Madison Wasserman

This past summer, I had the great fortune of working as an intern with ACE Entertainment and its new division, Unwell Network—two companies that allowed me to gain uniquely valuable experience in all areas of film and television development. The Carsey-Wolf Internship Scholarship allowed me to dedicate my summer experiences in helping to define my professional skill set while also defining the type of work I want to conduct in my professional career.

At ACE Entertainment, the company behind To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and XO, Kitty, I was very lucky to gain experience in script coverage, which became the fundamental part of my internship. Weekly, I read and analyzed scripts, and wrote coverage based on narrative strength, character development, and potential audience alignment. In addition to coverage I researched intellectual property, curated talent lists, and tracked industry trends, which deepened my awareness of how projects are found and built at their inception. One of my favorite and most rewarding responsibilities was building a personal project pitch. I had previously done coverage on Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance, so naturally I crafted a pitch based on this material. Because of ACE’s success in young adult romance, I formatted my pitch deck to fit this niche and worked on packaging material in a visually awesome and marketable approach, which sharpened my development instincts and gave me confidence to think like a producer.

The Unwell side, Alex Cooper’s (host of Call Her Daddy) new media company, gave me a very different stylistic but complementary experience. As ACE centers on heart-felt rom-coms and young adult-driven programming, Unwell is creating an exciting new brand at the intersection of female-driven podcasting, unscripted television, and edgy scripted projects. The creative direction felt less traditional, and anyone who has watched the shows and films like Gossip Girl, Challengers, and Saltburn can understand! My work consisted of conducting weekly pop culture research for the team’s “Pop Culture Weekly” reports that I compiled into Canva decks each week to present cultural movements and voices taking the entertainment world by storm with pop culture. This form of work allowed me to feel a type of professionalism and accountability, which I know I will adapt into my next roles.

Additionally, having these two newly merged companies at my disposal gave me a wonderfully balanced summer. ACE taught myself how to evaluate and develop stories with strong commercial appeal and emotional power. Unwell helped me gain experience and learn how companies think ahead by acknowledging cultural trends, thereby crafting projects inspired by and excerpted from culture, but that also feel urgent and contemporary. Combined, I can take both perspectives and continue to develop my career to focus on creative producing and casting, where shaping story instinct and awareness of cultural context are vital.