Internship Spotlight: Five Sisters Productions

Current Tufts student Rodney White shared the following about being a Summer Intern at Five Sisters Productions  

What did you do as an intern at this organization?
At Five Sisters Productions I was an assistant editor.

How did you find this internship?
I found this internship through my professor, Jennifer Burton. Over the Spring semester we met frequently to talk about I was doing in my classes, and I eventually expressed that I had an interest in editing. She offered to let me be an assistant editor on a project she was working on and supported my application process to receive a grant for my summer work.

What did you enjoy most about your internship?
What I enjoyed most about my internship was the ability challenge myself as a creative. I haven’t had many personal projects where I needed to edit for more than a week, so it was incredibly enlightening to be able to be engaged in story for such a long period of time. Even though it was only a taste of what industry editors do and how long they spend on something, I’m grateful to have had an opportunity to get my feet wet in long form editing.

What did you find challenging?
What I found challenging was also my favorite part of the internship. My experience with editing was always for school projects or YouTube videos for my friends. Those projects only took about a week to complete. So engaging with longer form story telling and figuring out how to continue a story was really challenging. Also another thing that was difficult was having the endurance to revisit the same story and continue to make it better.

What advice would you offer to someone who wants to make the most of an internship like yours?
The one piece of advice I would offer to someone who wants to make the most of an internship like mine is to get comfortable with frequent communication. The best thing you can do in your situation is learn as much as you can while you have access to the professionals that are in your field. I would meet every week if possible. You never know what someone has to offer in terms of personal or professional experience/advice someone could be able to offer you.


About the Organization

Five Sisters Productions

FIVE SISTERS PRODUCTIONS, the Los Angeles-based production company helmed by the five real-life Burton siblings (MariaJenniferUrsulaGabrielle, and Charity), makes high quality independent films and commercials.

By Sheryl Rosenberg
Sheryl Rosenberg Associate Director