Internship Experience at The Dr. Oz Show by Elle Rose

     My name is Elle Rose, I’m a senior English major at FCRH, and I just spent the last semester working as a production intern at the Dr. Oz Show!
     I found the Dr. Oz Show internship program through Fordham’s Career Link service, and applied in April to be an intern for the Fall semester. We had our first orientation session in early August, and I met the 13 other interns I’d be working with for the next four months.
     Working as a production intern meant that you could work in one of several departments on any given day. Every week the interns would work in their assigned departments: field, office, booking, studio, audience, post-production, or producing. The show would tape two episodes three days out of the week. If you were scheduled to work on a ‘taping day’ — then you’d most likely be placed in the studio working in either the studio, audience, or producing departments. On a non-taping day, you’d be in the office, working with either the field, office, or booking departments.
     Taping days meant early call times. All staff had to be at the studio, or office (depending on where you were scheduled), by 7 AM. There were a variety of daily tasks the interns would work together on finishing up before we all went off to work with our own departments — like distributing dressing room assignments, printing out show rundowns, and setting up dressing rooms for show guests.
     While our morning tasks were communal, each intern had a different set of tasks to work on within their specific department. Working with studio meant that you got to be a part of all studio rehearsals — usually standing in for the guests scheduled to be on the show, for blocking purposes. Working with audience meant a lot of time up on your feet, helping out with audience load-in and load-out and answering various questions from audience members, and guiding them through the maze-like studio to their seats. Working with producing meant preparing script cards for all guests on the show, and making sure that all appropriate release forms were signed by both guests, and audience members that were featured on the show.
     Thankfully, not all of our days were as early as taping days. On non-taping days, everyone reported to the office by 9 AM. All the interns were expected to help with restocking the pantry, and making sure coffees, plates, napkins, and silverware were properly stocked in the office kitchen. Field interns often had to transcribe videos, and some even got to go on out-of- office field shoots. Booking interns had a variety of tasks — including researching contact information for possible guests for the show, researching recently released health and wellness books, and preparing informational spreadsheets on upcoming guests. Office interns usually helped out with any department that didn’t have a pre-assigned intern — which typically included researching stock photos and clips, putting together spreadsheets, and sometimes sitting in at reception.
     Before working with the Dr. Oz show, I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do post- graduation — but having the opportunity to work with so many different departments allowed me to expand my interests and skill set! I now have a greater understanding of just how much goes into making a television production, and a clearer picture of what it is I’d like to do when I graduate from Fordham in May!