NYCi spotlights successful current and past creative interns…this week, founder and editor at Snowspotmedia.com, Gawker.TV intern alum, and current Web administrator and Social Media Coordinator at MPHC Manhattan Plaza Health Club.
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Intern Spotlight: Jon Martin
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Ok so introductions first! Where did you grow up, where did you go to college and what was your major and any other fun things you did there?
I grew up in Honeoye Falls NY, a really small town upstate near Rochester. I was a pretty quiet student who spent most of his days on the internet trying to get famous with flash cartoons. After high school I headed to School of Visual Arts (SVA). I majored in directing but switched to editing after realizing I felt more comfortable in the editing chair than on set.
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Where have you interned and how did you end up there?
I’ve only interned at Gawker.tv. I secured that internship by just responding to a call for interns. Sometimes just contacting companies and asking them if they need any help can go a long way.
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Awesome advice! What were you hoping to get out of the internship? And how did you handle school, Gawker.TV, and development of your own blog, SnowSpotMedia.com?
I wasn’t sure what it would be like when I first applied to Gawker but after meeting the Managing Editor, Richard Blakeley (@blakeley) I was very excited. On top of having film-editing experience, I would also have social media and online video experience, which could seriously open the door for some more opportunities. At the time I was out of school and only freelancing so I had a lot of extra time, and I tried to pour as much of that into helping Gawker.tv as possible.
As my time at Gawker.tv came to a close, I realized I wouldn’t just want to go cold turkey on blogging when the internship ended. I decided to start a site that would be mainly be about my interests in all things ‘media’ but would also function as a resume when I was trying to get a job. It’s an experiment that is still ongoing but seems to be working pretty well.
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So what was the most exciting thing that happened during your internship?
Right as I was beginning my internship, the ‘
Late Night Wars‘ started between Conan and Leno, the site was getting SO much traffic and the office would be buzzing from day-to-day as the feud continued. It was an exciting time to be an intern because if you managed to get the newest clip from the ‘wars’ your name would be up on the site right along with it. That’s a big deal, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people would see your name.
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And an internet start was born! Your site Snowspotmedia.com gets over 6,000 uniques a month (according to compete.com). Can you share with us one secret about maintaining a successful blog?
I’d say that making a successful blog is all about finding your audience, then making sure they know you exist. You can have the best best-looking and most intelligent blog in the world but if you aren’t promoting it correctly, no one will see it.
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Thanks for taking the time to talk with us! If some aspiring film / blogger / animation person wanted to reach out to pick your brain more, what would be the best way for them to reach you?
Tweet me
@snowspot or send an email to snowspotmedia [at] gmail.com
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Trailer for one of Jon’s latest animations, Little Big Apocalypse.
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