Multimedia intern job description templates for small teams: 6 variants across video, photo, motion, and audio, with pay, rights and FLSA notes. Free DOCX.
Multimedia Intern Job Description Templates for Small Teams
6 free templates for the company hiring its first production help: general multimedia, video, photography, motion graphics, audio and podcast, and an unpaid for-credit version. Each one states the pay basis, the classification, and who owns the footage. Download as DOCX.
The first multimedia intern posting I ever helped write listed twelve software tools and did not mention the hourly rate, the shoot days, or who owned the footage. It pulled in forty applicants and not one of them could do the thing we actually needed, which was cut a ninety second piece from a brief without supervision.
That is the standard failure. Multimedia is a bundle of four different crafts, and a posting that weights them equally reads as a role nobody has thought through. Meanwhile the three questions with real consequences (paid or unpaid, exempt or non-exempt, who owns the raw files) sit unanswered in almost every template you can find online.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for small teams that have no HR department to hand this to. The six below cover general multimedia, video production, photography, motion graphics, audio and podcast, and an unpaid for-credit version, each with the pay basis, the classification, and the rights clause already written in.
TL;DR
A multimedia intern job description has to answer four things generic templates skip: which discipline fills most of the week, the hourly rate, the FLSA classification, and who owns the footage. A paid intern at a for-profit company is a non-exempt employee owed minimum wage and overtime. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What a Multimedia Intern Actually Produces
A multimedia intern supports content production across video, photography, graphics, and audio under direction, executing an approved brief rather than setting creative direction. The work splits into production support on shoot days, post-production, and asset management.
That third part is the one small teams underestimate. Ingest, backup, naming conventions, keywording, and tracking which assets are cleared for publication are unglamorous and nonstop, and at a company without a producer they land on the intern by default. Put them in the posting so the expectation is set before the offer.
The scope also creeps by channel. One approved concept becomes a vertical cut, a square cut, a sixteen by nine cut, a still frame, and an email header. If you are hiring for that reality, our content creator templates cover the full-time version of the same work.
Which Discipline Is the Real Job
Pick the discipline that fills most of the week and write the posting around it. Candidates specialize even when the job title does not, and a posting that lists video, photo, motion, and audio with equal weight attracts people who are shallow in all four.
Video is the workload
Shoot days plus long post
Most postings labelled multimedia are really video: shoot support, ingest, assembly edits, captions, and channel exports. The hours are lumpy, which is exactly why the classification and overtime language matters more here than in a desk internship.
Photography is the volume
Shoot short, edit long
Product, team, and event photography generates far more editing time than shooting time. A posting that describes the shoot and stays silent on culling, retouching, and keywording sets an expectation you will break in week two.
Motion and design is the system
Assets inside a brand spec
Titles, transitions, explainers, and social graphics built inside an existing brand system. The skill you are hiring for is consistency and file hygiene, not novelty, so say that in the posting instead of asking for creative flair.
Audio is the sleeper
Three to five hours of post per hour of tape
Podcast and interview work looks small on a calendar and lands heavy in practice. Recording is an hour. Editing, transcripts, show notes, and clips are most of a day. Budget the hours before you post the role.
Rank the Disciplines as Percentages
Write the split into the posting: seventy percent video editing, twenty percent photography, ten percent graphics. It costs one sentence and changes who applies. A film program student reads that and knows the role fits. A design student reads it and self-selects out, which saves you both a screening call. Postings that list tools instead of proportions get volume without fit, and volume is not the constraint at a small company.
What Belongs in the Posting
A multimedia intern posting does four jobs: it shows a portfolio candidate the work is real, it filters people who cannot make your shoot days, it settles pay and ownership before anyone starts, and it closes the hire. Most postings do only the first.
The parts a portfolio candidate reads first
The software you actually run
What they will shoot or cut, with real examples
Who reviews the work and how often
Whether finished pieces can go in a portfolio
The parts that filter applicants
A reel or portfolio requirement, with a piece count
Shoot days and hours, stated as days of the week
Travel radius and whether a car is needed
Gear provided versus gear expected
The parts that protect you
Paid or unpaid, decided honestly and stated plainly
Ownership of footage, stills, stems, and source files
Release and license requirements for published work
The parts that win the hire
The hourly rate, written as a number
Credit on published pieces
A named mentor and a weekly review
A start and end date tied to a real calendar
The most common omission is the shoot schedule stated as actual days. Interns are students, and a class at two on Tuesday is not negotiable. Naming the days you shoot removes the single most common reason a multimedia internship collapses in week three. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure in more depth.
