Is your film industry internship illegal? – UPDATE

You’ve probably read about the two interns on the movie Black Swan who are now suing for $$$ they say is due to them for the work they performed (and if not, here's the NY Times article about it).  As I wrote a while back, most industry internships are probably illegal under current laws, and while the internship system is pretty set in its ways, it has been mostly unchallenged until now.

Overall, this is a tough issue, but in case I didn’t make it clear in my previous post on the subject, I think interns are already paying to go to college and an internship if made available to a student should provide an educational experience in exchange for class credit.  It should NOT be a source of unpaid labor or a way for a production, studio, or company to save money.  Interns are college students, they are already paying tuition.  This notion of paying to work someplace is simply ridiculous.  If a production or company or studio wants (or probably NEEDS) to hire PAs to make coffee and get lunch and things of that nature, they should open their wallet and pay some folks and stop exploiting desperate students.  Otherwise, you know, change the law, hire interns, go nuts.

Now, on the flip side, I get that cracking down on internships, well, it cuts both ways.  What’s worse for students...paying (tuition) to basically work someplace for free in exchange for the hope of connections and future employment…or, having fewer opportunities for networking before graduation?  Let’s face it, there aren’t that many legal internships for a reason…who really wants to play teacher or mentor to someone when they’re busy working a job?  On the other hand, doesn’t the practice of replacing paid entry level employees with interns end up hurting students in the long run?  Think about it this way, you work hard interning and once you graduate you can’t find a job because productions, like Black Swan, are only hiring interns for the work you're most qualified for.  Like I said, it’s a tough issue.

I can only speak from my own experience, but as I mentioned in my previous post, I worked a couple internships and while I did get a job offer through one of those, I couldn’t take that job and in the end, after I graduated, I got my first job from a college friend whose show needed additional PAs. That friend got their job a month earlier because they answered an ad on Craigslist…yeah, Craigslist.  So yes, it’s possible for a person without a ton of great connections to “break in” to the industry without an internship to pave the way.  But hey, I do know unconnected friends that got excellent (even amazing) jobs via their internships, so they’d probably disagree with me big time about this matter.

So anyway, all that debate aside, what a lot of people are wondering now is, what exactly will happen with this lawsuit?  Will these two guys make serious waves?  Will they “never work in this town again?”  Will anyone care much either way?  As far as the outcome of the lawsuit, I’m gonna guess these two fellows get a little class action thing going on and that the end result is that everyone involved gets a small settlement (hush hush and out of court) and as a result maybe a few more interns who worked for other shows/studios come forward with their own illegal internship lawsuits (the economy being the way it is, needing to pay rent might trump fears of “career suicide” in the minds of former interns).  Beyond that, I think the only thing that is absolutely certain about this whole issue is that students will continue to get the short end of the internship stick.

Reasons NOT to skip college

So, this interview with James Altucher appeared on the front page of Yahoo a few days ago.   You should read/watch it…Altucher's basic argument is that achievement minded people shouldn’t go to college.  I thought I'd comment on this idea since I’ve talked about college before (specifically the merits and/or worthlessness of film school).  While starting a business, traveling the world, and becoming a standup comedian (when you're 18) all sound like fun (and maybe even lucrative) alternatives to college, I’ve gotta say, that I TOTALLY DISAGREE with Mr. Altucher (but hey, he’s the expert and I’m not).

To skip or not to skip college?

First, let me reiterate how hard it is to get an entry level entertainment industry job without a college degree.  Let’s say you just want to be an assistant to a development exec…just to answer phones for someone, do their grunt work, and read piles of scripts, you usually need at least a year of work experience at an agency where you will first deliver mail, then answer phones, network in expensive clothes you can’t afford on your low salary...and you can’t get THAT job without a college degree.

I do understand a few things Altucher is saying, college is expensive and doing something else might save you (and your parents) some tuition money.  But honestly, I think he’s missing the point that most families pay for college with student loans.  Not that going into debt for several years for an education is a good thing, but it’s not like most families have a big fat account that they draw from to pay for school or support their kid for a few years.  Students live off loan money a lot of the time, with the expectation that their degree will lead to a job that will pay off (and it definitely will depending on your field…I don’t think too many petroleum engineers are hurting right now).  

Also, college students have access to internships and while some industry internships are bogus (and possibly illegal) some are great and can lead to future work/connections and you can only get them if you are getting school credit (for example, I was recommended for a PA job on a film when I was still in college all because of an internship I'd done the semester before).

So yeah, I say, don’t skip college, BUT I think there are a few good things to be gleaned from all this talk about alternatives to the usual college --> career path.  I think having lots of different jobs and trying lots of different things can be a really good thing (especially for a baby writer).  While you don’t want to isolate yourself too much from the industry and friends/connections... traveling, doing crazy things, and taking time to write will give you time to finish more work as well as cool stories that will make you stand out.  Also, it’s true, college is expensive, and I think waaaay more people need to look into doing community college for a couple years then transferring.