Last July, when Julian showed up for an interview as a summer intern, he wasn‘t looking for long-term commitment. He‘d just graduated from high school in Westfield, New Jersey, and had a gap year to fill before Brandeis University in the fall of 2011. Explaining that he was interested in exploring the “always glamorous” world of documentaries (his term), he did not reveal one crucial biographical detail -- that his real passion lay far elsewhere, performing and writing for theater and the musical stage. In fact, he‘d already sung at Carnegie Hall (without a chair) and his original work had been produced for the stage. In three states. Deep in Julian‘s heart, documentaries seemed worth about 8 weeks of his time.

So he started in the fall with all the normal intern stuff -- proofreading, errands, transcription, working with translators and six thousand trips to the Post Office. As his responsibilities increased, a funny thing happened -- Julian relaxed, and gradually became indispensable to the company, just as aspects of the documentary world became more amusing to him. At the end of his eight weeks, we invited him to stay on as a Production Assistant. That triggered a hugely productive sprint that drew on his other real passion, social networking and the web. By the end of his tenure, Julian had singlehandedly imprinted the company and How Democracy Works Now on IMDb and Wikipedia, and offered a ton of future advice for Facebook and Twitter as well.

Six months after his 8 weeks began, we can understand that it‘s time for Julian to go. A summer of European travel beckons. But we‘re happy his influence will remain very present around here for a long time to come. Best of luck in all you do next, Julian, and buon viaggio!