Hi everyone! My name is Erica Carey, and I finishing my senior year here at Chapman University. I am majoring in Communication, with a minor in The Modern Experience. During the interterm and spring semesters, I worked at American Cinema International (ACI) as a marketing intern.

George Shamieh: co-founder and C.E.O. of ACI.

As stated on its website, ACI is “an independent entertainment company that creates, produces and distributes filmed entertainment throughout the world” and its strategy is “to produce and distribute up to six quality mainstream commercial films per year”.  The company was established in 2000 by George Shamieh and Chevonne O’Shaughnessy, both of whom already had many years of industry experience. As a result, ACI was able to get distribution deals for its films right from the start. In 2015, the founders established ACI Inspires to hold titles that are inspirational and family-friendly.

 

 

 

I found this internship through our school on Handshake. My responsibilities involved some administrative work, such as creating meetings and sending emails to executives who were working on projects with ACI. I was asked to upload information about previous films and coming films to the company’s server in order to expand its marketing data. My responsibilities included watching films that had already been released or were about to be released, by ACI so that I could gain an understanding of its target market. Once I had done that, I reviewed outlines and scripts for films that the company was considering and gave my feedback in order to enhance the film’s appeal to the target market, and in some instances suggested adding different elements to make a film stand out more.

Cheyenne O’Shaughnessy: co-founder and president of ACI.

To have been an intern at this company was honestly a wonderful way to end my college years at Chapman. I learned valuable skills relating to marketing and distribution that I hope to take with me in the workplace as I make my own career path. I was able to observe many different facts of how the entertainment industry works. Most of all, I learned that growth and risk-taking is an important part of working, regardless of where it is. You will not always be the one who gets everything right and you will make mistakes along the way, but you will also grow as an individual and make every experience worthwhile.