6 Multimedia Intern Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and pay note, an ownership and rights clause, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Multimedia Intern Job Description Templates
General paid, video production, photography, motion graphics, audio and podcast, and unpaid for-credit. All in one download.
Multimedia Intern (Paid)
Video, photo, and graphics
The general paid version for a small team that needs help across all three, with the hourly classification and the rights clause written in.
Video Production Intern
Shoot days and post
For a company producing video on a cadence, with call sheets, ingest and backup, assembly edits, and appearance releases spelled out.
Photography Intern
Shoot, cull, retouch, file
For a product or event photo library, with the editing hours stated honestly and model and property releases tracked with each asset.
Motion Graphics and Design
Animated and static assets
For a team with a brand system to feed, covering titles, explainers, resizing, source file hygiene, and font and stock licensing.
Audio and Podcast Intern
Record, edit, publish, clip
For a podcast or interview series, with session setup, loudness targets, transcripts, promotional clips, and guest release forms.
Unpaid / For-Credit
Compliance-aware version
Only for a genuine academic placement, built around learning objectives, a faculty supervisor, and the primary beneficiary test.
Template 1: Multimedia Intern (Paid, Hourly)
The general paid version for a small team that needs help across video, photo, and graphics, with the hourly classification and the rights clause written in.
Multimedia Intern Job Description (Paid, Hourly)
MULTIMEDIA INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION (PAID, HOURLY)
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Marketing Manager / Creative Lead / Owner]
•Reliable availability on the days we shoot: [days]
•Care with file naming, backups, and version control
CLASSIFICATION AND PAY NOTE (read before posting)
This is a paid, non-exempt position. The intern is an employee: paid at or
above the applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage for every hour
worked, and paid overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. Shoot days run long, so
track hours honestly and include setup, travel between sites where it counts as
hours worked, and any required training. Do not classify this role as an
independent contractor while setting the schedule, the equipment, and the
method. This is general information, not legal advice.
OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS
All footage, stills, audio, project files, and exports created within the scope
of this internship are works made for hire owned by [Company Name]. The intern
agrees to sign the [intern agreement / IP assignment] before the first shoot,
and may use approved final pieces in a personal portfolio with credit as
[agreed].
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [number] hours per week, [dates]
To apply, email __ with a reel or portfolio link.
Template 2: Video Production Intern
For a company producing video on a cadence, with call sheets, ingest and backup, assembly edits, and appearance releases spelled out. Pair it with the video editor templates when you are ready for the full-time hire.
Video Production Intern Job Description
VIDEO PRODUCTION INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Video Producer / Marketing Manager]
Employment type: Paid internship, [15-25] hours per week, [term]
For a product or event photo library, with the editing hours stated honestly and model and property releases tracked alongside each asset. The senior version lives in our photographer templates.
Photography and Photo Editing Intern Job Description
PHOTOGRAPHY AND PHOTO EDITING INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Creative Lead / Brand Manager / Owner]
Employment type: Paid internship, [10-20] hours per week, [term]
[Company Name] needs a steady supply of [product, team, event, location]
photography for [the website, the catalog, social channels, and press]. We are
hiring a Photography Intern to shoot, edit, and file that library.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Photography Intern shoots assigned subjects, edits and retouches selects to
our style guide, exports to channel specs, and maintains the asset library with
consistent naming, keywords, and rights information.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Shoot [product / lifestyle / team / event] photography on assignment
•Set up simple lighting: [continuous, strobe, natural, tabletop]
•Cull and select in [Lightroom / Capture One] and deliver [number] selects
•Retouch to our style guide: color, crop, cleanup, background
•Export web, print, and social sizes to the specs on file
•Keyword, caption, and file every asset with its rights status
•Track model and property releases and store them with the asset
•Keep the gear, cards, and backup drives in order
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•A portfolio showing [product / people / event] work you shot and edited
•Working knowledge of [Lightroom / Capture One / Photoshop]
•Understanding of exposure, white balance, and basic lighting
•Care with file management, backups, and metadata
•Available for [number] shoot days per [week / month], including [evenings or
weekends] when we cover events
CLASSIFICATION AND PAY NOTE
Non-exempt and hourly. Editing time is working time: a two-hour shoot that
produces six hours of culling and retouching is eight paid hours, not two. Set
the expected edit hours per assignment in writing so both sides plan the week.
