You might be thinking it’s a little early for this, but the Winter term deadline will be here in less than a month. And if you aren’t applying for that, you should be working on your demo reel for the Summer term deadline.
Anyone applying for the Winter term or are you all gunning for the Summer term?
I applied for Production Intern for the Winter. Unfortunately, I didn’t see this job opening until the last minute so I had to get a resume and cover letter together quick. Luckily, I got it in the morning of deadline. I doubt I’ll be looked at though. I’m majoring in Computer Science, not Film, even though I’d rather work in film…
i’m gonna be applying for the Camera & Staging residency starting next summer. I have nothing ready so far except for an idea for a short that I plan to complete by the deadline.
Do you guys know what they’re looking for for this position? I’m hoping on eventually making it in the story department, so I was planning on writing and directing, but also working really closely with the cinematographer and the editor to showcase my versatility. Would this be a good idea?
Also how many interns do they actually take in for this department? Everything else is computer stuff, and while I’m pretty good with computers I’ve no background in programming or 3d animation so i’m just wondering how fierce the competition’s going to be for the camera positions.
I would love to have a project manager internship position this summer. I am studying at University of Michigan College of Engineering and it has been my dream to work with pixar for a few years now. When should I expect to find out if I will be moving on in the application process? Please get back to me and thank you.
I think I caught a couple demo reels for this internship on vimeo earlier this year. I would check those out, then see if that person actually got in. Then at least you now have a standard to work to or work beyond.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Project Manager internship on their website…When did you apply and for what term?
Joro! I’m back. LETS DO THIS! Demo reel work engage! 
@Bacon: If you are a CS major and want to be in a film team, why not apply for a TD internship? You would be very involved in the daily business of one particular movie while expanding and using your technical skill set.
@andrewyi1114: You don’t necessarily need a background in programming for Camera & Staging, it’s more of an artistic TD position. The majority of the people have degrees in cinematography but people come from all over the place. One staging TD started as a security guard, for example (see e.g. thepixarpodcast.com/25).
@dpk, do you know anything about the Crowds Internship position? I was considering it because the description seems to suggest it’s targeted more towards generalists. At school I like everything and I work at a small studio part-time, so I’ve been a generalist I would say. But I’ve never done any sort of crowds work, so I’m hesitant.
The other one I’d like to apply to is Simulation, because I love setting up hair systems.
@pricklypixar: Both Crowds and Sim tend to be more on the technical side, I’d say. The issue with “I’ve been a generalist” as a statement is that thousands of people are able to say that and you’ll have a much harder time convincing people that you are great in many areas, than convincing them that you are excellent in one very specific area. This is universally true, not just for Pixar or computer animation. Many people get hired for one specific skill set, and then after a project is done switch over to other projects which, in many cases, are quite unrelated to the original project or department (I was such a case eventually).
If I wanted to apply for a crowds position, I’d probably go and build some scripts/tools that simulate crowds behavior (Craig Reynolds’ stuff [1] is a good start to look at, for example) and run those on a few dozens/hundreds/thousand agents, and perhaps even apply this logic to some animated characters. Having good knowledge and taste about animation, lighting, shading, etc. is a very good and useful and perhaps necessary thing, but if you apply for crowds, it’s probably a good idea to demonstrate specific knowledge in crowds.
For Sim, it’s probably an advantage if you have some background in numerical mathematics (finite elements, linear/nonlinear solvers, etc) but at the same time can demonstrate what a good sim has to look like, what typical problems are (i.e. beyond setting up) and how you solve them.
But then again, both departments contain more artistic people as well, I don’t quite know what the scope is on that end of the Tech/Art spectrum. The work in all departments tends to be more tech-oriented in early stages of a movie, whereas in later stages you might be doing more shot work. So, depending on where you place yourself in the spectrum, they’d put you in an appropriate spot.
(Obviously, that’s all my personal opinion and limited experience, especially on the more artsy side of things.)
Makes sense?
PS: Come to think of it, I know at least one person who, as far as I know, has not focused too much on programming, started as a Crowds TD and is now in Sim… but he had an artistically very strong demo reel with some crowds shots, which after all might be the most important part of your application.
