Should Students Intern Before, After, or only During Their Studies?

Recently, this showed up in my email Inbox:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 1:09 AM
Subject: Documentary intern/volunteer needed. (oakland north / temescal)

Please be/have:
• Local to the Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville area
• Willing to commit at least 12 hours per week initially.
• Intermediate computer skills, with the ability to make decisions about what to save where
• Filemaker Pro and Excel experienced or have the desire and ability to pick up those skills quickly.
• Consistently on time, as in, rarely, if ever late.

Additional Qualifications: Applicants must have excellent verbal and written communications skills, strong online research skills, the ability to work well independently, and a strong commitment to social, racial and economic justice. Candidates should be computer savvy (Mac) and comfortable on the phone.

This will be a 12-hour per week, 6-month or end-of-pre production internship, whichever comes first. There is potential to grow into a more substantial and possibly paid position within the next six months.

Compensation
In return for your investment of time and energy, ___ will provide you with access to video production equipment, training in filmmaking basics, opportunities to get your hands dirty on various sets and locations and access to the ___ edit suite once trained if not already.

You will be able to:
Get a detailed letter explaining what you helped with and what you learned
Sign off on community service or school mandated service hours
Be able to add something to your portfolio (highly likely)
Use ___ team, equipment and expertise at you disposal

Film treatment and other documents available to interested and qualified candidates.

Please contact us with a up-to-date resumé and short statement of interest outlining your desires for a film production internship.

this craigslist posting was forwarded to you by someone using our
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Which begs the question, once again, When to Work for Nothing? In fact, there's even this website dedicated to encouraging young designers to stop doing work on spec. (Thanks to Lifehacker for both of these links.)

Here's a copy of my response to that original email.

In general, I'm not a big fan of asking people to work for free on films - including documentaries.
I think it is an old holdover from the days when filmmaking was restricted to a small group of privileged people who "paid their dues" as a way of working off favors from the nepotism that got their "foot in the door".

If you can go through the process of becoming an internship site for a local school or university that has a film program I think that's the best way. Then the young person is being paid for their time in course credit and can easily document their un-paid work experience.
This also allows for some oversight. I know you all at _______ would never exploit free labor, but others have and do and youth need their rights protected. (Many of them don't even know the rights they have.)

That's just my two cents. But don't be surprised if you get flagged on Craigs List. They're pretty sensitive over there too.

As for local schools with internships, here's a list off the top of my head...
___, ___, ___, ___

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now. Good luck with your project. Funding is always a good indicator of your eventual audience/impact. So I'm glad to hear that folks have been making that investment.

ps -
I think it's a little different to ask people for a short amount of time or to work on/complete one specific task, like logging 10 hours of tape in your spare time.
Also, people will often do work here and there for their friends for free.

But the big red flag here is that you're looking for someone to work 12 hours a week for 6 months or so for no pay.
Can you think of any other industry that would ever ask for that? Not a restaurant, not a factory, not an insurance office...It's only done in the 'glamour' fields like Film, Television, and Magazines.

Sincerely,

Ms. Smitty B