I can’t begin to explain how much fun I’ve had. It’s been a blast from start to finish and I’ve pretty much decided that in a few years I may emigrate here.

Australia is the nicest country I’ve ever visited, maybe a little expensive but that can be overlooked.

The amount of stuff I’ve learnt in my internship is immense, I’ve designed a website, Edited, filmed, produced, you name it I’ve done it! Well, with the exception of makeup lol

Only 18 Days left to go… Sad times!

If you are interested in a film internship like Stuart’s in Sydney or Melbourne, check out the Film Internships page for programme details and example company and position descriptions.

Anyway, it was perfectly fine and enjoyable chat with a guy called Fred at the film company in Sydney, pretty much like talking to a friend or someone I’ve known for years. The call started with some pleasant banter, few introductions, brief summary of their company and what they do. Research prior to the interview came in useful, telling him I’d seen some of the things they produce appeared to impress him a little (I hope). Gave him a few examples of what I’ve done previously and how I think I’d be able to assist them on a daily basis.

The questions asked were the usual:

• Why do I want the internship
• What do I expect from them
• What do I hope to achieve at the end of it

Answers I gave were pretty much written down before I called (Which helped no ends, meant I didn’t forget anything with the ‘pressure’ of the call). I told him I want the internship to gain more experience in all the aspects of the production process as I’ve only done a few bits’n’bobs. When asked what I expect from the company I told him that I would like to see a project go from pre-production to production to post-production, see the project unfold in front of my eyes.

I was informed that this is their busiest period for them and that I’d be working non-stop, I let him know that my current occupation requires non stop work for 6 hours a day with plenty of dead lines to meet etc… which could have put his mind at ease, who knows!

Jon’s tip sheet came in useful especially the “smile” part, made me feel more confident and relaxed and I definitely felt that I was giving a relaxed but confident attitude on the phone.

But, Good Luck to whoever reads this and has a phone interview!

Stu.

Ok, Internships… Fun Fun Fun, hard to sort out, yes, run, run for your lives!… Nah they’re easy enough, just takes a bit of planning and thinking out…..

…So, I decided to take up an Internship after being rejected for a few jobs I’d applied for due to ‘lack of experience’. After browsing around the Net, emailing a few people here and there, Jon Carroll got in touch with me. I had originally planned to go sometime Next Year, around February time. However, Jon told me theres a chance I could be there in August, all we ll and good and really exciting until I realised instead of having 9 months to sort out the Internship, I now had around 6 weeks!!!
So, clearly the first hurdle is finding the money to go, As i’m an ex-student and still poor (feel sorry for me!) I decided to take a loan out, which fingers crossed is well and good now so thats the hard part sorted. I found Tesco were best for me but you should still try shopping around.
Next came finding insurance,  Age Concern (yes, the place for old people) has worked out the cheapest so far and that gives a hell of a lot of cover (something along the lines of £2.5 million for medical cover!!!) I belive for the 16weeks Ill be in Sydney the insurance was going to cost £320.

Visas, fairly simple, go to the Australian embassy website fill in a form for the appropriate forms, ask Jon to point you in the right direction and Bobs your Mums brother (uncle) the Visa is sorted.

I’ve only briefly looked at Flights but from speaking to friends and family who’ve travelled to Australia, they’ve all recommended Quantas Airlines as the best! So although that will more than likely work out more expensive at least its a trusted airline

So thats just a brief run down of what I’ve done so far, if you’ve got any questions that you think i’ll be able to answer, please feel free to ask! If not, as Jon!

Take care and enjoy, I’m going too

Stu

University: University of Wolverhampton

Course: BA(hons) in Film Studies

Heading to: Sydney, Australia

Duration: 16 weeks

After completing a BA(hons) in Film Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, Stuart is heading to Sydney to undertake a 16 week Film internship.  Stuart has been kind enough to keep you up to date as he goes through the internship search, with applying for his visa, booking flights, accommodation in Sydney and if Sydney lives up to everything he expected!

I’ll hand you over to Stuart to keep you up-to-date and I’ll be hoping in and out to answer some of your questions so Stuart doesn’t have loads of work to do!

Find out what current interns are getting up to, whether their internship search is just beginning or they are already in Australia or New Zealand.

Our interns will tell you what it is like waiting for news of a potential placement, information they found helpful, how long their visa took and much more!