I’ve exchanged a few emails with someone looking for an internship about seasonal production work.
I actually had a question for you too. You mentioned that the start of the year is your quietest time and therefore the time you need interns the least. I was wondering, is that true across the industry?
Most of Napoleon Creative’s work is corporate. We find that January is quiet because people tend to rush to complete jobs before Christmas, so there’s less work in January, Also, one of our clients has their budget year Jan – Dec, which means that in January they’ve only just got their budget allocation and are working out how to spend it. We tend to get quite a few budget enquiries, but they’re not ready to spend till mid-February and beyond. It’s around Valentine’s Day that we find things pick up. It goes quiet again over summer, because people are on holiday, so it’s hard getting everyone in the same room at the same time. September is conference season and we see more projects come in for that. Then it builds to Christmas when everyone wants to get projects cleared off their desk before the holidays.
In television, there are similar seasons. There tends to be a big spend on TV in the build up to Christmas, especially in topical/live shows. January is often about new dramas, which have been filmed well before Christmas, so new production can be slow to get off the ground.
In terms of finding an Internship, you’ll still find places out there. It’s a question of finding a place with the right level and kind of work available. You need the company to have work on, or you’ll end up doing background logging and filing rather than working on live projects! However, at this time of year, plenty of stuff is in pre-production.
I’d love to hear from others when their peaks and troughs are through the year.
