Conference Department Intern

Department Description: Held during the first four days of the Festival, the annual Writers Conference celebrates the writer’s contribution to film, television, and new media. It features panels and events that cover the art, craft, and business of storytelling as told by leading Hollywood showrunners, writers, directors, producers, managers, agents, and industry executives. Past panelists include David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Greta Gerwig, Bill Hader, Lulu Wang, and Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Job Description: You will work directly with the Creative Director to coordinate panels, conduct research on potential speakers, topics, and industry trends; write copy for programmed panels, and assist with marketing efforts. This is an opportunity to gain experience in both the film and event planning industries.

During the Conference, Creative interns will have the unique opportunity to act as Room Mangers for Conference events, allowing them to interact with and host our renowned panelists and moderators, manage a space, and gain access to more Conference content than any of our other volunteer or internship positions.

Job Responsibilities:

• Assist Conference Department with Conference preparation including research on potential candidates, marketing initiatives, compiling materials, and pitching and writing content for AFF’s website
• Manage panel rooms during the Conference, greeting panelists and moderators while leading a team of volunteers
• Ideal candidates will have equal interest in event production and the film industry
• Assist with adapting some or all of the conference events for the virtual space

Project Ownership Opportunities: Approximately a month into each internship, interns will be assigned one of the following projects to own throughout the rest of the internship’s duration. Project assignment is based upon interns’ capabilities and goals.

Festival Research Initiative: As more and more events are returning to an in-person format, this could be a great opportunity to learn from them. Not only can we see how they’re handling returning to in person, but in other aspects too? What are some new things festivals are doing and how is their audience responding to it? Learning from other festivals can help us adapt, change, and put on an even better event.

Panelist of the Day: The Panelist of the Day marketing strategy is one of the main initiatives leading up to the Conference. It gets our audience familiar with our panelists, drives last minute badge sales, and provides consistent social media content.

Script Analysis: In preparation for the Conference and our live readings of unproduced scripts, scripts in consideration will need to be read and analyzed while those chosen for readings must be prepared for actors.

Tricks of the Trade: Tricks of the Trade is one of our most popular and visited pages Using this as a tool to promote the Conference along with past and upcoming panelists would be a smart move. It’s something our audience is familiar with, could be promoted in newsletters and provide solid social media content.

Interns will get the opportunity to:

• Develop communication skills
• Gain exposure into the execution and process of event planning
• Enhance time management skills
• Broaden their understanding of how conferences, particularly within the film industry, work

Qualifications:

• Great interpersonal skills
• Ability to multitask
• Highly organized
• Complete projects efficiently and thoroughly on a tight deadline
• Ability to perform in high-stress situations with ease
• Experience with managing a team or group of people is preferred
• Knowledge of screenwriters and independent film is preferred

Timeframe: We are looking for 8-15 interns between the months of January and November who can work a schedule for Spring/Summer, Summer/Fall, or the duration of the year for an average of 12-15 hrs/week.

All internships are unpaid. Additionally, all internships are in-person positions. There are no remote internship opportunities available. All COVID guidelines are being respected and followed.