From Coast to Coast: The NBCUniversal Page Program

Published on March 22, 2023, at 4:41 p.m.
by Emilia Ciezadlo.

With its official launch in 1933, the NBCUniversal Page Program is a 12-to-15-month rotational program for postgraduate students interested in the media industry. Participants of the program are nicknamed “pages.” This program allows its pages to gain hands-on experience in various aspects of the industry within the company. Pages explore different areas of NBCUniversal in their assignments that include on-air promotions, production, social media and content distribution. Regis Philbin, Aubrey Plaza and Michael Eisner account for a few of the program’s many successful alumni.

The NBCUniversal pages are hosted in two locations: the East Coast in New York City and the West Coast in Universal City, California. Pages are assigned different responsibilities and rotations in their respective locations. The East Coast cohort provides rotations in news, late-night shows and sports, while the West Coast focuses on film and television.

“The Tonight Show,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “Saturday Night Live” are just a few shows that East Coast pages have the opportunity to work for. Current East Coast Page Lau’Rent Honeycutt described his position as an “intermediary point between being a permanent coordinator on the team and an intern.” From working at 30 Rock in Midtown Manhattan to seating audience members on late-night shows, East Coast pages are exposed to many different lenses of the entertainment industry through their rotations.

“I was just in a rotation in ad sales where I was working with a group that’s all about bringing in small and medium-sized businesses,” said Honeycutt. “Now I’m in Peacock doing film marketing. So, given that variety of just seeing what it means and how everything ties together has shown me that I want to continue to do content development.”

Because there are so many different rotations in the program, Honeycutt recommended pages be extremely flexible when joining a new department. Pages come from many different backgrounds; some are even finance or accounting majors. Honeycutt explained that each page brings a unique perspective to the company and is essential to the team.

Recent graduate from the NBCUniversal Page Program Fabiola Go-maro also gained valuable experience on the East Coast working in publicity, corporate communications and ad sales, she said. Rotations in these departments allow pages to acquire valuable knowledge related to PR and how the media industry operates.

“Getting those experiences, though valuable, [gives] me the confidence in the knowledge I’ve gained, but also knowing that I have transferable skills that are applicable to the direction that I want to go,” said Go-maro.

NBCUniversal provides West Coast pages with an abundance of film, television and media experience in their rotations. Nicole Cardenas, a current page on the West Coast, has been able to immerse herself in multiple departments, such as movie marketing teams with Universal Pictures. On a day-to-day basis, Cardenas supports executives in the company by taking on new projects, scheduling meetings or being in charge of their emails, she said.

With a degree in public relations, Cardenas has been able to apply her academic knowledge to the different teams she works with. Rotations in publicity or film marketing are especially applicable to pages with a PR background. However, Cardenas explained that the extensive PR knowledge she gained from college could “apply to any department here in the page program.”

The NBCUniversal Page Program does not require a specific major for acceptance into the program. However, pages are able to gain exposure to areas in the company that include public relations, marketing, business development and ad sales tactics.

Pages also “strengthen business communication skills by learning how NBCUniversal’s portfolio of brands speak to their audience.” Aspiring PR practitioners are already familiar with how an organization can communicate with its publics, so gaining this exposure internally with a company is valuable. To obtain this certain exposure, the program will assign pages to marketing, social media, public relations or on-air promotions teams.

Nevertheless, it is important to understand that the NBCUniversal Page Program encourages applicants to be extremely open-minded. The company focuses heavily on media and entertainment, so it is vital that pages already have a passion for the industry. In fact, Honeycutt even encourages those who have no prior experience to apply for the program.

Honeycutt, Go-maro and Cardenas all emphasized that this program is an opportunity to explore one’s interests and evaluate what career path fits best. They also mentioned that being set on one career path before the program may cause disappointment due to its rotational aspect.

Recent PR graduates are able to provide an important viewpoint in each page rotation. Already having experience with maintaining positive relationships with publics may help with certain rotations in the program.

The hands-on experience one can gain from being in the NBCUniversal Page Program is invaluable. Honeycutt, Go-maro and Cardenas all agree that pages learn not only a lot about the company, but also themselves and their aspirations.

To apply for the program’s next cohort, visit NBCUniversal Careers and follow its Instagram to keep an eye on any new updates.