From Cold Emails to the NBC Lot: How Isabella Gaeta (‘26) landed her dream internship with NBCUniversal

For aspiring film professionals, that first moment of getting a foot in the door means everything. For fourth-year Isabella Gaeta, landing her dream internship with NBCUniversal — is an experience she will never forget.

“Being able to walk around (the NBC lot) during our lunch break and see live production going on as someone who wants to work in production and be in television – that was just something really special,” Gaeta said.

Gaeta, a film-production major at San Diego State University, interned at NBCUniversal from June to August 2025, learning from the experts and gaining valuable industry experience. 

Growing up in Los Angeles, Gaeta said she was surrounded by a creative and diverse environment, inspiring her to pursue a career in TV and entertainment. Combined with her background in non-profit work, she described her internship as a perfect intersection of her biggest passions. 

As a television inclusion intern with NBCU Launch, she furthered diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the studio, worked with production teams, and assessed the quality of new TV scripts.

“(DEI) helps facilitate new, underrepresented stories, as well as representation and getting new perspectives out there,” Gaeta said.

“It’s about access and giving a platform and voices to people who have been historically underrepresented,” she continued.

As the daughter of a Korean mother and Italian and Irish father, Gaeta knew DEI work was important to her.

“My mixed culture and background give me a very intersectional perspective,” she said.

Gaeta also gained experience in programming, data analytics, sitting in on table reads, strategy, and assisting with NBCUniversal’s many partnerships.

“It was nice because we weren’t specifically doing one thing every day, we were assisting department-wide,” Gaeta said.

Her advice to students looking for internships in media, especially creative fields, is to make yourself known to anyone you can. She shared that the search process isn’t an easy one, and may even feel scary at times, but that the only way to achieve a dream is by giving it one’s all.

“Isabella is an extremely driven individual,” said Stephen Brotebeck, Director of the School of Television, Theatre, and Film, where Gaeta works as a student assistant.

“If there is not an opportunity available for what she wants to do, she will create one. She is resourceful, motivated and passionate about television and film,” Brotebeck said.

Before landing the internship, Gaeta was persistent in putting her best foot forward with the company.

She researched the people on the team she wanted to work with, cold-emailed them, set up coffee chats, anticipated and prepared for interview questions, and made sure they knew how much she wanted to be there.

“Even if you just apply online, that’s not enough,” Gaeta said. “You are going to be one out of thousands.”

She emphasized that film is an industry where who you know is equally important as what you know.

“Especially if you're in a creative field, relationships are super important,” she continued.

NBCUniversal is only the first of many stepping stones in Gaeta’s career. Her goal is to become  a television executive for a company that prioritizes diverse voices. With her work ethic and experience, she is well positioned to achieve that goal.