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This interview was conducted in June 2021.  Meet Kalos, one of our former team members who has interned at Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, and Lucasfilm! Dive into creative development with him and find out how Kalos went from English major to Nickelodeon. Keep reading for his advice on breaking into animation and what it’s like to be a Nicktern! First off, tell us a little about what you do! I’m currently working at Nickelodeon Animation as a Development Intern. The Development team is responsible for sourcing ideas for new animated shows and working with writers/artists to develop the visual and narrative world of the show before it gets greenlit! Most of my work consists of reading incoming submissions, writing up coverage reports (a summary of and my comments on the script/book), and submitting them to my boss. Being a NICKtern is especially great, because my supervisors are always super welcoming and let me sit in on various meetings to learn more about the development process. What do your day to day tasks as an intern look like? I don’t really have any art skills, so my creative outlet is reading and writing! I spend most of my day looking at written creative documents, though unfortunately I can’t talk about most of the projects I’m working on. When I read the script, I pay attention to and give notes on story, writing, characters, structure, dialogue, and— especially at Nickelodeon—comedy! Can you share with us a little about your journey? In high school, I was always really interested in creative writing. And when I got to college, I declared English as my major. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to pursue as a career, but I had this vague notion that I wanted to go into journalism or education or something. And then, the pandemic hit! And in the middle of the quarantine, I watched “Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2” docuseries and had a huge epiphany. I was so captivated by the process, by the people, by the conversations, and decided that “I want to work in animation.” When the next semester came around, I scoured through websites like entertainmentcareers.net and Handshake and applied to as many internships as I possibly could! I did a few development internships for some live action production companies, which gave me tons of experience doing script coverage, even though it wasn’t related to animation, specifically. Then, when the time came, I applied to the Nickelodeon Development Internship, and the rest, as they say, is history! What advice would you give to your younger self? I’m not sure how applicable “advice to my younger self” is, given that I literally just turned 20, but I’ll try my best! 1) Talk to as many people as possible! I distinctly remember scrolling through the credits for “Frozen 2,” finding all of the roles that sounded interesting, looking up the people in those roles on LinkedIn, and sending them all cold emails asking to chat. Sure, plenty of folks won’t respond (and you shouldn’t always expect them to— people are busy!), but there are always some who do, and listening to them share their background, journey, insight, and advice is absolutely invaluable! 2) Don’t be afraid to add some flair to your resume/cover letter! I’m not saying go crazy with a billion different colors and fonts, but I think it’s good to deviate a little from the standard B&W/Times New Roman! Animation is, after all, ultimately a creative industry! 3) Be sure you have a demonstrated interest in animation! This is especially true for development, because (unlike storyboard artists or CG animators) you can work in development for live action, as well. That means recruiters want to know why you want to work, specifically, in animation. So, try to include indicators of your interest in animation on your resume. It can be anything: personal or school projects you’ve worked on, classes you’ve taken, or organizations that you’re a part of— whether it’s a school club, or an outside organization like AnimAsians! Writers: Jordan (@deadswampsofsadness) | Point Person: Gaby, AIA Team
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