海角社区

Summer internships are in full swing at in New Orleans, and 海角社区 Senior Margaret Ellis is one of three exceptional university students gaining firsthand experience with the day-to-day operations of our independent public television station. 

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Career Readiness is Key

All three interns impressed us with their initiative and organizational skills, applying several months in advance.  Shortly after Christmas, Maggie reached out by email to express her interest in our summer program. Her communication reflected several 鈥淩eady to Roar鈥� career readiness skills鈥攑articularly self-awareness, leadership, communication, and teamwork鈥攁ll of which are essential for success on our Emmy award-winning team. Maggie鈥檚 customized resume and cover letter stood out immediately. She didn鈥檛 just send a generic application鈥攕he tailored her materials specifically to WLAE, demonstrating clear intent, professionalism, and a deep understanding of what makes a strong candidate. Her resume highlighted a rare level of self-awareness and clarity, connecting her experience, interests, and goals with our internship opportunity. Her extracurricular activities also showcased the kind of teamwork, leadership and critical thinking skills we value.

At WLAE, our small, well-oiled machine of a team requires everyone to be a self-starter, pay attention to detail, work well with others, and take pride in their work. Maggie shared the following mini-bio with permission to repost it. This is a laser-focused example of what to say in a cover letter, so consider tone and content when writing yours. At WLAE, a truthful, non-boastful, content-rich, 鈥渘o word salad鈥� paragraph like this will make our staff eager to look at your resume and put you at the top of our candidate list. 

鈥淚 am a rising Senior, majoring in Screen Arts with a concentration in production. While studying at 海角社区, I discovered that I have a passion for film production and video editing. I have worked on a variety of student and professional sets as a Director, AC, and PA, and I serve as the VP of 海角社区鈥檚 Film Making Club. I started at 海角社区鈥檚 Tiger TV as a Production Assistant and worked my way up to Assistant Technical Director. In that role, I lead the production team and run the technical side of our live shows. In my free time, I enjoy creating my own short films, editing various projects, and doing photography.鈥�

- Margaret (Maggie) Ellis

 

Part of the Team

In addition to the strong foundation Maggie is building in her pursuit of a broadcasting career through relevant coursework and experience, her friendly, sunny attitude and enthusiasm in her written communications and in person made her a perfect fit for WLAE. This will sound corny, but we are a genuinely HAPPY place to work, where everyone gets along and few people leave. Alex, our master control operator, who is our youngest and newest full-time staff member, is starting his fifth year at WLAE. Half of our staff have worked here for 25-40+ years, and the remaining half for 10-20 years. Our teams of award-winning freelance videographers, editors, producers, directors and production assistants enjoy similar longevity. Our 41-year reputation for producing superior results and long-lasting partnerships includes many instances of people who worked for or with WLAE on projects long ago returning to collaborate on new ones. 

How We're Making an Impact

A recent example is renowned Writer and Director Sean O鈥橫alley, who worked with WLAE on various projects in the early 2000s. Sean was an Executive Producer for WLAE鈥檚 Telly Award-winning film, Fats Domino: Walkin鈥� Back to New Orleans, which has enjoyed an extended run on WLAE, LPB and PBS stations nationwide. This concert documentary captured Fats鈥� final public performance at Tipitina鈥檚 in 2007, and told his amazing life story including his harrowing rescue and devastating losses during Hurricane Katrina. 

After Katrina, Sean moved to Los Angeles, California to establish O鈥橫alley Productions, and his career took off. Since then, he has written, directed, and produced series and specials for Food Network, Cooking Channel, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Univision鈥檚 streaming platform ViX, and Discovery+, including over 175 hours of Food Paradise, one of Discovery鈥檚 longest running food series.  

