JTWO Welcomes Intern Adam Nitzberg

Hi, I’m Adam, and I just finished my first week as an intern at Jtwo Films. I think it’s going well so far, definitely made some mistakes and learned some stuff the hard ward way, but that’s just the way these things go I suppose. So, I guess this is supposed to be some sort of origin story like Batman Begins or something, so here goes nothing.

I originally wanted to be a film composer. That’s what I applied to go to school for. I trained all through high school and even middle school towards that goal. But, at my number one choice school, Syracuse, I didn’t make it into the music program. But, I had been accepted to my second choice major: Television, Radio, and Film at the Newhouse School.

I visited and I fell in love with everything. When I toured Newhouse, they explained that they even had a program for sound design and film scoring in that major. Plus, I thought it would be prudent to be around people who could use me rather than be in a program full of competition, so to speak. And, as a last resort, I always could just switch majors to something completely music based. So, I decided that Syracuse was the school for me.

But, as I learned freshman year, before you can specialize at Syracuse, you have to learn how to do everything. And as I explored the various roles in the industry, I fell in love with directing. This might seem like an odd switch, but to me, it makes perfect sense.

Directing is just like being a composer, just with a different medium. Whenever I compose something, my goal is to tell a story. All of my favorite works are concept albums and long symphonies with epic stories. When I write music, I even write out the story on paper before penning a single note, develop characters with leitmotifs that change throughout, and try to follow story structure. So, when I got a chance to tell stories visually, it just felt right. Story had always been everything.

So, when I was searching for internships, it’s no surprise that Jtwo was my number one choice. I was hooked the second I saw the tagline “We are storytellers” followed by “story is everything.” And lo and behold, I was selected.

I still have so so so much to learn. I still feel out of my element, but that’s why I am so happy to have gotten this internship. I plan on walking around like a sponge, just soaking in all the knowledge I can. I am so excited for what the future holds and so grateful to be here.