Is this something that is unique to the entertainment business? We have internships at my company. They’re all paid, minimum wage, I believe. I’m not even sure if our liability insurance would cover ‘unpaid employees.’ I suspect it would be a problem, but am not certain.
Two of my kids - both of whom graduated with science/engineering degrees - also had at least one internship during college. The oldest is now employed with the company that offered her that internship, which as I understand it is not uncommon. All of the internships that they applied for were paid. But, maybe it’s just different for j-school kids. IDK.
My son had an unpaid internship for a year and a half, writing a column with monthly articles for a city magazine while in high school.
He also had a four month summer unpaid internship at a local restaurant chain of 25 locations. He followed around the executive team with a focus on finance and accounting. And made a presentation to the Board at the end.
They were great resume builders for college.
They weren’t paid because they didn’t add too much real value to the companies. But in engineering, the internships add real value. They also may get a real, quality employee out of the deal.