Event coverage on a weekend still counts toward the 40-hour overtime threshold
for that workweek. This is general information, not legal advice.
OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS
All images, raw files, and edits created within the scope of this internship
are works made for hire owned by [Company Name]. Signed model releases are
required before any identifiable person appears in published material, and
property releases where the location requires one. Portfolio use of approved
final images is permitted with credit as [agreed].
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [gear provided / gear stipend]
To apply, email __ with a portfolio link.
Template 4: Motion Graphics and Design Intern
For a team with a brand system to feed: titles, explainers, resizing, source file hygiene, and font and stock licensing. See also the animator templates and the graphic designer templates.
Motion Graphics and Design Intern Job Description
MOTION GRAPHICS AND DESIGN INTERN JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Design Lead / Creative Director / Marketing Manager]
Employment type: Paid internship, [10-20] hours per week, [term]
[Company Name] publishes [a podcast / a webinar series / recorded interviews]
on a [weekly / biweekly] schedule. We are hiring an Audio Production Intern to
run the recording setup, edit episodes, and cut the short clips that carry each
episode across social channels.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Audio Production Intern prepares and runs recording sessions, edits
episodes to a consistent sound, produces show notes and transcripts, cuts
promotional clips, and publishes to the hosting platform on schedule.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Set up microphones, interfaces, and remote recording for each session
•Run levels, monitor the room, and record backup tracks
•Edit episodes: cut, level, de-noise, and master to our loudness target
•Produce transcripts, chapter markers, and show notes
•Cut [3-5] short audiogram or video clips per episode for social
•Upload, schedule, and tag episodes on [hosting platform]
•Maintain the episode archive, stems, and project files
•Track music licenses and guest release forms per episode
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Coursework or demonstrated experience in audio production
•Working knowledge of [Descript / Audition / Reaper / Pro Tools / Hindenburg]
•A sample episode or edit you can point to
•An ear for pacing, and patience with cleanup work
•Available on recording days: [days and times]
CLASSIFICATION AND PAY NOTE
Non-exempt and hourly. Audio editing takes far longer than recording, often
three to five hours of post per hour of tape, so budget and pay for it.
Remote recording sessions scheduled outside normal hours still count as hours
worked. If the intern works from home, follow your state's rules on expense
reimbursement for internet and equipment. This is general information, not
legal advice.
OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS
All recordings, stems, edits, transcripts, and project files created within the
scope of this internship are works made for hire owned by [Company Name]. Every
guest signs a recording and release form before the session. Music and sound
effects come from company-licensed sources only.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [remote or on-site], [equipment provided]
To apply, email __ with a sample edit.
Template 6: Unpaid / For-Credit Multimedia Intern
Only for a genuine academic placement, built around written learning objectives, a named faculty supervisor, and the primary beneficiary test. If you need output on a deadline, use Template 1 instead.
