My first week at Scripps:

I'm nearing the end of my first week interning at Scripps, and I'm so excited to write about it that I'm doing it during my lunch break. Scripps Networks is the television company that produces the Travel Channel, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Great American Country, DIY and HGTV. I'm interning in the Home Category Research Department every Monday, Tuesday and Friday in this lovely, glass-covered building you see on the left. On my first day we took a tour of the entire compound (or at least it feels like a compound to me!) I got to see so many interesting sides of television production that I'd never even thought about! I got to meet animation designers (ex. the people who create the computer-animated versions of house plans on HGTV shows), the sound designers (ex. they're given a promo and they write the background music in the studio. Yes, just like the guy on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.) We also visited a studio where they were filming a commercial using this tiny fake attic that looked SO real on camera-- they were even creating a fake sun by bouncing the light off of this mirror into the constructed window on set! I couldn't help but be awe-struck by the creativity behind it all. It amazes me how people's minds can work in such different ways. I would never have the musicality to create background music scores, the creativity to construct a realistic-looking attic in a studio, or the computer skills to construct an entire house animation from scratch. I guess that's what different departments are for!

Back in the research department I was thrilled to discover that they not only gave me my own cubicle, it has my name printed on it! (and to think I was excited when they gave me a parking pass and key card.) I was interested in working in the research department because I thought it would be a totally new experience. I've done a lot of work/internships revolving around writing and public relations, and I wanted to try something new. I wanted to learn about the basics. My biggest interest in the advertising industry is why people like the things they do and what a company can do to change that, and the research department is where that all begins-- It's the heart of the industry. Without knowing what people's actions are, you can't interpret them and form your campaigns, shows, etc. around them. So far I've been doing a lot of work on Microsoft Excel and another program called StarTrak. I upload information on ratings, viewership, ages, etc. that Nielsen Research has collected, compound/organize it in a methodical, easy-to-follow manner, and email it out to the entire company! It's exciting to think that people as high up as the president of the company are reading emails with my name on them. Today, I sat in a meetings with the scheduling department which was interesting because I got to see the numbers that I've worked with all week come to life: they take the ratings from the week and figure out how they can manipulate the order of the shows to maintain the most viewers at any given moment. It's amazing how much of this wouldn't be possible without research (and a little old intern pushing buttons in excel!)

What surprised me the most this week is how much I've enjoyed amercing myself in the world of television. I've always loved writing so much that I've always thought that the magazine realm is where I belonged, but television is fascinating! It's way more viewer-centric than I ever imagined. So much work goes into organizing the network around what their target audience is watching and what other networks are airing so that ratings can increase and, in turn, advertisers will want to spend more with the network. Happy viewers=increased ratings=more advertisers=more revenue!