MTV Internship Launches a Career

Continuing our "how I got into the business" series is Gabriel Leif Bellman, USC film school grad and co-director of the Frozen Film Festival.


Gabriel writes:

I was in New York in grad school and decided I should see what MTV was like. I emailed them my resume and in my cover letter I said I was a USC film school grad and they gave me an interview. I interned for a semester- the intern coordinator didn't like me but the show host did (Serena Altschul). She asked her friend to meet me- I ended up working on producing shows for MTV for four years. The lesson- get to know everybody you work around. If you get along with people they will want to hire you. I even hired my own friends later. Nepotism gets a bad rap- who doesn't want to hire a friend- filmmaking is incredibly intimate and you don't want to be locked in an editing suite at 3am with people who have no sense of humor. Make friends and hire friends. You never know who will get the next green light.

Gabriel Leif Bellman
Co-Director Frozen Film Festival