Unpaid internships at for-profit companies are legal only when the intern, not
the company, is the primary beneficiary of the relationship. The Department of
Labor applies a seven-factor primary beneficiary test that weighs the academic
tie, the training value, the credit or coursework connection, the calendar, and
whether the intern displaces paid staff or is promised a job. No single factor
decides it. If the honest answer is that you need production output on a
deadline, pay the intern and use the paid template instead. This is general
information, not legal advice.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES (the point of this posting)
By the end of the term the intern will be able to:
•Plan and run a small shoot from brief to delivery
•Operate [camera, audio, lighting] competently and safely
•Edit a short piece to a brand spec in [software]
•Manage assets: ingest, backup, naming, keywords, and rights
•Explain release, license, and ownership requirements for published media
SUPERVISION AND STRUCTURE
•[Number] hours per week, scheduled around class, never in conflict with it
•A named supervisor: [name, title], with a weekly [30] minute review
•A written learning plan agreed with [faculty supervisor] at the start
•A midterm and final evaluation submitted to [school]
•Portfolio pieces the intern may keep and show, with credit as [agreed]
WHAT THIS INTERNSHIP IS NOT
•Not a substitute for a paid production hire or a vacant role
•Not a promise of employment at the end of the term
•Not open-ended: it runs on the academic calendar and stops there
•Not a source of on-demand production capacity for client deadlines
RESPONSIBILITIES (training-oriented)
•Shadow and then assist on [number] shoots per term
•Complete [number] guided edits with structured feedback
•Build one end-to-end piece as a capstone with faculty review
•Learn the asset library, naming convention, and rights tracking
OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS
Work created within the scope of this internship is owned by [Company Name] as
a work made for hire, and the intern signs the [intern agreement] at the start.
The intern retains the right to use approved final pieces in an academic
portfolio with credit as [agreed].
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a portfolio or reel link and your faculty supervisor's contact to
__ by [deadline].
Paid or Unpaid: The Department of Labor Test
Pay the intern, in almost every case at a for-profit company. An unpaid internship is lawful only when the intern, not the employer, is the primary beneficiary of the relationship, and multimedia internships fail that test more often than most because production output on a publishing deadline is exactly the work a paid employee would otherwise do.
The Department of Labor sets out a seven-factor primary beneficiary test for internship programs under the FLSA. It weighs the understanding that there is no expectation of compensation, training similar to an educational environment, a tie to formal coursework or academic credit, alignment with the academic calendar, a duration limited to the period of beneficial learning, work that complements rather than displaces paid employees, and the absence of a promised job at the end. No single factor decides it, and courts examine the economic reality of the whole relationship.
Factor from the DOL test
Where a multimedia internship usually fails
No expectation of compensation
A rate was discussed in the interview, or a stipend was implied
Training like an educational environment
The intern was handed a publishing calendar, not a curriculum
Tied to coursework or academic credit
No school, no faculty supervisor, no credit hours
Follows the academic calendar
Open-ended, or extended because the content pipeline needed it
Limited to the period of beneficial learning
Month six looks identical to month one
Complements rather than displaces paid staff
The intern replaced the freelance editor you stopped booking
No promise of a job at the end
A full-time offer was dangled to secure free production work
If the intern is an employee, minimum wage and overtime are both owed, and the role is non-exempt rather than a creative professional. That exemption is written around work requiring invention, imagination, originality, or talent, which is a poor description of producing assets to an existing brand spec under supervision. Our guide to hiring interns works through the decision in general terms.
Footage, Releases, and Music Rights
Ownership of what an intern shoots is settled by employment status, and everything else is settled by paperwork collected on the day. Work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire, so the company is the author and copyright owner from creation.
The Copyright Office explains in its circular on works made for hire that commissioned work from someone who is not an employee only qualifies when it falls into one of nine listed categories and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. That is why the unpaid for-credit case is the risky one: if the intern is arguably not an employee, the default ownership rule may not reach the footage at all.
Ownership is not automatic for everything
Work created by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire, and the employer is the author and copyright owner from the moment of creation. A paid intern who is an employee falls inside that rule. The trouble starts at the edges: an unpaid for-credit intern whose status as an employee is arguable, a freelancer you called an intern, or footage shot on a personal camera on a personal weekend. Commissioned work from a non-employee only becomes work made for hire when it fits one of nine listed categories and both sides sign a written agreement saying so. The cheap fix is a one-page signed agreement covering ownership and portfolio use before the first shoot, for every intern, paid or not.
Releases are per person, per property, per publication
Every identifiable person who appears in published photo or video needs a signed appearance or model release, and that includes your own employees, customers who wandered into frame at an event, and children with a parent or guardian signature. Some locations require a property release too. The intern is usually the person collecting these on the day, so put it in the job description as a duty rather than assuming it happens. Store the release with the asset, not in a separate folder, so anyone pulling the file a year later can see whether it is cleared. A published image you cannot prove is cleared is a liability that outlives the internship by years.
