The senior is working at Young Hollywood and AfterBuzz TV where she’s putting into practice skills she gained from courses, Elon News Network and “ETalk.”
It’s early May, and senior journalism major Meagan Gitelman is wrapping up her classes, preparing for finals, and planning her travel to Los Angeles to participate in the Elon in LA program. But amid the certainty that comes from a semester’s end, she felt a pang of uneasiness. She had not yet secured an internship — a required component of Elon in LA.
But by the middle of the month everything had changed, and suddenly Gitelman had two internships.
“They were both very last minute,” she said. “It was hard to deal with and scary.”
Since the start of June, Gitelman has been working at both Young Hollywood and AfterBuzz TV. The former is a multimedia entertainment platform that reports on the entertainment industry and produces original shows. AfterBuzz TV is a network founded by Emmy winner Maria Menounos and her husband, Keven Undergaro, that produces “after-shows” for several popular television series.
And Elon University connections paved Gitelman’s journey to both.
She found her way to Young Hollywood thanks to a recommendation from fellow Elon student Diego Pineda ’19. He interned there in the spring partly as a result of the strong work of Caroline Thayer ’17, who was an intern the year before. The AfterBuzz TV opportunity arose because of alumna Caroline Hartshorn ’18, who interned with the network in the spring of 2017. She emailed Phil Svitek, the chief operating officer of the company, and put in a good word for Gitelman.
That reference proved helpful because by the time Gitelman considered applying to AfterBuzz, it had filled all its intern slots. But based on the strength of Hartshorn’s recommendation and her work with the company previously, Svitek called Gitelman and offered her the opportunity to work with him as a special projects intern — a position created specifically for her.
“I really hadn’t expected to hear anything back from AfterBuzz because Caroline and I hadn’t heard anything,” Gitelman said. “Then I got an email from Svitek and he said he wanted to call me. I was excited about it, and it was a better opportunity than even the normal internship because I get to work on projects I’m passionate about.”
Gitelman is an editorial intern at Young Hollywood. She writes about three stories a day for the website’s blog called The Scene. She’s covered a plethora of stories, including the true story behind the film “Adrift,” a recap of the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and a look back at the show “The Perfectionists.” She also assists with studio production work.
“Young Hollywood doesn’t do any gossip or tabloidy stuff, which is why I was really drawn to them,” she said.
At AfterBuzz, Gitelman has “a lot of different” responsibilities, she said. The varied nature of her tasks is no surprise, considering “special projects” is in her title. She’s edited an instructional orientation video for hosts, worked on a documentary centered on a professional wrestler, reshaped the feel of the trailer to Menounos’ podcast, and hosted several “after-shows.”
“I get to see things I’ve done implemented and in action,” Gitelman said. “I don’t feel like anything I do is meaningless. I’m well-respected here, and I’m treated like staff, not an intern.”
Undergaro values her work so much that he invited her to return to AfterBuzz in January, so Gitelman will return to Los Angeles during Winter Term to take her turn as a host.
Because she is holding down a pair of internships, Gitelman’s LA experience looks a bit different than most students. She spends two days a week at each outlet — often working late nights and weekends to complete projects.
“I haven’t gotten to do a lot of the exploring and touristy stuff,” she said. “But I’ve brought in a lot of extra opportunities, and it’s all been worth it, for sure.”
One of those opportunities presented itself when Undergaro asked Gitelman and another intern to help throw a birthday party for another staff member. When Menounos arrived at the party, Undergaro encouraged Gitelman and her intern colleague to engage her in conversation.
“Something he said to us was, ‘You’re always auditioning. You always have to have that mindset regardless of what you’re doing,’” Gitelman said. “He told us we didn’t know when we’d see (Menounous) again, so we needed to make an impression now.”
Later in the night, they approached Menounos. She quickly revealed that she wanted to revamp the social media presence of her podcast, “Conversations with Maria Menounos,” and asked if they were interested in helping. They agreed and began working during their off hours on a presentation for Menounos and her social media manager.
“She was 90 minutes late for her next meeting because she met with us for over two hours and loved our ideas,” Gitelman said. “She said we blew her out of the water, and so her social media manager asked if we wanted to join the social media team, which we did. Her social media manager told us the work we put into the presentation changed our lives because Maria is able to vouch for us now.”
Gitelman said she owes much of the success she’s enjoyed in her internships this summer to her coursework, Elon News Network and ESTV show “ETalk,” which she will co-executive produce with Pineda during the 2018-19 academic year. She credits her writing classes, particularly Reporting for the Public Good, for preparing her to write several stories a week on tight deadlines, as she’s now doing at Young Hollywood. Her production courses and her ENN and “ETalk” experiences have given her the confidence to produce, edit and write her own copy for her video-based projects.
The Elon in LA program, too, has made her more comfortable with the idea of moving to the West Coast after her May 2019 graduation.
“When I got here, I was scared to be in LA on my own and scared at the thought of being a senior and graduating and not feeling ready,” Gitelman said. “But because of this program and Elon and the internships, I’ve grown in confidence and realize I know things I didn’t think I knew before. Knowing I have an alumni network here is great. I feel more prepared when I do move back after graduation.”