Nick Simpson- Studio71

If you are thinking about taking the TCF in LA program all I would say to you is In-N-Out. What other reason is there to come out to LA than IN-N-OUT? Not only can you order an animal style fry from any corner but you can try the thousands of unique foods the city provides. There is literally a Thai restaurant on every corner, which is practically heaven to me. But seriously TCF in LA is not only the best thing you can do for your taste buds but it’s also the best decision you can make for your career.

My two short months in LA interning, going to various events and listening to guest speakers have been more beneficial to me than my entire experience on campus in Tuscaloosa. So to anyone considering taking the immersion course, strongly consider it.  

I interned at a company called Studio71, which is located in Beverly Hills. Studio71 and It’s 155 employees work to manage and market some of todays most influential YouTubers and original content creators. However I didn’t work at their main office in Beverly Hills, I worked at their studio in Burbank. While in Burbank I had the opportunity to work with YouTube talents such as Roman Atwood, Lilly Singh, Gigi Gorgeous, Flula, King Bach and many more.  I also had the chance to be on the launch team of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s YouTube channel. On the first shoot “The YouTube Factory,” I was signed on as the 1^st AD. The second shoot I worked on was the “Pokerock” video and for that I was the cinematographer. These were both incredible experience because the work that I produced has already received around 7 million views. It’s not very often that your name is tagged online right beside The Rocks.

The Rock shoots were both rather small which was nice but I also worked on some larger sets, such as our shoot for Brides Live Wedding. For Brides Live Wedding, a crew and I traveled to Santa Barbara to shoot a documentary for one of our clients Elle Fowler.  The entire day was extremely fast paced and stressful considering that it was a wedding shoot. There’s no retakes or reshoots for a wedding because there are hundreds of people relying on things to stay on schedule.

For the shoot I assisted the operator to “C cam” which stood for the third camera operator. C cam was a Sony Fs5 mounted on a freefly movi steadi cam rig.

            While at Studio71 I also attended Vidcon. Vidcon is a conference where fans and pioneers of online video congregate, discuss and share the growing market. At the Studio71 after party I was asked to live stream from the red carpet.

I also gained experience in preplanning for shoots and running a studio. There were multiple times I had to sub in for my boss to give tours for potential clients that were wanting to rent out a space in our studio. I also gained experience handling payroll and creating call sheets. However I believe the most valuable experience for me in LA was networking both in and outside of my company. It’s these relationships that will potentially open up doors for me in the future. I became very close with two of the producers at Studio71.

So to those still thinking about the LA course I would ask, how serious are you about working in the entertainment industry? If you are serious, there is no better way to prepare yourself for the future than throwing yourself right into the middle of one of the entertainment capitols of the world.