I spent my summer as an intern for the International Film Sales and Development team at CJ Entertainment. I had always been interested in entertainment, but mainly music. Though I had watched several CJ films growing up in my home, I was wary about interning in the film side of entertainment. I did not know what would be expected of me or even how the industry was composed. However, this experience was an eye-opening chance to learn not only about the Korean film industry, but also on international markets.
The eight weeks were an incredibly action-packed crash course on the Korean film industry. Every Wednesday began with a class on one aspect of CJ Entertainment’s film department. Topics ranging from marketing to distribution to Chinese investment were covered in these weekly lectures. In addition, I was asked to translate a wide range of educational documents for the Vietnam team so they could read the official Korean documents on film marketing and distribution. Additionally, I was fortunate enough to attend several movie premieres and screenings. Afterwards, the team would conduct marketing meetings that I could observe. Through these experiences, I found my knowledge about the Korean film industry expanding. This information helped me when they assigned me a personal project to create internal marketing briefings on two countries they were hoping to expand to in the future. I was able to synthesize how Korean companies develop and market their films and see whether or not these strategies would be effective in these countries as well.
I learned an incredible amount about film in general and even found myself applying CJ Entertainment’s marketing strategies for club publicity efforts. I am excited to pursue further careers in entertainment and keep in contact with the wonderful connections I made at CJ Entertainment.