Music and stock licenses do not travel with the person
Interns arrive with student licenses, personal subscriptions, and a folder of tracks from wherever. None of that is valid for commercial publication by your company. Fonts, stock footage, sound effects, plugins, and music must be licensed through company accounts, and the license terms have to cover the use you are publishing to, which is often narrower than people assume for paid advertising. Write it into the posting and into the first week of onboarding: company accounts only, log every asset used per project, and keep the license record with the project file. Retroactive licensing after a takedown notice costs many times what the license would have cost.
Gear and footage need a custody trail
A multimedia intern will hold thousands of dollars of camera bodies, lenses, microphones, and drives, and will carry the only copy of a shoot until it is ingested. Two rules cover most of the risk. First, sign gear out and back in against a list, with condition noted, and state in the posting that gear is checked out and returned. Second, raw footage lives on company storage with a second backup, never solely on a personal laptop or a personal cloud account. Collect the offboarding step at the same time you plan the start: accounts closed, drives returned, files handed over, on the last day rather than three weeks later.
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Signed Agreement Before the First Shoot, Not After
The fix is one page and it has to exist before the intern touches a camera: ownership of footage, stills, stems, and source files; where raw media is stored; what the intern may show in a portfolio and with what credit; and confirmation that fonts, music, and stock come from company accounts. Chasing a signature after the intern has left with the only copy of a shoot is a bad week that a five minute task on day one prevents entirely.
Gear, Access, and Interns Under 18
Two operational rules cover most of the risk in a multimedia internship: gear is signed out against a list and raw footage never lives only on a personal device. Both belong in the job description as stated duties, not as assumptions.
Age adds a third. Where the intern is a high school student, the federal child labor rules for nonagricultural work apply on top of everything else. The Department of Labor sets out those child labor provisions: 14 and 15 year olds face limits on hours and times of day, while 16 and 17 year olds may work unlimited hours but are barred from occupations declared hazardous, including driving a motor vehicle on the job except within narrow limits for 17 year olds.
Both of those bite in production. Driving between shoot locations and operating certain power-driven equipment are common intern tasks and are exactly what the hazardous occupation orders restrict. State child labor law is often stricter and may require a work permit, and where the two differ the stricter rule applies. Plan transportation and gear handling before the first shoot day rather than discovering the problem on it.
What to Pay a Multimedia Intern
There is no BLS occupation for interns, so benchmark to the entry of the wage ladder for whichever discipline fills most of the week, then set a rate at or above your applicable minimum wage. Most small-company multimedia internships land between the local minimum wage and the 10th percentile hourly figure for the nearest occupation.
Entry of the Ladder, Nearest Occupations
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the 10th percentile annual wage was $30,820 for photographers, $38,520 for camera operators in television, video, and film, $39,520 for graphic designers, and $40,280 for film and video editors. Median annual wages for the same occupations were $44,660, $74,990, $62,960, and $75,420 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Nearest BLS occupation
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
10th percentile
When to use it as the benchmark
Photographers (27-4021)
$44,660 per year, $21.47 per hour
$30,820, $14.82 per hour
A photo-heavy internship shooting product, team, or events
Camera operators, television, video, and film (27-4031)
$74,990 per year, $36.05 per hour
$38,520, $18.52 per hour
Shoot-day support, studio work, and second camera
Graphic designers (27-1024)
$62,960 per year, $30.27 per hour
$39,520, $19.00 per hour
Static design and layout work inside a brand system
Film and video editors (27-4032)
$75,420 per year, $36.26 per hour
$40,280, $19.37 per hour
Post-production heavy roles, the most common multimedia split
Sound engineering technicians (27-4014)
$73,130 per year
$37,570
Podcast, interview, and audio-first internships
Special effects artists and animators (27-1014)
$102,030 per year
$58,600
Rarely intern-level; use only for a genuine 3D or VFX placement
Read those as skill benchmarks, not intern rates. They cover full-time practitioners across all experience levels, and an intern is below the entry point of every one of them. Their real use is relative: the ladder tells you that editing and camera work command more than photography, so an editing-heavy internship should pay above a photography-heavy one at the same company. Publish the number in the posting, since a stated rate outperforms competitive pay in every applicant pool I have watched.