@picklypixar: Yay!! Let’s do this!! 
@dpk: You seem to be in the know. I have a question about both the Crowd, Sim, and FX TD internships or maybe I should be asking about the residents since I’ll be graduating in Spring 2012 
. Moving on…I’m more technical than artist when it comes to these kinds of things, but still strive to learn more of the artistic elements. For the Crowd TD internship/resident, do you think it would be enough to just build tools for everything mentioned in Craig Reynolds’ paper “Steering Behaviors For Autonomous Characters” and apply them to a ton of agents. Also, what does it mean when you say to demonstrate specific knowledge in crowds? I am familiar with research involving crowd sim, but I have a feeling that’s not what you meant…
Also, I feel like I would be best suited for either the Sim or FX TD internship/resident as I’m fairly familiar with the numerical mathematics you’ve mentioned. How different is the Sim and FX TD internship/resident positions since they seem to both fall under physics-based animation to me? I’m trying to get a feel for what I should be including in my demo reel. Thanks!
@dpk Wow, thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed response! Definitely helpful, though I’m having second thoughts on what I should apply for…I’m more artistic than technical, though I do have a Computer Science minor. I don’t know. I know generalist is a dangerous term…I like everything, I guess that’s my problem 
I’d love to show you my reel for feedback, if you wouldn’t mind.
I’m working on my reel now. Trying to “cut the fat,” as it was kind of long and slow before.
The winter term deadline has just passed. Now only the summer term is available. Good luck to all! I hope you guys aren’t slacking off.
Hi Everyone,
I’m new to the boards and was wondering if anyone here might know the answer to my question.
I applied several weeks ago to the Production Internship on the day of the deadline, Sunday October 16th. Or, at least, I intended to because when I went to submit my application, the Production Internship link had been removed. There was no time posted on the original listing, just the date.
When I applied last Spring, I’m fairly certain the deadline was Midnight PST and I assumed this deadline was as well. However, the link was gone somewhere between 2 PM PST and 7 PM PST and I was unable to do anything except update my old resume.
So, I noted the time discrepancy in my letter, as well as my interest in the Production Internship, and hoped for the best. Now, I’m wondering how often these updated resumes are checked and if there is any chance at all my resume was seen and I was included in the pool. Thoughts? Should I have called? Any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
Alison
Hi Alison, I have a friend that missed the deadline for the same reason 
I have no idea how they sort the apps but I think you handled it best you could! Good luck!
I ended up applying to Rendering and Simulation.
Hey all!
I’ve applied for the Production Intern position, the deadline for which was sometime in mid-October. Has anyone else who has applied for this position heard back? I know from previous applications that they usually take ~3 weeks to reply either way. Just wondering if anybody else has gotten word back.
Cheers all! Best of luck!
~AnimationSquib
I wish all of you good luck! I’m not applying for a Pixar internship, but I’m highly considering applying for the Disney College Program next year for a park internship.
@ellie-jessie-eve Thank you! I’ve heard great things about the colleges program, people love it I’m going to disney in a few weeks with my family and I’m super excited to be there! Just have to get through finals first
Oh, I hope you have a great time! Are you going to Disneyland or World?
Hey Everybody!
Thanks so much for the great posts. This thread and the one from last year have provided some great answers to my overly excited and anxious mind haha.
@AnimationSquib I applied to the Production internship as well but haven’t heard back yet. Someone updated the status of my application about a week after the deadline but that is the last movement I’ve seen so far. Have you heard back yet? I think this or next week are the make it or break it weeks to hear back. Hopefully we’ll hear back soon. Even if it is a no I’d prefer it over wondering what’s going to happen.
@indierose I had a similar situation last spring. I applied for a position a few hours after it apparently closed. It didn’t even have a deadline so that was pretty disappointing. So i just filled out the general application. I never heard anything back so I’m assuming they just didn’t check it. I think you might have a better chance though since you previously applied and your account is on record. Good luck!!
To everyone else thanks so much! Keep up the posts. They calm my nerves a little while I wait to hear something haha. And again Good luck on your applications!!
This!! Absolutely same for me haha. I check this like a nut. Lurkers should post I’m sure there’s some out there
@ellie-jessie-eve - Disney World!