Kendra Chapman
Senior, Carnegie Mellon University
Aspiring Screenwriter, Director and Producer

Kendra Chapman is committed to a career in film. She studies drama at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), she is an avid movie watcher, and she interns. Chapman, who has completed five internships in the past two years, sees internships as an opportunity to immerse herself in her chosen field while still in college.

This summer Chapman was an intern at Odd Lot Entertainment, a film production company based in Los Angeles. While Chapman says that she enjoyed every aspect of the experience, from learning about film production and development to discussing the weekend box office, her favorite part was the Weekend Read.

"One of my main responsibilities was to read at least one script submitted to Odd Lot for consideration every week and write coverage. Coverage is basically an analytical assessment of the script including a summary and your comments about whether it should be considered for production," she explains. "At our Monday meeting, we would then give a two-minute pitch of the script we read."

The aspiring filmmaker says that all of her experiences in the School of Drama at CMU prepared her for this opportunity, specifically studying and critiquing the works of great writers as well as working on school productions.

When choosing an internship, Chapman recommends carefully considering your ultimate career goal. "All of my internships were focused, which made the experiences very relevant."