Frogs intern in NYC
By Robyn Kriel
Staff Reporter

Two radio-TV-film majors are spending their late nights with Conan O’Brien and David Letterman.

Seniors Ben Grayson and Tracy McCreary received internship positions this semester at the “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the “Late Show with David Letterman” in New York City.

“It is a huge change living in New York,” McCreary said. “It has an entirely different culture, and at first it was difficult getting settled, but now I am liking it more and more.”

McCreary interns at the “Late Show with David Letterman” and works directly under the directors of the show.

“It is an awesome job,” McCreary said. “I work very closely with amazing directors and just make sure they have everything they need.”

Grayson is the music intern at “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

“I get to work with the house band, the Max Weinberg Seven,” Grayson said. “I also get to pick up bands from the street and escort them to and from the set.”

Radio-TV-film professor Charles LaMendola said these two students did a lot of hard work on their own to get these prestigious internships.

“It is tough to get those internships and they took a lot of initiative to get them,” he said.

LaMendola said a lot of the success in getting internships depends on the interview.

“I was interviewed for three hours by different departments to get this job,” McCreary said. “I believe hundreds of people applied for the internships and only 12 got chosen.”
Radio-TV-film majors are required to intern somewhere that fits their emphasis for a semester, LaMendola said.

“They receive three credit hours and it has proved to be highly beneficial to the students,” LaMendola said.

He said students make a lot of contacts during their internships and get a true feel for what they want to do in the future.

“I have learned a lot about how a show like this works doing this internship,” Grayson said. “It is hard work sometimes. It is so much work to make it look like it’s not work.”
Grayson said he is often just three feet away from the guests on the show and O’Brien himself.

“Conan is a giant of a man in person; he must be at least six feet four inches tall,” he said. “I have met (him) a few times and he is very cool, always talking to the interns and the writers.”

McCreary said she has met Lettermen once and he does not come down to the set very often for rehearsals, only the actual taping. She said the people working for David Letterman are incredibly loyal to him.

“No one ever leaves ‘The Lettermen Show’ because they love it so much, so it is really hard to get a job there,” McCreary said.

When TCU students receive internships they are opening doors for students after them, LaMendola said.

“If the student makes a good impression during the internship then those directors will remember that they came from TCU and give our other students a closer look in the future,” LaMendola said.

Emily Moss, a junior radio-TV-film and pre-med major, said she interned in Los Angeles a year ago.

“The hands-on experience one learns in that kind of environment will put (you) a step ahead of everyone else when you graduate and are trying to break into the field,” she said.

r.l.kriel@tcu.edu