Since late September, I have done what I thought I would never do. I frantically completed coffee runs. I filed. I re-filed. I ran credit cards that have more money than my parents’ yearly salary, and I’ve explained internet memes to Jude from Nip/Tuck. I heard more people refer to their IMDb than their Facebooks or websites. I found out what a RED camera was, and it’s not a color. I’ve hugged well-known actors and played with a little boy from Lost. I said “copy that” more than my own name. I learned what a “20″ is over walkie talkie. (It’s “location.”) I learned what can be cut from a film budget, and where the cheapest places are to rent equipment from. I let an Oscar-nominated actress borrow my lighter. I’m in the film industry, and I never wanted to be here in the first place. Now I’m having too much fun to care.

I interned as a production assistant for The Space Between, an independent feature film. It’s slated for release in 2010. I have never been so fully engrossed in the film-making process, and damn, it feels good. It’s not the fact that you’re out there making art; it’s the fact that you’re out there with a team to finish a project that came from someone’s mind. That’s what drives me wild. That’s what drives me.

Granted, yes, I was low on the totem pole. But the entire crew, including the director/writer/producer Travis Fine, treated me with respect and, by the end of it all, I feel like I have made more friends than I arrived with. I spent 12- to 16-hour days with these people for 22 days. I spent more time in the production office before that. It feels rewarding, but in a way, I will miss everyone associated with the film and hope towards many more with them.

But now with a car accident, broken (now fixed) laptop, and a midnight ride with a gay blow-up sex doll under my belt, here I am, looking forward to the next project. I’ve even considered starting my own.

Maybe journalism can wait a little while.