CareerPlanit - Internship Journal

Internship Journal

An Entirely New World

Posted April 2000

On almost every Saturday morning of her childhood, Carly Furry rose just before 6 a.m. so that she could plant herself in front of her television set and watch The Muppet Show. Last semester, she realized some of her wildest childhood dreams in an internship for The Jim Henson Company.

As an intern, she read and filed piles of show ideas, recommended children's books for programming use, and watched Kermit the Frog and other Muppets in action.

"It opened up an entirely new world that I had never considered," Furry says of her work with the company's children's programming division.

Furry, a sophomore English major at California State University-Long Beach, says she always loved writing and working with children. She already had summer and weekend experience with children's programs at the San Diego Zoo when she learned about internship opportunities with the Henson company. Furry applied during the spring of her freshman year, was selected for two interviews over the summer, and began the 15-hour-a-week position when she started classes in the fall.

"I really got to do amazing things that I had no idea I would be doing," she says, explaining that the highlight of her experience was watching the production of a skit slated to air between programs on the Odyssey channel.

"I got to see the puppeteers in action," she says, explaining that Brian Henson, the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board, was among the puppeteers. "Those guys were having a blast."

Furry says she also attended development meetings with writers and consultants.

"That's where I really learned about entertainment writing and children's programming," she says. "It was this huge epiphany. I realized there were actually jobs out there for English majors."

Furry says she also performed routine duties, including making copies of show treatments and scripts and filing scripts and actors' resumes and credits. And she spent a good deal of time on campus reading children's books and assessing whether they could be used for programs.

"I judged them to see if they had potential for visual entertainment," she says. "My write-ups were viewed by the coordinator of children's programming, the director, and the vice president."

Furry, who received a stipend from The Jim Henson Company to help cover commuting and other expenses, also hopes to earn academic credit for her internship by attending a career class this summer and writing a paper about her experience. By the time she graduates, Furry hopes to have added another Muppet-related internship to her resume—either with the Jim Henson Company or with Children's Television Workshop in New York City. After graduation, she hopes to continue working in children's programming.

"I've discovered where I want to go," she says. "Finally, I have direction."

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