Gina Johnson smiling, with logo reading "FMS Summer Internship Award".
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Congratulations to Gina Johnson, one of the winners of the Film and Media Studies Summer Internship Award! 

Gina recently completed her summer internship with the Newport Beach Film Festival. Founded in 1999, the Newport Beach Film Festival has emerged as the largest international cinema event in coastal Southern California. This festival plays a central role for filmmakers from all over the world bringing independent and studio films to Newport Beach. The festival also provides cinematic educational development programs to our community of Orange County.

Gina was an integral part of the Marketing Outreach and Digital Marketing teams as she was a lead on these teams. As a team lead, Gina interacted with several people from various roles and seniority which allowed her to better interpret the responsibilities of her fellow summer interns and also higher management. Gina was also integral to the development of a biweekly newsletter. She would cater each week’s issue to not only what was happening with the festival, but as well as community events and relevant film news. Through the biweekly newsletter, Gina learned how to create marketing materials through the use of content creation and became adept at creating new content ideas each day. 

In addition, Gina conducted research on the best possible ways to increase community engagement. She learned how to use MailerLite, the official newsletter software of the Newport Beach Film Festival, and learned how to read and interpret the data collected through the software to better help with community outreach and engagement while also reporting these changes to the newsletter team. Through this internship, Gina was able to continue to grow her professional and leadership skills. 

This scholarship is funded by a generous donation from UCI History alumni, Leon Dudevoir, in support of Film and Media Studies’ student internships. Mr. Dudevoir had a career as a film executive for New Line Cinemas, working on films like The Notebook, Rush Hour and Blade. He’s now retired and lives in Portland, and wanted to support current FMS students looking to enter the entertainment industry.