Hiring a Multimedia Intern Without an HR Department
Multimedia internships fail in three predictable places: the posting asks for a generalist, the shoot days blow past the scheduled hours, and the release paperwork goes missing. Each has a fix that costs less than the problem.
The posting asks for a generalist and the candidates are all specialists
Multimedia is a bundle, not a job. A film program graduate cuts video and has never opened a design tool. A design student animates beautifully and has never run an audio interface. When a posting lists video, photo, motion graphics, and audio with equal weight, strong candidates in each discipline read it as a role written by someone who does not know what they need, and the applicants who do apply are usually shallow in all four. Rank the four. Say which one is most of the week, which one is occasional, and which one you will teach. A posting that says seventy percent video editing, twenty percent photo, ten percent graphics gets better applicants than one that lists twelve tools.
Shoot days blow through the hours the internship was scheduled for
A part-time intern scheduled for fifteen hours a week is one twelve-hour production day away from a very different timesheet, and post-production is where the rest disappears: a two-hour shoot becomes six hours of culling and retouching, an hour of tape becomes four hours of audio edit. Because a paid intern at a for-profit company is a non-exempt employee, those hours are owed at the regular rate and at time and a half past forty in the workweek. Track hours from day one rather than reconstructing them, agree edit-time budgets per assignment in writing, and treat travel between shoot locations during scheduled hours as compensable time.
Nobody owns the paperwork, so the footage ships without a release on file
The compliance work in a multimedia internship is small but nonstop: an intern agreement with the ownership clause, an offer letter with the hourly rate, a gear checkout list, appearance releases per shoot, license records per project, and an offboarding checklist for drives and accounts. On a small team that all sits with whoever hired the intern, between everything else, and the release is the piece that quietly goes missing. FirstHR was built for that pattern. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every intern, e-signature handles the intern agreement and the acknowledgments, document management stores releases and gear lists against the employee profile, and training modules cover the rights rules before the first shoot. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is accepted, the work becomes a repeatable sequence. Start from the internship offer letter template, then run the standard onboarding checklist with the gear, storage, and rights steps added on top. If you are also staffing the channels the work ships to, the social media intern templates cover the distribution side.
Multimedia is four crafts, so rank video, photography, motion graphics, and audio as percentages of the week instead of listing every tool you own.
A paid intern at a for-profit company is a non-exempt employee owed at least minimum wage for every hour worked and overtime past forty hours in a workweek.
Unpaid internships are lawful only when the intern is the primary beneficiary under the Department of Labor seven-factor test, which production work on a publishing deadline usually fails.
Work created by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire owned by the company, but the unpaid for-credit case is ambiguous, so sign a one-page agreement before the first shoot.
Every identifiable person in published photo or video needs a signed release, and music, fonts, and stock must be licensed through company accounts rather than personal or student subscriptions.
BLS publishes no intern occupation; 10th percentile figures (BLS OEWS, May 2025) run from $14.82 per hour for photographers to $19.37 per hour for film and video editors as skill benchmarks.
Interns under 18 trigger federal and state child labor rules, and driving between shoot locations plus certain power-driven equipment are the two production tasks most likely to be restricted.
The paperwork around a multimedia internship is small and constant: an intern agreement with the ownership clause, gear signed out against a list, releases per shoot, and drives returned on the last day. FirstHR runs that as one onboarding sequence, with e-signature for the agreement and document storage tied to each employee profile. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a multimedia intern do?
A multimedia intern supports content production across video, photography, graphics, and audio under the direction of a marketing or creative lead. The day-to-day usually breaks into three parts: production support on shoot days (gear setup, lighting, audio, second camera, capturing B-roll and stills), post-production (assembly edits, retouching, captions, resizing assets for each channel), and asset management (ingest, backup, naming, keywording, and tracking releases and licenses). At a small company the third part matters more than most postings admit, because nobody else is maintaining the media library. The role is entry level and supervised: the intern executes an approved brief rather than setting creative direction. Say which of the four disciplines is most of the week, because candidates specialize even when the job title does not.
Should a multimedia internship be paid or unpaid?
