First day with Ellen!!

The day has finally arrived! Today was my first day working for The Ellen Show. I may have mentioned before that there were 25 interns...wrong! There are 4 of us. 4!!! I can't believe I got this job! So first today we did some boring employee paperwork and went to get ID badges/security badges/parking decals etc. Then the cool part started...tour time!! We got a full multi-hour tour of the entire Warner Brothers lot, backlot, buildings, craft services (food), shops, gym (apparently I can work out with George Clooney if I time it right), and stages! It was soooo amazing and cool!! We "accidentally" drove our golf cart into a "hot" set where they were filming a new movie so we could see what was going on. It was so fun! Never did I dream I'd be golf-carting myself around on a real movie/tv lot and NOT be on the run from law enforcement! It was unbelieveably cool to see all those official places and actually belong there. Everyone we passed just nodded greetings and stuff because we had badges and looked official. We even saw a group of tourists on the Studio Tour who were staring us down to see if we were anyone famous - it was hilarious!

So the other interns are as follows: Erin from New Hampshire, Austin from Indiana, and Taylor from UF!!! Yes, there is a fellow Gator there!! No, they didn't take 2 from our school because we're awesome, her mom is friends with one of the Executive Producers. But the Gator Nation is strongly represented at Ellen! :) She also incidentally is a HUGE Jonas, Miley, Disney fan!!! What are the chances I'd find another freak like me!?!? I love this town. All of us get along really well so I'm glad we should have a lot of fun working together all summer. Our 2 direct bosses are the sweetest people ever! Gabi and Megan were so welcoming and helpful and really chill. In fact, we were introduced to TONS of awesome people on the staff today including big wigs like the EP (Exec producers). Every one of them was SO friendly and joking and funny and didn't treat us at all like lowly interns. I couldn't be happier with the working environment. It's just a fun place to be! If you watch the show, you'll know my new friend, Jeannie. She's on the show a lot when Ellen has her do funny things like go stand on streets or cover red carpets. She's the receptionist so we see her a lot and she is the sweetest, most bubbly, adorable person ever!

So back to my day...the Fantastic Four (what we interns so deemed ourselves) took a WICKED tour of the entire lot and detailed tour of the Ellen stage and offices and then we got to work. We did some typical intern work reorganizing the supply room and cleaning out a storage room. It doesn't even feel like work though because we all laugh and joke with the staff and chat with each other while we do our job. We went to lunch at "The Com" (commissary) and I SAT 2 TABLES AWAY FROM STEVE CARELL!! On my first day I actually saw a big-time celebrity! Apparently his office is on the lot along with lots of other cool people whom I hope to see at some point throughout the summer. SO COOL! For the afternoon we worked in what we call the "research" department. Sounds boring right? WRONG! "Research" at a talk show means reading every Entertainment magazine imaginable and just cutting out articles about celebrities to put into their files. We have a massive file closet with a file for every celebrity big or small. It's like my mecca, my mothership. If anyone ever has a question about a celeb, just ask because if I'm not completely up-to-date from my "research", I have the perfect resource to find out. While we do this so-called "research", we watch TV on 4 different TVs because we're supposed to know about different TV shows and actors who are on them. I'm sorry, my job is to watch TV and read magazines??? YES PLEASE! Some of the other departments we'll be working in will be Production, Audience and anything anyone needs really. I'm told to be assertive so you become trusted and asked to do more so that's what I intend to do. Everyone's so cool anyway and the work is so fun I'm happy to do it!

Amy and I are both still a little sick but we're surviving. Speaking of Amy - her job is SO LEGIT! She has her own office with windows looking out over the city, personalized stationary and notepads and her own personal voicemail extention! It is very legit and professional. She's a serious lawyer intern man- they don't play games! Looks like the Proctor women are big time now! Haha Basically, I love my job, I love my roommates, I love my Ellen family and I love LA. The smog smells like home (don't cry mom). :) No earthquakes yet! I am still stressed about not having internet or cable but I'm too happy to be depressed. I have developed a similar relationship with the Starbucks crew as I had with the Moe's crew back in G-ville. So, life is good. I think this post is long enough for one day but hey, it was one exciting day. :) I love you all and thank you for making me believe I could do this! Good night!