Grady Intern Diaries: Taylor Potter

This is part of a series where we ask Grady College students to describe their summer internship experience.

Grady College: Briefly describe your internship and responsibilities:
TP: As a programming intern, I assist TCM’s programming division in the previewing and quality control management of our original content. Additionally, I assist with the scheduling of our content for air. With this part of the internship, I was able to program my own daytimes twice, which is roughly fourteen hours of content each time.

Grady: What was your favorite part about your summer internship?
TP: How welcoming and inclusive being at work felt. I’ve lost count of the number of times I received free food and promotional swag. The food is always delicious, but I’m unsure of what do with the roughly seven tote bags and nine notebooks I’ve acquired. On top of that, Turner partnered with a company called After 5 that works with companies in Atlanta that have a large number of interns and organizes outings and events for the interns to relax, enjoy the city and meet interns from different companies. Turner really does its best to help you feel and do your best while interning.

Grady: What was the biggest surprise in your internship (ie: is there anything you didn’t expect?)
TP: I honestly didn’t expect networking to be as easy and accessible as it was. Every person I came into contact with or wished to come into contact with was happy to answer my email and set up a coffee meeting. Everyone at Turner is welcoming and genuinely wants to help you out!

Grady: What skill(s) did you learn at your summer internship that you expect to be helpful as you pursue your desired career?
TP: I definitely learned the power of the pitch. While I wasn’t pitching script ideas to execs, I did have to pitch myself to the people I was networking with. The pitch could be anything from a brief introduction of my name and position within the company as I met someone in passing to an elevator pitch of a webseries I co-wrote last semester in an effort to better explain my writing style to someone I set up a coffee meeting with. There are different personal pitches for different settings and meetings, and it’s key to understand what it is you’re passionate about working on so that when you have the opportunity to network with someone who has connections in that same line of work, you’re able to put your best foot forward and make a good (and lasting) impression.

Grady: How did your internship help confirm your desired career path or make you re-evaluate what you want to do in the future?
TP: Internships are a great way to trial run a career pathway. Thanks to my internship, I am sure more than ever that I want to work in writing and producing for the screen (preferably television, but I won’t be too picky).

Grady: When you look back on your internship 10 years from now, what part of your summer internship do you expect to be most thankful for?
TP: My internship taught me many valuable lessons both directly and indirectly. I’ll be forever grateful for the industry lessons I learned about the day-to-day functioning of television programming and industry networking, especially at a leading company like Turner. Indirectly, though, I would have to say learning how to be on my own as a working adult and managing my personal finances is a crucial part of this summer’s lessons that I’ll be thankful for because it’s like I was able to have a test run of this whole “adulting” thing before graduation. Ultimately, I think I’ll be able to look back in ten years or so and feel like I was able to have a strong sense of self and of purpose going into my senior year of college and preparing for life post-grad.

Previous Grady Intern Diaries:

• Taylor Maggiore: ESPN