By: Emalia Hinden

Day two: individual meetings, Netflix, and Warner Brothers Animation. Fellow film enthusiast Sean McNally and I were assigned editor Brit DeLillo for our individual meeting; we went to Fratelli’s cafe and asked her about her work on How To Train Your Dragon, The Equalizer, and Bohemian Rhapsody. We ordered way too much food and then didn’t eat much. Brit is articulate and funny and very real about her time at Hofstra and her transition into the industry, and there was no shortage of conversation. The best advice she gave us was that we shouldn’t feel afraid to reach out to alumni on LinkedIn: “Being a self-starter is never a bother,” she said. This is great, because I never do not feel like a bother doing that. “It kind of feeds our egos to have you guys want our advice,” she said, and then laughed.

I did an Instagram takeover for the Herbert School this day; after we got back from individual meetings I caught up with everyone else’s meetings for the gram. We had been assigned groups of two, and that seemed like a perfect number for people to connect with their person and yet not feel too much pressure to interview them/be interviewed by them.

Next, we went to Netflix. I think we were all pretty starstruck. The entire lobby is one big screen, and animations from shows wave softly. The meeting mostly consisted of the Netflix people explaining the way Netflix works: we left way too soon buzzing with secrets about streaming service models, content analytics and how to pull off a non-theatrical release. I’m going to send them my thesis film when it’s finished in May.

Next, we went to Warner Brothers Animation. The most confusing part of this trip is the variety of exciting things I’d like to do—I started sketching a little in the middle of the meeting.

Afterwards, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and listened to some jams and ate some ribs. I couldn’t be more tired and excited.