But in 2023, 17 years after production began on Fats, Sean returned to Ron Yager and Jim Dotson, President and Vice-President of WLAE-TV and 6th Street Studios with a blockbuster documentary proposal. As a long-time friend of WLAE, Sean knew that we have earned dozens of Emmy and Telly awards for our educational and entertaining films and television series that spotlight Louisiana history and culture. He also knew that WLAE held a secret treasure: we had taped the last-known professional interview with world-famous Cajun culture and Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue shortly before he died in 2013, and much of the footage had never been seen by the public. Individually, neither WLAE nor Sean would have been granted the rights to bring Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue to fruition. It was our combined reputation and talent as a TEAM that made it all possible. Sean is the only filmmaker among the top talents from all nations who was able to secure the permission and never-before-seen photos and video from Rodrigue鈥檚 family, estate, and foundations to produce a full-length documentary about the artist鈥檚 life. Blue has won so many awards since its premiere in 2024 that we joined forces with Sean again to produce WLAE鈥檚 next documentary: , which will premiere in 2026.

Blue premiered in Venice, Italy in August 2024, was named 鈥淪outhern Feature Audience Award Winner鈥� at its U.S. premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival that October, and has swept 鈥淏est Documentary鈥� awards at six additional film festivals worldwide since then. A screening was held at the 海角社区 Manship Theatre Shaw Center for the Arts just before the WLAE and LPB premieres in December 2024. In June 2025, the film won a Telly Award, and from now through July 29, 2025 viewers in the USA can stream Blue for free on PBS.org. Find out more at

As a WLAE intern, Maggie is networking with some of the most talented and nicest people in the business; people who give generously of their time, are willing to answer questions, truly care about others and who are happy to serve as a springboard to new and exciting opportunities through their own industry contacts.  

The host of our weekly talk show, Let鈥檚 Talk with Keith Spera, is the New Orleans Advocate and NOLA.com鈥檚 Entertainment Columnist. He features one prominent guest per episode: a Louisiana-based celebrity, businessperson, politician, athlete, etc. Guests appearing on Inside New Orleans Sports with Eric Asher include high school, college and professional athletes, coaches, ADs and sportscasters and analysts from other TV stations. Affordable Housing Matters and Nola Crime Crisis are hosted by the esteemed journalist Norman Robinson, whose guests include local civic leaders and agency heads. Faith and Marriage Today features religious and charitable organization leaders, Catholic musicians and authors, inspirational speakers and more. The wide variety of experts that our interns interact with during their brief time with us provides an exciting and beneficial experience with lasting impact.

 

Internship in Action

On the first day of her internship at WLAE, Maggie served as a production assistant on a field shoot at St. Stephen鈥檚 Basilica in New Orleans. Later that week she helped dress the set and serve as floor director for a greenscreen political spot we taped in the studio. She has worked teleprompter for numerous live and live-to-tape programs, greeted and mic鈥檇 hosts and guests, and even assisted in preparing pledge gifts for fulfillment when an unexpectedly large flurry of orders came in during the week that Blue went nationwide on PBS. Maggie has been carefully observing Director of Production William Hill as he directs live television programs, and assists in uploading new programs and PSAs to the server. She has been a delightful help to everyone here.

Maggie added, 鈥淚 started my TV Production Assistant Internship at WLAE-TV on Monday, May 12th. I'm excited to get hands-on experience in a professional setting and to learn from industry professionals. This internship is a big step toward my goal of working in film and television production after graduation.鈥�

We wish Maggie鈥攁nd all our interns鈥攃ontinued success and happiness as they pursue their careers, and we look forward to staying in touch with them for years to come.

If you鈥檙e a recent graduate living in the New Orleans metro area and are interested in a WLAE internship, we invite you to apply. Deadlines are August 20 for Fall 2025 and December 12 for Spring 2026. For Summer 2026 and beyond, meet us at 海角社区鈥檚 Spring Advertising and Communications Networking Event, apply through Handshake, or email helen@wlae.com

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About the 海角社区 Career Center

Our team is committed to ensuring every student has ample opportunities to gain experience, grow their network, and communicate their aptitude for a chosen career long before graduation. We believe 海角社区 students are unparalleled in their potential to step into leadership, solve problems, and elevate the workforce for the benefit of all.