Going on the set of "The Soup"

Over the summer I was interning at a video production company called VideoLink Inc. in Boston. What that company did was all types of things involving satellite cameras. One of the weeks I was there I learned that we were going to go on a shoot for the Soup, a comedy show starring Joel McHale, who also stars on Community. Here's a Condensed Soup clip. I couldn't find the one from the week I was on, so here's a different one.

When we got there (at 8 in the morning I might add, made all the more intense by the fact that I drove from New Hampshire to get there), I was put to work right away with the other intern, learning how to set up the super cool cameras, get things for the producers, and a lot of standing around. The first day we were there was purely to set up the set, and the second day was for the actual shooting of the show. Both days were absolutely exhausting, but I had so much fun.

One of the coolest parts (other than seeing Joel) was being able to help set up the satellite truck. This guy Brad from my company showed me all the buttons to press, which I won't talk much about here because it was really complicated and I can't remember much! Basically you had to put in the coordinates for the satellite, and that pointed the dish on the top of the truck to the particular point in space. There were tons and tons of settings to put into the machines, which by the way cost $10,000 apiece! (I got to hold one of the machines, and it totally freaked me out.) Anyway, there was indeed a lot of standing around, waiting for someone to tell me to do something. One time the producer of the show asked me to find her a piece of cardboard for a bingo sheet, that was fun too!

So on the second day we arrived around 9. There was even more sitting around, until 10:30 when Joel arrived. When he entered at first I was super nervous, but then he almost tripped over a chair and I realized, hey, he's a normal person! (Only freakishly tall...dear god, he's a giant.) During the actual shooting of the show I was able to wear a headset that was connected to the Control Room in Los Angeles. And after the show was done, I got a take a picture with him, which was definitely the highlight of my entire summer!