This four-part series spotlights four Syracuse University students during their summer internships — part 1 of 4.

Imagine answering the phone and being offered an internship you didn’t even apply for. Now imagine answering a different phone call during that internship and Bruce Willis is on the other line.

Those are just a couple of moments — albeit two unusual ones — in the life of George Edinger.

Edinger, a senior television, radio and film and writing and rhetorical studies double major, is a summer intern at Di Bonaventura Pictures based in Los Angeles — a long trip for someone from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. The production company is responsible for movies like the “Transformers” trilogy and the “Red” films, the latter starring one of Hollywood’s biggest names: Bruce Willis.

It’s no secret Di Bonaventura has a relationship with the A-list actor, Edinger said, so he isn’t “breaking any trade secrets” when he tells people about his star-studded encounter.

As an intern with typical low-level responsibilities, including opening the office and cleaning dishes, one of his jobs is to answer the phone. Another employee should have fielded this particular call, but that afternoon Edinger was asked to cover the line.

“So I get this call, and I hear, ‘Hey, this is Bruce,” Edinger said. “’Uh yeah, Bruce Willis,’ he finished.”

Interns are trained to collect the caller’s details, get the correct name spelling and any other “pertinent” information to their bosses. So instinct kicked in, and Edinger handled the call like any other.

“At first I didn’t hear him say his last name, and I’m thinking, ‘Bruce who? Why do you think I know you?’” Edinger confessed. “So I said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s Bruce…?’ And so he repeats his name, and just as I’m about to ask him to spell it, I finally realize, oh, it’s the Bruce Willis, Bruce Willis.”

Edinger asked him to hold as he transferred the call, narrowly avoiding the embarrassment of having to ask one of the most well-known actors in the world to spell his name.

He admits that not every day is as exciting as this awkward brush with fame, but working at Di Bonaventura is worth it nonetheless.

Edinger never planned on working there. In fact, he never applied for the position. That’s not to say he didn’t try for others — more than 20 applications — but didn’t hear back from most.

Somehow, Edinger’s resume found its way to his current office through an unrelated agent. Two interviews later, he was offered the job.

“The person interviewing me actually said, ‘I’m worried that you’re too experienced for this,’” Edinger said. “I literally had never had that happen. But I’m thinking, ‘No, no, no, no, I’m unemployed right now, so I am therefore not too experienced.’”

Friends of Edinger say that things like this don’t just fall into his lap. He works hard for his accomplishments.

Scott Rosenthal, one of Edinger’s roommates while at Syracuse University, worked at the desk across from him in their dorm room and watched as he balanced the workload of two majors.

“When George really gets into something, like his TRF and screenwriting work, he gives it all he’s got and does a terrific job,” Rosenthal said.

Edinger says his current efforts are to prove that he can accomplish what he wants to. So when assigned a task, like reading a script or researching a movie idea, he works as thoroughly as possible.

Not too long ago, Edinger’s supervisor asked him to scour the Internet and find inspiration for a new movie based on the realistic dangers and horrors of technology. Tasks like these are his favorite, he said, because he gets “to explore some really bizarre stuff.”

He eventually came across a story of a woman whose life was being sabotaged by former CIA agents and a man with an irrational personal vendetta. He said this task was easy to work hard on because the topic was interesting.

“It sounded like it was something right out of the movies,” Edinger said.

Edinger isn’t sure if the idea will end up being used or not and can’t divulge much more detail, but to have an influence on movie ideas and scripts is exactly where he wants to be right now, and it’s worth the work, he said.

Aspiring to write his own scripts, Edinger initially became interested in screenwriting because he felt it was a form of writing that might actually pay. He recognized a need for writers in the entertainment industry and started creating his own work.

He had always been a writer, but considered screenwriting to be of a lesser quality than writing a novel or a short story. But after writing a few of his own TV pilots and some short films, Edinger grew to appreciate the art.

“People have a tendency to assume that anybody can write and they think that if you decided to be a writer, it’s because you weren’t very good at other things,” Edinger said. “They don’t take into account that it takes a special mind and person to really lay the words on the page the way that great writers do.”

And though he doesn’t get to talk with Bruce Willis every day, he does get to interact with respected Hollywood producers, directors and most importantly, writers.

“I really get to geek out, because as a writer I recognize them and know their credits,” he said. “For me, that’s cooler than the actors, because these are people who have actually succeeded in what I’m trying desperately to do myself.”

Published on July 19, 2013 at 2:47 am

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino