season that includes the premieres of new films from an international roster of established and emerging directors, major retrospectives, in-depth symposia and high profile events.
The organization has been a pioneer among film institutions and is one of the film world's most respected and influential arbiters of cinematic trends and discoveries. Francois Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson – over the last four decades, there is scarcely a major director who has not been introduced to American audiences by the Film Society.”
The Film Society is best known for two world-class international festivals – the New York Film Festival (the most famous and prestigious in the country) and the New Directors/New Films (celebrating new cinematic artists). The Film Society of Lincoln Center runs a state-of-the-art, year-round cinema, the Walter Reade Theater (capacity: 268), and publishes the country's most respected cinematic journal, ‘Film Comment'.
Each year, the organization presents its annual Gala Tribute honoring legendary stars and industry leaders of our generation at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. At various times of the year, the Film Society partners with Hollywood studios to present premieres and special live appearances.
I commenced my internship working for the Coordinator, which was a good way to learn about the society and its organization: the Coordinator works directly for the Marketing and Public Relations Director and is a link between this director and assistant director.
My first task was to answer Jeanne's telephone line of the Marketing Director. With the help of a call book, I had to ask callers to identify themselves by name and organization. This allowed me to introduce whoever was calling to Jeanne. When she wasn't available (many times she was already on the phone), I had to jot down the caller's information, which included the phone number, message, date and time.
At times when she was already on the phone with someone else, I would show her the name of the person calling and Jeanne would communicate nonverbally whether I had to ask the person to hold on or if she would call back later. This task wasn't easy for me to start with because of my relatively poor level of English. However, I really felt comfortable performing this task two months later.
A calendar has to be sent out every month to the main journalists the Public Relations department works with. I had to staple on each calendar the Director or Assistant Director's information card depending on which journalist was referred to. A list of these indications is saved in the “Press Office for Dummies” folder.
I had to print out the journalists' addresses labels: All the contacts' information is saved in Press Office Contacts Database (Access software) and can be exported to a pre-determinate Word document, ready to be printed on a labels sheet. Then, each label was pasted on a bigger official mailer label of the society before the envelope was ready to be sent out.
Tags: Internship Report, Film Society of Lincoln Center,New York Film Festival
Extract
[...] Usually, the Public Relations Assistant asks the Coordinator, who asks me to do it. An Excel file has to be created with the following items: the titles of the movies, original DVD or copies, number of copies. We always make 6 copies, but if more than 6 journalists ask for a film, we can then add 6 more copies. (Appendix A record of the copies we ask for has to be created and printed for the projectionist. This document has to be saved in a folder named "DubMemo" with the following information: date, name and running time of each film, number of copies. [...]
[...] As well, thanks to the small organization the Film Society is, I had a global look of what was going on, how they communicate between the different sectors, what is the best attitude to have to get ahead and what attitude can be bad at work. I learnt also that a lack of communication and tension between co-workers can hold back those global results. Concerning my professional contribution, I found out how important it is to select the sector I want to work in. I realized that the sector is the second most important thing I have to think about specialization, because once you choose your specialization, you will apply it to the product the company produces. [...]
[...] Four interns were already working in the "intern alley". I started working with the coordinator, Oleg, for the first two weeks but as he didn't have a lot of work to give to me, I switched with another intern to work for Inés in the press section. Inés was interested in a full-time intern and Oleg wasn't getting enough work to give me. Another intern taught me all the public relation tasks. When I started to work with Inés, we had a lot of difficulties communicating. [...]
[...] Internship Report - Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York Summary Introduction 3 I. The Film Society of Lincoln Center 4 A Non-Profit Arts Society 4 II. Intern Tasks and Responsibilities 5 A. Hierarchy 5 B. Work for the Coordinator 6 1. Answering the Phone 6 2. Monthly Events Calendars 6 C. Public Relations' Tasks 6 1. Press Materials 7 2. Clippings 7 3. [...]
[...] (Annex 8 and 10) I really enjoyed having this responsibility: thank to this mailbox, I was able to follow all the conversations between the person in charge of the public relations and the journalists. Inés used to answer the emails and to send it to the journalist as well as the press office mailbox, so I was able to understand what was going on. 4. Press screenings RSVP A RSVP list has to be created for the press screenings attendance. [...]
