“In the Next Day or Two…”
As my unemployment comes to a temporary respite, I was thinking about a phrase I’ve heard a lot lately: Expect a call in the next day or two. Usually, it’s a friend of mine who calls to tell me about a job opening. He (or she) gives me the preliminary info and tells me that […]
A New Way to Network
Walking around the lot today, I ran into a UPM I worked for last year. During that show, she had recommended I read a book that was very important to her life. (She also claimed it was the second most read book in the world, but that isn’t actually true.) Anyway, I had read the […]
Turning Down Work
On my last show, I was bumped up to Production Secretary during wrap. The bump was largely nominal (although I did also receive a raise), since I was performing essentially the same duties I had already been performing. As we were winding down, I was told, “TAPA, you shouldn’t have to PA again. After this, […]
Reader Advice
Some of my oldish posts have been getting comments, recently. Not really sure why this is happening now, but they do bring up interesting points. Sarah replied to my post “No, You Don’t Need to Go to Film School”: You don’t need to go to any school, but film school is one of the few […]
Louisiana
I saw the best minds of my generation… take their shows to Louisiana. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but more and more, it seems like every show is filming in The Pelican State. As we speak, roughly thirty shows are in Louisiana. THIRTY! That includes Cataclysm, Ender’s Game, Django Unchained, and the Untitled Diablo […]
First Day Jitters
I’ve spent my fair share of time in production offices. From sea to shining sea. Well… from Brentwood to Burbank. And in all of those offices, I’ve experienced the same emotion on my first day: Nervousness. There’s no good reason for me to be anxious. Relatively little is expected of a PA on their first […]
Flat Rate
Jillian writes: I recently went on an interview for a production assistant position. I had been responding to an ad that had very little useful information on it, besides the shoot dates. During the interview, I asked what the production was and the rate. They told me they could not reveal any information about the […]
The Tyranny of Chronology
I agree that a film should have a beginning, a middle and an end but not necessarily in that order. Yes, I just quoted a French New Wave director. Excuse me a second while I punch myself in the face. I’ve been seeing a lot of resumes lately for my cover letter and resume rewriting […]
Computer Advice
You spend a lot of time at your computer, right? Here’s the thing– people who weren’t raised with computers (i.e. anyone over the age of 30) don’t see sitting at a computer as work. They think you’re goofing off, playing on Facebook or something. Here’s what you need to do, instead– do. not. sit. at. […]
Revisions, Or: When Five Figures Isn’t Enough To Do It Right the First Time
Paul writes: When the hell are the pages going to come?!! A very valid question. The answer is, as always, they’ll get here when they get here. If you’ve never been the late shift PA, it’s hard to appreciate the agony of waiting for scripts to come out. This may come as a shock to […]
Interview Advice
Since I’m looking for a new job right now, a former boss gave me some advice about interviewing: “Don’t want the job too badly.” People don’t like to see desperation. They want to see calm and confident. Someone who’s desperate for a job will say anything to get it; it’s impossible to judge if they’ll actually […]
Taxes
I’m preparing my taxes right now. (Side note: I hate math.) I don’t actually “prepare” my taxes. An accountant does that. I simply go through a year’s worth of Starbucks and Jack in the Box receipts and try to figure out what I can claim as a write-off. Gas. Do I get to write off […]