Thoughts on Unpaid Internships?

[MarcK]

Amid Amidi posted in cartoon brew in 2010 an article about how Most Unpaid Internships are Illegal and I was kind of surprised by it. I always thought free labor was kind of a common and standard thing with interns. Getting credits as one costs tuition money so it's technically a class if you're in college. The people at my first internship didn't pay me, but the idea was that it was a class for how a studio works, and I learned a lot, and found the whole thing pretty rewarding. They gave me some pretty spruced up clips for my demo and were generally good people to work with. I worked around 100 hours, which at minimum wage would be around $750 for the summer. I dunno. That was last year, now I'm looking for another studio, and I don't know who pays, who doesn't, who treats interns how, etc. I already have an internship in my resume so am I technically ready for a paid job? Would I need a finalizing completed piece in my portfolio or would I need to graduate first?

[Sinitron]

UR GAY!

[put]

UR GAY!

[Sinitron]

thread destroyed mission successful

[Sef]

That was fast

[rtil]

i think unpaid internships should be illegal. they're bad for the economy and they give employers the idea that cheap labor should instead be free labor. i know they're hard to find but i would only accept paid internships. it's only recently become "normal" for most internships to not pay you for your work.. you're a sucker if you think it's worth working for free.

i got a job after i graduated with a paid internship already under my belt from 2 years previous. at the end of the day your reel/portfolio is more important than your resume, and an unpaid internship is not going to be something that future employers will be all that interested in.

[ZennyPLUS]

Unpaid internships are the most unamerican thing I've ever heard of. Gaining "experience" doesn't pay the bills nor does it help on a day to day basis when one has a family to feed. Employers that take part in that are the worst.

[Bogswallop]

Me and my friend applied for a 3 month one. He got it. Once the 3 months were up, he was let go and they immediately put another ad up looking for someone else. Shit like that is ridiculous.

[retrosmash]

unpaid internships gr8 for buiilding character do you hate america fuck face

[redmongoose]

you're a sucker if you think it's worth working for free.

[put]

every job now requires you to have like 2-3 years experience and working for free fucking sucks
Either way you're getting bum fucked

[MarcK]

Anyone know some studios that pay for internships then? Because I'm looking but I've found very few

[ZennyPLUS]

Fuck America, i'm moving to Antarctica

[sev]

UR GAY!

i think unpaid internships should be illegal. they're bad for the economy and they give employers the idea that cheap labor should instead be free labor. i know they're hard to find but i would only accept paid internships. it's only recently become "normal" for most internships to not pay you for your work.. you're a sucker if you think it's worth working for free.

i got a job after i graduated with a paid internship already under my belt from 2 years previous. at the end of the day your reel/portfolio is more important than your resume, and an unpaid internship is not going to be something that future employers will be all that interested in.

[CVG]

I think it depends on what the ones hiring the intern are making them do....if for example you are actually hands on in the production and basically getting "free" training to do something that will be a valuable assets then chances are they will hire you at the end of the intern period because now you know how to do the job and they know your work level. BUT if you are on an intern position and all they are doing is letting you watch while you fetch the real employer's coffee then sorry but you are getting used as free labor with nothing coming out of the deal for you and will be let go right after that for another sucker. I've seen examples of both situations (one guy here got an intern doing rigs at Pixar and then got the job when his time was up, while another was basically a coffee boy at a graphic arts/advertising agency and then let go) so I guess my suggestion is to really look hard into WHAT and WHO is offering this internship and if it's worth something to increasing your skill-levels or connections before you consider to work there for free.