Van Tilburg named Television Academy fellow: Internship 're-imagined' under COVID

Normally, the Television Academy Foundation’s annual Internship Program provides 50 paid internships at Hollywood studios and production companies to college students nationwide.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Television Academy Foundation has had to re-imagine its internship program this year offering the 50 students selected from across the country the chance to either intern remotely or enroll as a Summer Fellow.

“I feel incredibly honored to be chosen as a Television Academy Foundation Summer Fellow,” said Van Tilburg in a press release. “Television has allowed me to learn about the world through visual stories. Growing up in a rural town in Oregon, television shows provided opportunities to learn about different cultures and listen to a variety of stories. I have known I wanted to work in the television industry since I was young, and Nina Barone, a Television Academy Foundation Alumni, inspired me to pursue this dream. This is something I have wanted for so long and it feels unreal to have been selected.”

(Barone is a 2013 graduate of HRVHS who graduated from Arizona State University in 2017.)

The Summer Fellows Program includes virtual one-on-one visits with professionals in a student’s field of study, online panels with leaders in the television industry, and customized seminars covering personal brand building and navigating the job market ahead. Fellows also become life-long members of the foundation’s alumni family giving them access to events and networking opportunities as they build their careers in the industry.

The program includes a series of professional development webinars for students with industry professionals including writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Old Guard”), Amazon Studios executives Albert Cheng (chief operating officer and co-head of television) and Vernon Sanders (co-head of television), and the executive producer of the Apple TV+ series “Little Voice” Sara Bareilles and series star Brittany O’Grady.