Bellisario College of Communications

Film major finds a new world of creativity at L.A.-based internship

Senior Jamie Nguyen is living in Los Angeles and working as a development intern for Monkeypaw Productions.

Jamie Nguyen, a senior double majoring in film production and sociology, poses with an Oscar trophy. Nguyen is getting the full Hollywood experience living and interning in Los Angeles this summer. Credit: Provided. All Rights Reserved.

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a series of articles about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.— A need to adapt her high school play because of COVID-19 restrictions introduced Jamie Nguyen to filmmaking. Four years later, the Penn State student is spending her summer in Los Angeles interning with one of the premiere production companies in the United States.

The opening weekend of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at Bloomsburg High School was also the last; due to the pandemic, the production was cancelled. Nguyen, a senior at the time, and her friends were not ready to give up.

“I was really involved in musical theater,” she said. “It was my whole life in high school.”

Nguyen contacted her high school music teacher to see if they could organize a virtual performance. What followed was a montage of around 40 masked students social distancing, holding camcorders and smart phones and working hard to make their school play a reality.

“It was my first time working with (Adobe) Premiere,” Nguyen said. “I had eight different angles of different footage. I put it all into Premiere and that’s where it started. Ever since then, I fell in love with it.”

She took her newfound passion to Penn State. A first-generation college student, Nguyen is now a senior double majoring in film production and sociology. She is also a Schreyer Honors Scholar and Paterno Fellow. 

Penn State had the energy and environment Nguyen was looking for in a college experience, she said — she thought a big school and bigger town would provide the like-minded people and professional opportunities she was seeking. But, despite the change of scenery, she said that the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications felt like home.

“The motto, ‘Big school resources. Small school feel,’ may seem cheesy, but it’s true,” she said. “Time and time again, I have had professors get to know me and care about me as a person rather than just a student.”

Nguyen said film majors are a special breed of student, and she relishes the opportunity to be on set, in the studio or in the writer’s room with them making the magic happen. At the Bellisario College, she said, she found the classmates, collaborators and friends who also enjoy the “creativity and intensity” of filmmaking.

“I've spent time with people who are dedicated to film and who genuinely want to create,” she said. “Having those people to bounce ideas off of, and having that space where people want to spend time creating with you … it’s really powerful.”

This past year, Nguyen was a production assistant for “Good Company,” a 2023 student-produced film. The film’s writer/director, recent film production graduate Cat Cao, said Nguyen was a dedicated force willing to take on any job to ensure the project’s success.

“Jamie is the definition of a hustler,” Cao said. "We had an overnight shoot that went until around 4 a.m. It was absolutely brutal, but Jamie was always there to help in any way despite the exhaustion.”

Cao added that Nguyen is “the first person to volunteer herself to do the little things … and she’ll do it with a smile on her face.”

This summer, Nguyen’s energy and work ethic will be on full display in a city built on creativity. She is living in Los Angeles and working as a development intern for Monkeypaw Productions, a film and TV production company known for critically acclaimed films like “Get Out,” “Nope” and “Us.”

She is also a member of Gold Rising, an internship enhancement program run by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The program builds connections, enhances accessibility and provides support for underrepresented students across the United States. Through Gold Rising, Nguyen has met industry leaders and connected with a mentor who helped acclimate her to living and working in Hollywood.

Her “nine to five job” is working for Monkeypaw, which was founded in 2012 by actor, comedian and director Jordan Peele. Much of the company’s productions feature social commentary, which attracted Nguyen to the position — and the company to Nguyen, who has a strong interest in socially-focused films and projects, she said.

Despite a writer’s strike slowing down production, Nguyen has been busy attending creative meetings, working on pitch development and reviewing scripts. She said Monkeypaw is small enough that interns get to participate in all areas of the company. Getting a task from the president, she said, is not unusual.

“I know everyone’s names and I know all their faces,” she said. “And right now, I am working on finessing my pitching skills. At our weekly meeting, I will say if I think a project aligns with the Monkeypaw vision.”

Nguyen said Monkeypaw strives to identify stories that make an impact with an awareness of the social climate, but “it also needs to be fun and playful,” she added, “which is very much in line with the films they’ve made.”  

Living in Los Angeles, according to Nguyen, is very much part of the internship experience. “You won’t know if it’s right for you, unless you’re here,” she said. And although she admits being a little homesick, she is taking every opportunity to expand her skills and network with others before her eight-week internship ends in August.

“I know that I only have the summer here and I need to make it worth it,” she said. “I am going to take my time and live in the moment.”

Cao said that when Nguyen returns to University Park this August for her senior year, she will continue to be a force in the Penn State film community.

“I expect Jamie to go above and beyond anything Penn State has ever seen,” Cao said. “She will be a force to be reckoned with — especially in her fourth year. Wildly competent and ready to continue learning, she is one of a kind and she inspires those around her to do better and do more.”

Last Updated July 5, 2023