Film Studies Minor Reflects on Summer Internship at HBO’s Righteous Gemstones

By: Peyton Brotzman, senior, Film Studies Minor

Over the summer I had the great opportunity of working as a Production Accounting Intern for HBO’s Righteous Gemstones Season 3, filmed here in Charleston. During this time, I  learned not only about what all goes into producing a film on set, but also how much work is done on the ‘backside’ of production to keep everything running smoothly.

The team I worked under was the production accounting department, and they were trained me for several jobs inthe office. I helped process ‘P cards’ (or payment credit cards) for purchases made by various departments and scanned and filed checks into their new ‘Covid-friendly’ electronic system. I was also in charge of organizing the large and complicated production calendars so that each team member could keep up to date with which episode to code payments to. My bosses were super supportive and eager to teach me what all their individual jobs were. I have a newfound appreciation for the teams that work behind the scenes on TV shows and movies, communicating with every other department (locations, costumes, set design etc.) in order to have a comprehensive collection data to send back to the studio.

By far one of the coolest experiences I had for this job was when my boss was able to land me a few shifts to work on set as a production assistant. I was given lock up positions and had to monitor the flow of the various teams working together on my headset. I was a vital part of filming and got to experience everyone collaborating to perfect and film various scenes. The entire internship was an invaluable experience that has encouraged me to continue on a path where film will be a big component of my life. I can’t thank the Righteous Gemstones team and my film professor Dr. Bruns enough for helping me land this opportunity and experience it to the fullest.