Lily's Talent Agency, Inc. Internship Overview
At the end of July I finished my internship with Lily's Talent Agency, Inc., one of the largest talent agencies here in Chicago. Like O'Connor Casting, Lily's is cross corner from Harpo Studios, the only difference is Lily's was on the 4th floor, and O'Connor is on the 2nd. I worked there for 2 months and it was a great experience.
The internship started very fast-paced! We learned how to answer and use the phone system, as well as the server for all computer documents. We also learned how to format headshots for all on-film and voice-over talent, as well as all comp cards for all print talent. Comp cards is short for compilation cards. These are cards that have several looks a talent can use as well as all of their measurements so casting agencies know if they match all of the criteria they are looking for. The training session wasn't long, so you had to learn quickly or else!! Luckily enough because I was hired mainly for the music division, I only worked on formatting comp cards for the first week I was there.
After I showed I was successful, I was allowed to work more on the music side, as oppose to basic administrative work. I first worked on creating directories for all of the performance venues in the Chicagoland Area. That meant finding the contact information for all of the talent buyers for each club, and then categorizing them by genre: Jazz, Rock, Cabaret, Pop, etc...It was very time consuming calling every venue Chicago, but I think it helps you learn to have a strong phone demeanour.
Once, I finished that I was given even more responsibilities. I worked on creating mass marketing posts in order to scout new talent through different social networks like myspace, craigslist, sonicbids, purevolume, etc... When we received responses from these ads, I would then listen to all of them demos, and log all new possible talent that was worth the music agent listening to. Out of approx. 50 replies in the 2 months I was there, we only spoke with 5 of them. I was allowed to sit in on all of the interviews. They would bring in their press kits and we would find out more about their careers and goals. We would also go see them perform at night to see how the crowd would react to them.
Another exciting part of my internship was helping them develop their brand new artist management division. I was able to help outline new management contracts, mission statements, and roles and responsibilities of the artist manager.
Working at Lily's was a great experience because I was able to get a great preview about what I want to do for a living as a music agent of artist manager. It was fast-paced and it really allowed me to show what I could do. The staff was young and they all had great advice to interns they thought had potential to succeed. I made a ton of great connections, and to succeed in the entertainment industry, it's all about connections!!
The internship started very fast-paced! We learned how to answer and use the phone system, as well as the server for all computer documents. We also learned how to format headshots for all on-film and voice-over talent, as well as all comp cards for all print talent. Comp cards is short for compilation cards. These are cards that have several looks a talent can use as well as all of their measurements so casting agencies know if they match all of the criteria they are looking for. The training session wasn't long, so you had to learn quickly or else!! Luckily enough because I was hired mainly for the music division, I only worked on formatting comp cards for the first week I was there.
After I showed I was successful, I was allowed to work more on the music side, as oppose to basic administrative work. I first worked on creating directories for all of the performance venues in the Chicagoland Area. That meant finding the contact information for all of the talent buyers for each club, and then categorizing them by genre: Jazz, Rock, Cabaret, Pop, etc...It was very time consuming calling every venue Chicago, but I think it helps you learn to have a strong phone demeanour.
Once, I finished that I was given even more responsibilities. I worked on creating mass marketing posts in order to scout new talent through different social networks like myspace, craigslist, sonicbids, purevolume, etc... When we received responses from these ads, I would then listen to all of them demos, and log all new possible talent that was worth the music agent listening to. Out of approx. 50 replies in the 2 months I was there, we only spoke with 5 of them. I was allowed to sit in on all of the interviews. They would bring in their press kits and we would find out more about their careers and goals. We would also go see them perform at night to see how the crowd would react to them.
Another exciting part of my internship was helping them develop their brand new artist management division. I was able to help outline new management contracts, mission statements, and roles and responsibilities of the artist manager.
Working at Lily's was a great experience because I was able to get a great preview about what I want to do for a living as a music agent of artist manager. It was fast-paced and it really allowed me to show what I could do. The staff was young and they all had great advice to interns they thought had potential to succeed. I made a ton of great connections, and to succeed in the entertainment industry, it's all about connections!!
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