About AnnaLiese
By AnnaLiese Burich ‘17
Hi! My name is AnnaLiese. My legal name is Anna and my middle name is Liese, but I’ve always smashed the two names together to be the uniquely-capitalized name that I have. I’m a junior here at USC, and I like food, TV, and sometimes people. Okay, kidding about the people part—I am lucky enough to have some pretty great ones in my life. Just so you can picture me while I’m talking to you, I’m the one in the patriotic striped shirt. Go America!
I came into USC as a former high school theater kid from the Silicon Valley who knew she wasn’t going to continue with theater, but had no clue what she was going to replace it with. Luckily, I made some choices and some friends that have allowed me to have an incredibly USC experience, albeit a different experience from the typical Trojan.
My major is Narrative Studies, a catchall combination of narratives across all forms of media (and all schools at USC). I get to take film classes in the School of Cinematic Arts, humanities classes in Dornsife, theater classes in the School of Dramatic Arts, and music classes in Thornton. I’ve always known I love anything related to the arts and writing, so this major was a perfect choice for the girl who needed narrow down her options regarding her career.
Since freshman year, I have indeed narrowed my options via my minors: cinematic arts and screenwriting. As you can guess, I chose to focus on film; more specifically, television. I had an internship in TV development this summer and fell in love. In my free time, I’ve always watched TV obsessively—as in, 7 am to 7 pm straight obsessively (so sue me)—so it’s surreal to me that I can be a part of creating the content I’ve spent so many hours watching. I would love to either write for or develop television after college, and I’m willing to do whatever jobs I need to get me there. Getting coffee and running errands are probably in my future, but I am so happy to do it if it means I am involved in the production of television in any way. And I am so lucky that I get to jumpstart my career at the best film school at the country; USC literally opens doors for you, kids, and never forget that.
But I digress. As I was saying, I came into USC knowing I loved the arts but not much else. But, as a freshman, I made a random choice that ended up shaping my USC experience (and future career): I walked into Trojan Vision, USC’s very own student-run live television station that produces hundreds of hours of original live content per semester. Not many people know about it, but we are one of the best student television stations in the country.
I worked my way up the command chain there until I became the Executive Producer/Showrunner of CU@USC, a five-day a week, thirty-minute interview show that delves deep into the minds and lives of all sorts of interesting people throughout LA. In my reign, we had the likes of Mark Mahoney (a renowned tattoo artist of the Shamrock Social Club), Alison Levine (a mountaineer who has climbed the 7 highest peaks of the world), and—my personal favorite—Tracey Wigfield, writer for The Mindy Project, 30 Rock, and more. So it’s safe to say that I spent every night of my sophomore year with wonderful people—both the guests who came on my show and the student producers I got to work with. This year, I’m the new head of Programming and Development, which means that I get to work with students who are interested in creating their own television shows. If you’re interested, feel free to reach out to me at my work email listed below! You can check out anything related to Trojan Vision at www.trojanvision.usc.edu. I’ve included some behind-the-scenes pictures to whet your appetite (including one of me being interviewed on my last night!).
As for my hobbies? I love Disneyland and I love to eat. And I really love to eat at Disneyland. My best friend and I have made it our official mission to explore all of the best eats in Los Angeles. We (half-jokingly) are going to make a website rating all of the most relevant restaurants categorized for your perusing pleasure, so stay tuned for that in the (probably distant) future. But website or not, we do go out to eat whenever we get a chance, and we take our exploring very seriously. Here is a picture of my best friend taking field notes on the infamous LA juice trend.
We have very serious opinions; a huge part of what going USC is that we are in the heart of LA—and LA is quickly becoming one of the food capitals of America. Thus, it is is an important part of our education that we properly research, document, and eat good food. At least, this is what we tell ourselves so we don’t feel bad about spending so much money on food. It’s all for the research! This is me in “research” mode…
And, as I said, I love Disneyland. I got an annual pass for Christmas, so you can bet your bottom dollar I’ve been going whenever humanly possible. Sometimes I go by myself, sit at a nice bench in front of the castle, and do my homework. No shame. It is important to note, however, that I’m not obsessed with Disney—only Disneyland. It makes me think of my childhood visits and what it feels like to be a kid. I think this picture describes how I feel at Disneyland; why wouldn’t I feel like that as much as I can?!
Something else you should know about me is that I love to read—yes, I am one of those nerds who reads in her free time. Therefore, I like to think that I have good observational skills—I love to look at and muse on the world around me.
So, in this blog, I will probably write about a few different things: Trojan Vision, food, and little observations about USC. My friends all have unique hobbies, so I get to do unique things around campus that you may not have heard about. But don’t worry, I’ll fill you in on what you are missing (and how you can join the fun!). Going to USC is the best decision I have ever made; I’m seriously considering grad school here just so I can stay a little bit longer.
Stay tuned, folks! (Get it? Because TV?)
Instagram: annalieseburich
Facebook: annaliese.burich
LinkedIn: annalieseburich
Trojan Vision Email: burich@trojanvision.com
