By Joya Strubing
Katelyn Mihalko, a third-year student majoring in both Film & Media Studies and Sociology at UC Santa Barbara makes managing time on set, two jobs, homework, and internships look easy. But her hard work has not gone unnoticed—in February, she took home the title of “Intern of the Year” at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Additionally, Mihalko has worked on a handful of films while here at UCSB, including the film Worm, which went on to win three awards at the student-run Reel Loud Film Festival in 2024.
So how does Mihalko do it? She says a passion for the arts is her motivation.
In doing the Santa Barbara film festival internship, she found herself in the presence of some big names, including director Quintin Tarantino, and actors–Cillian Murphy, Sebastian Stan, and Timothee Chalamet, to name a few. “It’s interesting,” she reflected. “I’m in school, and then all of a sudden, I’m standing next to Sandra Oh.”
Growing up in Los Altos, California, in an artistic family, Mihalko developed a love for film and TV at a young age. Watching Star Wars and Spy-Kids on long car rides, and going to the movies were crucial for her development. “My parents would beg me to ‘please go outside,’” she remembers.
UCSB Film & Media Studies major Katelyn Mihalko was named “Intern of the Year” at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival.
It wasn’t until her junior year of high school—during the COVID-19 pandemic—that Mihalko realized she wanted to pursue film as a career. Before that, she gravitated toward visual projects in class. With her parents' support, she chose to attend UCSB, and meeting academic advisor Joe Paladino during freshman orientation, she says, “solidified my decision to come here.”
Mihalko leads a busy life. She's on campus by 9 a.m., bouncing between classes and the UCSB Soundstage until 4 p.m., where she’s responsible for renting equipment, cataloguing, and making sure the soundstage is working for classes. “I'm a huge class goer,” she says. “You're paying tuition for a reason.” Her go-to lunch? A salami and cream cheese sandwich with an orange. “It’s such a first-grade thing of me to do,” she laughed. “But it’s quick to make in the morning—and I’m chronically late.”
During the evening, Mihalko works shifts at the Carsey–Wolf Center on campus, where she helps run events —selling tickets, ushering, working the recording booth, and operating the camera used to record the post-screening Q &A panels with film industry professionals.
Though she specializes in the camera department, Mihalko also works in design, creating graphics, posters, managing social media, and campaigning—as well as post-production editing. She has contributed to several films on campus. Her freshman year, she worked as a Production Assistant on Karmic Konfusion, a student-produced film done through the Film 106 production class.
In her second year, she worked on two films: Obscura and Worm, also through the production class. Obscura is a short film that follows two queer individuals who discover a surreal camera obscura. It’s an experimental horror film with themes of identity and emotional healing. Worm, a silent film, is about a puppet worm's journey home, using a playful humor to highlight the ecological role of worms as nutrient recyclers. Worm went on to win Best Writing, Best Editing, and Audience Choice at the 2024 Reel Loud silent film festival at UCSB.
This past summer, she worked on the independent film Haggler, directed by Sophie Najm, as First Assistant Camera, managing focus pulling and color editing. She expressed deep pride in the project, noting that working independently with a small cast and crew allowed her creativity to flourish. Most recently, Mihalko was the cinematographer on No Contact, another Film 106 project that wrapped in January and premiered in March.
Mihalko points out a common misconception about the Film and Media Studies (FAMST) department at UCSB among potential students who are choosing which film school to go to: that the major is production-focused. On the contrary, UCSB is known for film theory and research, and students find ways to augment their studies with practical filmmaking opportunities–mostly extracurricular. “It’s so important to understand film theory,” she says. “I’m so much more informed…You really have to take the time to know your sh*t, getting deeper and truly understanding why something is considered cinematic.”
An expert at managing time on set, two jobs, homework, and a vibrant social life, Film studen Katelyn Mihalko embodies what it means to be driven by passion in the arts.
This was Mihalko’s second year interning in the public-relations office at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, where she was awarded Intern of the Year. The festival had 15 interns in 2024, and just 10 this year. Day shifts included giving out press passes, answering questions, prepping for red carpet events, signing documents, and welcoming artists. Night shifts focus on red carpet coordination—signing in press and photographers and escorting guests, some of whom are very high profile.
Mihalko speaks with genuine gratitude for the experience. Not only do festival interns receive free screening passes, but they also form close bonds with one another and gain irreplaceable industry experience. “If you have the resources to take two weeks off, do it. There’s no way to learn this kind of thing in school,” she advises fellow students. “The recognition was cool—but I’d still do it without it.”
Mihalko says she's able to maintain her balance because she's always been self-driven. Her motivation comes from “an organic sense of love,” she explains. And she has developed strategies for productivity: To-do lists, finishing assignments by Thursday night, a strong support system, daily movement, and remembering that “nobody’s life is on the line.”
“Make time to do nothing,” she advises other ambitious students. “Take a step back. Remember that you are a student. This isn’t life or death. And a shoutout to Google Calendar.”
Just in case you were wondering, Mihalko’s favorite four films are:
Paris, Texas (1984), Lingua Franca (2019), Days of Being Wild (1990), and Spartacus (1960)
Joya Strubing is a third-year Communication major and LGBTQ+ studies minor at UC Santa Barbara. She wrote this piece for her Digital Journalism course.