Jonathan Gelfond

Finding internships within the entertainment industry in Los Angeles is often competitive and challenging, and has recently been compounded by the overall nonfiction crisis in the industry which is witnessing fewer and fewer unscripted and documentary productions. While I applied to dozens of internships at large media conglomerates such as Netflix, Disney, Sony, and Paramount, I also recognized that I was likely going up against tens of thousands of other applicants with similar experience and fields of study. Thus, I knew it would be crucial to dually apply to smaller production houses. I was honored to be considered and eventually accepted to Citizen Jones’ 2024 summer intern cohort. Citizen Jones is the brain-child of Jonah Bekhor and Jonas Bell Pasht, former Producing M.F.A. classmates at the American Film Institute. Their focus is non-fiction storytelling via a diverse range of docuseries and in-development features,including CNN’s Redemption Project with Van Jones, Netflix’s How to Become Franchise (How to Become a Mob Boss, How to Become a Cult Leader, and How to Become a Tyrant), and upcoming projects for History Channel and Hulu.

At CJ, my role primarily revolved around supporting company executives and department heads (Co-President and Vice President of Development) with non-fiction series and feature development and brainstorming. This included topic, talent, and market research for projects in development and pre-production, data entry to create and update grids for research and tracking purposes, and story and submission coverage. Toward the end of the summer, I also had the chance to shadow on set for an in-production true crime documentary to be released on Hulu in 2025. None of this, however, would have been possible without the generous support of the Carsey-Wolf Center’s Internship Scholarship. The Internship Scholarship Program was immensely helpful in offsetting expenses associated with the internship, and it was truly an honor to be selected. Through this internship, I developed as a filmmaker, storyteller, and communicator. Citizen Jones’ contemporary focus and mission to tell stories that matter are goals that exemplify my own as a student and creator, and it was such an enriching experience to work alongside, learn from, and contribute to their creative team.