Motherhood in the Industry – Part III: Working after Childbirth
This is the last of a three-part series, written by a guest TAPA who has some actual life experience that I don’t. I would advise you to be physically strong to help get you through childbirth. Childbirth is a very crazy thing. Truly, you are just happy to get through it alive and with a […]
Motherhood in the Industry – Part II: Pregnant and Working
This is the second in a three-part series, written by a guest TAPA who has some actual life experience that I don’t. If you plan to work through your pregnancy, my “let’s get real” advice is this: do not announce your intention to start a family and if you become pregnant, hide it as long […]
Motherhood in the Industry – Part I
This is the first in a three-part series, written by a guest TAPA who has some actual life experience that I don’t. I am a twenty-something married woman who is a new mom with a three-month-old. I live in SoCal and am currently “living the dream,” AKA somehow managing to make it month-to-month while I […]
Managing Your Time
Ashley writes in: I’ll be moving to LA in the next few months to chase my dream of becoming a screenwriter. I’m also interested in production, though, and have thought about working on set starting as a PA. I’ve read that as a PA there’s usually little to no time outside of work, and I […]
Can They NOT Hire Me?
A soldier who wishes to remain anonymous writes in: I am a soldier of the US Army Reserve. I am obligated to give one weekend per month and two weeks a year to the Army. I am also an experienced set production assistant. I’ve never had this issue before, so I thought I’d ask you. […]
How Many Languages Do YOU Speak?
I had a coordinator once who was Vietnamese. She’s been in America for a couple of decades, so she didn’t have much of an accent, but she still occasionally got colloquialisms wrong. For instance, she would say, “Do you grab my drift?”{{1}} I understood what she was saying, obviously, but it still bumps you for […]
What to Do About Sexual Harassment
A reader who would like to remain anonymous writes in– Actually, you know what? To preserve this reader’s anonymity, I’m not going to copy-and-paste the email, like I normally would. There’s too great a chance of somebody figuring it out. Everyone with more than a couple years’ under their belt has experienced some sexual harassment.{{1}} […]
Willing to Relocate
Sorry, you have to be here when the job opens up.
Women in Horror Month
Welp, the Oscars are over (not that I had many opinions on that). More importantly, the film I was on is over, so I don’t have any good set stories to talk about. Having some time on my hands, I decided to read up on Women in Horror Month. If you’re not a fan of […]
The TAPArty Is Back!
And better than ever! Sorry it’s been a wee while. I’ve been on a shoot out of state, with no real way to make arrangements. But now I’m back, and it’s on. Mark your calendars: Sunday, March 8, at 2:00pm, TAPA and her readers are descending on Story Tavern in Burbank. Because we got into […]
Set Life Versus Office Life
Brianna writes in: My life goal is AD. I was just told by a PA as green as I am that I should take a job as an office PA because I didn’t go to film school and the office is a great classroom and that everyone should do it once. I know that being […]
The Gravity Lawsuit and Adaptation
Do you listen to Scriptnotes? You should; it’s awesome. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a podcast about screenwriting, and things that are interesting to screenwriters. This week’s episode explains “The Deal with the Gravity Lawsuit.” It’s extremely illuminating, and if you’re new to the business, I highly recommend listening to it. There’s […]