Connor Huggett from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film has received a prestigious internship this summer from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation.
Huggett, of Overland Park, Kan., will be working at Tremendous! Entertainment in North Hollywood, Calif., in post-production. Huggett is a senior with dual degrees in theatre with an emphasis in film and new media and advertising in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
“I’m so lucky to receive this internship,” Huggett said. “It took a while to hear back, but seeing that California caller ID was the most exciting thing I can remember. This is such an amazing opportunity. I can’t wait to move out to Los Angeles and get started.”
The production company Tremendous! Entertainment is behind “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern,” “Epic,” “Ghostland, Tennessee” and “Off Pitch.”
“What an honor for Connor to be accepted into such a nationally competitive and prestigious internship program,” said Associate Professor of Film Sharon Teo-Gooding. “It has been a pleasure helping him fine tune his post-production skills in the classroom in a wide range of genres, from ‘The Making of Digs’ documentary to experimental and narrative editing projects. It is gratifying to see his hard work be so richly rewarded.”
Huggett is the second Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film student to receive an Academy internship this summer. Ethan Seagren, of Elkhorn, Neb., and who graduated in May, is working at Stargate Studios in Pasadena, Calif., in visual effects.
The Academy’s summer student internship program provides more than 40 industry-wide internships to college and graduate students from across the country and is considered one of the top 10 internships in the country. The program gives students in-depth exposure to professional television production during an eight-week period in Los Angeles.
Huggett is looking forward to the networking opportunities this internship will provide.
“It’s the best way to get your foot in the door, really,” he said. “It’s a really good program, and you meet lots of people.”
Huggett initially was interested in both engineering and film programs.
“Growing up, I was more science and math oriented,” he said. “I actually got a couple of full-ride scholarships at engineering schools and an appointment to the Air Force Academy. I turned them all down to go to film school instead, and I don’t regret it at all.”
He says he got his first camera when he was six years old.
“Except it was plastic and didn’t record anything,” he said. “I just made videos with friends growing up. I taught myself how to edit. Once I realized I could spend hours and hours behind a computer putting something together and not even realize it, I knew that’s what I needed to do.”
To read the earlier story on Seagren's internship, go to http://go.unl.edu/27jk.