UK and Ireland Sales Intern Review

• Provide administrative support to the UK Theatrical Sales Team, including providing specific administrative support to the Director, Theatrical Sales
• Work with cinemas and publicity to co-ordinate all pre-release bookings in addition to press, multimedia, charity, exhibitor & premiere screenings
• Attend Brand meetings with Brand leads and handle follow up requests
• Attend other internal meetings as required or to cover other team members
• Update and maintain (and, where necessary, create) departmental databases, relevant spreadsheets, systems and platforms, as directed by the Sales Director
• Produce relevant digital drive movement reports
• Act on digital key queries and follow up on missing digital drives or keys
• Work with the finance team to produce comparison spreadsheets for key releases
• Distribute the release calendars and other weekly documents to relevant parties
• Liaise with the Box Office tracking authority
• Organise gifts for Charities and/or Exhibitor Conferences
• All other ad hoc duties as reasonably requested by the Sales Director & Sales team.

One day is never the same as another, from different meetings to different activities and jobs but also the amount can vary from working all day on one process or just replying to emails all day. Every day, my first job is to check my emails so see if I’ve missed some from the evening before or email from the US. Most of my meetings both team and department, are in the late mornings, I am tasked with taking notes so that later I can write an email with the important points which is then distributed to my team. In the afternoon, I focus on emails that come through which can be from my team giving me tasks for clients wanting information about our upcoming releases or when cinemas are open they ask to book available films. Emails can be sent to me from other departments, I analyse them and take out the necessary information to forward the details on to the relevant people around departments. On Wednesday night I need to make sure that my whole teams site counts are up to date so that on Thursday morning I can sort them all out and summarise the week’s bookings for each film.

- Operating and using different Systems. This year, I have used around seven new systems and each one has an individual purpose. For example, one app called ITDS is where the team goes to add, delete or adjust bookings for clients. The opposite app, called IBOE, has all the history of film and Box offices figures. At the start I did find the systems confusing because they all have similar uses and seemed to hold the same information so it took time to find my way around each one. Presently I still have trouble operating all seven apps maybe because a few I don’t use every day but the more my placement advances I get to work on all of them. I have proved to myself with the main operating systems that I do learn quickly even with more technical work and if I set my mind to learning something new it will take time but it will eventually become easy.
- Communicating and writing professional emails. I’ve always been a sociable person and in some cases prefer doing group work but I’ve never had to talk to anyone virtually for a couple of hours or send important emails every day to clients so that was a challenged for me. Everyone this year has had to go through changes professionally and socially but for me not being able to have “an office experience” has been hard. When you go into a new job you want to get a feel for the culture, the people and real day to day hours/work. Not having that structure or experience felt unfair at first and daunting especially when I was doing one-on-one training with new people. Presenting myself, my personality in front of a screen when eight to twenty people are talking or focused on you is particularly challenging. I want to make a good impression and my goal is the get my name around the company. I’ve tried since September to answer any questions I can even if they are not work related for example “What is everyone watching at the moment”, I’ve tried to come up with a couple of questions I myself could ask during the meetings to get involved. I have made sure to go to every event that is offered to me. I have also realised that if I don’t get a chance to speak at least I attended so people will eventually recognise my face then maybe that can lead to some group work with different departments. When writing emails to either clients or just sending out emails to the company I have just observed how my team have been sending theirs especially on my days when shadowing a few members. These skills will help me write my future reports, cover letters or talk to managers during job interviews.
- Creating events (charities) relevant to a theme with other groups of people. The Walt Disney Company works closely with four main charities partners who are “Make-A-Wish”, MediCinema, “Together for short lives” and “Great Ormond street hospital”. Being able to be a small part of that work is a dream. I’ve also worked alongside other interns on projects like educating schools on mental health programs and communication with children through the use of presenting Disney princesses as a tool to understanding their emotions (more information of that program in Appendices N’….). In my second year of university, my team and I had to create a charity event where we decided to do a quiz at a local pub in Southampton, so I was familiar with what it consisted of, though I have never organised something that will make a difference to children and their wellbeing which made it harder but exciting to think that the program will be assigned around schools throughout England. I tried to make my ideas heard and communicate well with others to find the right ideas we can put in place. When we have all our events put together, agreed and written each steps then is forwarded to the right teams. I hope that before the end of my placement I will have been involved in other charity work for the fact that they have taught me how to analyse the charities, evaluate why the programme is being put into place and create ideas individually but also work effectively with different groups of people.

The Walt Disney Company has thousands of employees so making sure Human Resources uphold their wellbeing is crucial. From my personal experience, I received HR emails every day, for example new online courses, health events with Human resources employees or talks about wellbeing ideas and how do deal with working from home. Team members say that this side of HR services is at the core of working at Disney wherever in the company you are and at whatever level, “it just works” Below is the kind of emails and events the organisation provides to uphold employee wellbeing:
- HR continuously provides updates with programmes of wellbeing to ensure everyone is safe and well, but more than ever due to the pandemic.
- Disney Diversity strives to educate, build awareness and create an inclusive workplace, where the perspectives of Black, Asian, and Ethnic Minorities are valued, promoted and celebrated throughout the company.
- Disney PRIDE advocate, celebrate, and educate on behalf of all LGBTQ+ and ally employees, fostering a culture of authenticity and inclusivity across the enterprise, marketplace, and global community. PRIDE encourages an open environment where employees feel safe to be authentic and feel supported to be who they are in every team.
- Women@Disney Programme strives to equip and motivate women to build impactful careers. They create events and activities that provide women with self-development tools plus networking and mentoring opportunities to encourage inspiring careers at The Walt Disney Company.
The company also organises monthly UK and Ireland Town Hall meetings with the General Manager. She discusses office updates, overall Business updates, mental health events or help advice, any upcoming events and congratulations to any successful teams or departments.

The team and the wider department makes you feel welcomed from day one! My year was virtually so the fact that I could still have a sense family means a lot.

I have gained so much knowledge that will benefit my final year at university and also seeking a job after graduation. The one clearly good thing that I feel has changed my since the beginning of this year is the confidence I have now in my abilities. When going back to university I will hopefully have the same confidence in my assessments and when in lectures. This will no doubt follow into group work as I have been able to work with a lot of different interns and employees during brainstorming sessions and charity events so I have learnt the best ways to approach them and how they should be constructed so that everyone has a say. Having meetings daily and needing to talk to “strangers” has made me open up to different way of communication, so in the future I will push myself to go to events and put myself in positions to meet and work with new people. This year has shown me how interesting it is to learn about people’s backgrounds and especially if they have been successful. For an everyday life, I have enjoyed having a weekly structure, having to get up for work (albeit, not as early due to working from home) is a habit I intend to bring when we return back to university. After graduation, I know I now have an insight into the ups and downs around a working environment and uniquely seen how a business no matter how big can be forced into change for the better but also for the worse at any moment.

Yes