Pay it, in almost every case at a for-profit company. The Department of Labor applies a seven-factor primary beneficiary test to decide whether an intern is really an employee, weighing the absence of any expectation of compensation, whether the training resembles an educational environment, the tie to formal coursework or academic credit, whether the internship follows the academic calendar, whether its length is limited to the period of beneficial learning, whether the intern's work complements rather than displaces paid employees, and whether either side was promised a job at the end. No single factor decides it, and the analysis turns on economic reality. Multimedia internships fail the test more often than most, because production output on a publishing deadline is exactly the work a paid employee would otherwise do. If an intern is an employee, minimum wage and overtime are owed.
Is a multimedia intern exempt or non-exempt?
Non-exempt, in essentially every case. A paid intern at a for-profit company is an employee entitled to at least the applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage for every hour worked and to overtime at time and a half past forty hours in a workweek. The creative professional exemption is a poor fit: it is written around work requiring invention, imagination, originality, or talent in a recognized artistic field, and an intern producing assets to an existing brand spec under close supervision is not that. It also carries a salary basis test that a part-time hourly internship does not meet. This matters more in multimedia than in a desk internship because shoot days run long and editing time is easy to underestimate, which pushes a nominally part-time schedule past forty hours without anyone planning it.
How much should I pay a multimedia intern?
Anchor to the entry of the wage ladder for the discipline that fills most of the week, then adjust for your local minimum wage and market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the 10th percentile annual wage was $30,820 for photographers ($14.82 per hour), $39,520 for graphic designers ($19.00 per hour), $38,520 for camera operators in television, video, and film ($18.52 per hour), and $40,280 for film and video editors ($19.37 per hour). BLS publishes no occupation for interns, so those figures are a floor reference for the skill, not an intern rate. Most small-company multimedia internships land between the applicable minimum wage and the 10th percentile hourly figure for the nearest occupation. Whatever you choose, write it in the posting as a number.
Who owns the video and photos a multimedia intern creates?
The company owns them when the intern is an employee, because work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire, and the employer counts as the author and copyright owner from the moment of creation. The risk sits at the edges. An unpaid for-credit intern whose employee status is arguable, a freelancer you loosely called an intern, or footage shot on a personal camera outside assigned work all complicate the picture. Work commissioned from someone who is not an employee only becomes a work made for hire if it fits one of nine specific statutory categories and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. The practical answer is the same either way: a one-page signed agreement before the first shoot that covers ownership, storage of raw files, and what the intern may show in a portfolio.
Can a high school student work as a multimedia intern?
Yes, with two constraints. Under the federal child labor rules for nonagricultural work, 14 and 15 year olds face limits on both hours and times of day, and their permitted occupations are restricted. Sixteen and 17 year olds may work unlimited hours but are barred from the occupations the Secretary of Labor has declared hazardous, and no one under 18 may drive a motor vehicle on the job except within narrow limits for 17 year olds. Two of those bite in production work: driving to and between shoot locations, and operating certain power-driven equipment. State child labor law often sets stricter hour limits and may require a work permit, and where federal and state rules differ the stricter one applies. Plan transportation and gear handling around that before the first shoot day.
What should I ask a multimedia intern candidate to submit?
Ask for a reel or portfolio link with a specific piece count and one line per piece explaining what they personally did. That single requirement filters harder than any interview question, because collaborative student work makes credit ambiguous and asking for the attribution up front surfaces it early. Add a short paid or clearly scoped exercise where it is fair to do so: cut a ninety second piece from footage you provide, or retouch five images to a style guide. Look at file naming, export settings, and whether the brief was followed, not just the aesthetics, because following a spec is most of the actual job. Then check availability against your real shoot days before you make an offer, since a schedule conflict with a class is the most common reason a good multimedia internship falls apart in week three.
How do I onboard a multimedia intern without an HR department?
Run it as a fixed checklist and finish it before the first shoot, not during it. The sequence is short: signed offer letter with the hourly rate and the end date, intern agreement covering ownership and portfolio use, tax and eligibility paperwork, payroll setup, gear checkout signed against a list, accounts and storage access granted with the naming convention explained, appearance release forms handed over, and a written statement that licensed music, fonts, and stock come from company accounts only. Add the offboarding steps to the same checklist on day one: drives returned, accounts closed, files handed over on the last day. FirstHR runs that sequence with an onboarding wizard, e-signature for the agreement, and document storage tied to each employee profile. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
