Am I Really Hired?
Kacy writes: I was hired as a PA on a new show for a big company. They weren’t sure when production would be starting and said they would email me once they had more information. They thought production would start sometime around mid-August. It’s mid-August and I haven’t received anything yet. I have emailed and […]
One Big Happy Family
When you work in a production office, you spend long hours with the same people for months. You get to know each other. You learn their favorite and least favorite foods. You talk about dating and relationships and your families and your sports teams. And when it ends, you get that feeling you got when […]
Always Bring Candles
Production offices celebrate more birthday parties than Chuck E. Cheese. And they’re usually spontaneous. Someone notices on Facebook that the creepy girl from accounting is celebrating a birthday. Quick! Send a P.A. to CVS to buy a funny, unoffensive card. Quick! Send another P.A. to get a cake (cost of cake correlates to position in […]
No Crying in Baseball
You’ve got problems. Your girlfriend dumped you. Your little sister ran away from home. Your parents got a divorce. A family member died. You sliced your finger open. The kitchen ran out of your favorite kind of yogurt. But you know what? Keep that to yourself, nobody cares. (Or whine about it on your stupid […]
Send Button Anxiety
“Hey, TAPA, can you send out tomorrow’s call sheet? The email is already saved in the ‘Drafts’ folder.” That’s how it starts. Pretty soon, you’re drafting the email yourself. After that, the 2nd AD is emailing them to you directly instead of to the secretary (or APOC, in some cases). After you’ve drafted the email […]
It’s Always About the Food
On my new show, I’m responsible for [glossary slug=’craft-service’]crafty[/glossary] in the morning, lunch midday, and coffee in the afternoon. If it’s a late night, I’ve got to cover dinner, as well. It sounds menial and tedious, largely because it is. But that doesn’t make it unimportant. As one coordinator told me (many times), “It’s always about […]
“Just” a PA
When you tell people what you do for a living, there’s a tendency to undersell yourself. You say you’re “just” a PA. Stop doing that. You’re a PA, plain and simple. (Or you can be like everyone else in L.A. and say you’re a producer.)
Whom I Refer
Unemployment 2012 will come to an end on Monday. I finally got a job. In the last few days, I’ve been offered four other jobs. Naturally, I had to pass on all of them, which begs the question… WHERE THE HELL WERE THOSE JOBS WHEN I NEEDED THEM?! The universe works in funny ways. Since I […]
Don’t Be An Asshole
Everyone is going nuts right now because NBC fired Dan Harmon from his show, COMMUNITY. I’m not allowed to voice my opinion in real life, because friends of mine work on that show and because I’m friends-in-law with Dan. So I’m going to blog about it instead. If you’re an asshole who insists on wallowing […]
Can I Take My Computer In There With Me?
Sometimes, a PA task requires you to go into another room and work all by yourself. Prepping wrap gifts and proofreading the script and making ID badges have all sent me to production office exile. I could not – in a million years – dream of asking, “Can I take my computer in there with […]
Origin Story
One of the most common questions I get, especially one someone emails me to use my resume editing service,{{1}} “How do I find my first job, if I have no experience?” The short answer is, as always, work for free (or, preferably, intern before you graduate from college), until you have enough experience to get […]
Female Dress Code
RL asks: What do female set PA’s normally wear on the job? Do I need to get a fanny pack? Cargo pants? Or are jeans ok? Ashley and VancouverPA have already chimed in, but since it’s my pseudonym on the blog, I figured I should answer the question, too. You’re right to ask what a female PA should […]