I was planning on writing a different post today, until I received a comment on Tuesday’s post from “PA.”
I really liked this blog until your lecturing rant about the use of the word L.A. I can’t figure out if it’s just you trying to prove how smart you are or something else. People say L.A. everyday here, so really who cares but you. Let’s start up a posse of PA’S and rundown anyone who refers to our city as L.A. Give me a break elitist prick.
I tried to reply to PA directly, but the email s/he supplied didn’t work. So, I’m writing a whole post about it.
I’ll be perfectly honest, I don’t get a lot of comments in this vein, and it kinda hurt my feelings.
I have some peculiar hobby horses, and the L.A./Los Angeles thing is one of the odder ones. Of course, I was also exaggerating my passion on the subject for the sake of comedic effect. Call me pedantic if you must (’cause it’s true), but “elitist prick”? That’s pretty harsh.
And this is a limitation with the written word, I think. How many times have you made a joke or a sarcastic comment in an email, and it was taken the wrong way?
15 Responses
By your logic, you should be insulted when people call you a PA (as opposed to a production assistant).
Look, the reason I wrote that had nothing to do with “L.A.”. The reason I wrote what I did, is because someone wrote you a question and you responded to them by lecturing and speaking down to them about something that had nothing to do with the original question. You have good knowledge of the industry and someone came to you looking for that knowledge, there’s no such thing as a dumb question. I didn’t put my email down because just as your anonymous, I will be too.
as a stagehand I’m happy I can kick your ass anytime of the day, I’d love to hear more sneers from a PA. I mean you actually went to school for this shit? I’m a natural, i failed everywhere else
LOL! You keep working “ASS” into each one of your comments! Just when I think it can’t get any funnier, it totally does! *Gasp* — it’s even in your name!
Now THAT’S comedy that translates well via the ‘written word’.
Thanks for proving my point ThomASS Jefferson. The benefit of judging somebody based on anything other than what they can prove by example is pointless, useless and reeks of insecurity. Sadly the business is full of these idiots that don’t have better things to do with their time than stand behind a production truck picking their ass while swapping pointless insults with fellow naive crew members.
You don’t know where these girls/guys come from, why they’ve suddenly found themselves starting off as a PA. Enjoy cracking jokes over at crafty while you watch these work horses who understand what a good work ethic is and the importance of being in the right spot at the right time do their thing…and are suddenly ordering you around as a 2nd ad.
35 year old PA’s ARE sad.
Being a PA is a take off point, if you are 35 and still trying to “take off”, It’s time to walk away from that airplane.
I knew guys that started as a PA at 35+ years, they had problems of all sorts. Not fast enough, questioning the reason behind certain things, etc. They never lasted long. And rarely, if ever, brought “life experience” to the set. Because anyone knows, that working on a set usually has very little to do with prior life experience.
PAing is a young sport.
And if you haven’t figured out what you want to do in the industry by the time you are 35 forget it, you never will.
The tenure of a PA should only last, at most, 5 years, you go longer than that you risk one of two things 1) production people look at as a “good PA”. that is death. 2) they think that there is something wrong with you. The film biz is very very competitive and if haven’t moved beyond PA status, it gives off the impression to everyone around you that you don’t have what it takes to move up the food chain.
An argument can be made for, “maybe he just likes being a PA”, fine, then that person must really enjoy being a doormat. One can be the best PA in the world, but in the long run there will be someone that doesn’t care and still treat you like shit and as a PA you have to take it. Weeee!!!
As for as your L.A./ Los Angeles joke, it suffered from what I call, internet lag delivery. It came off bad because it’s impossible to do inflection and nuance on the net properly. And if you do, it’s usually very wordy and the point is muddied.
Cheers!
Us poncey East Coasters would appreciate it if you refrained from saying, or typing “Elitist Prick”. We shorten it to EP, which is pronounced Ehp, not Eee Pee. (While you may think that’s to avoid confusion with Entertainment Partners, the truth is that we just abhor and avoid using sylables.
However, we don’t shorten Los Angeles to L.A. for the sake of brevity; we just do that because we’re Ehps. In truth, I’m not all that elitist, but I am a dick.
[/snark aimed at the offended party]
I wonder why “PA” was so offended by the L.A. vs Los Angeles thing. Offended enough to write an offensive comment back.
But I remember I jumped at a situation you wrote about once, so I guess it is easy to step on toes you had no idea excited. I hope I wasn’t that offensive back then, because I think it is okay do disagree.
I didn’t comment on the previous post, but the L.A./Los Angeles thing didn’t really come off as funny to me, just oddly dickish. I guess I wasn’t the only one to think so.
That comment was way over-the-top angry, but I see their point.
I’ll admit, either your sarcasm doesn’t translate very well via the ‘written word’ or you do possess this unjustified ‘industry arrogance’ I’ve encountered over the years many a time all along this ladder we’re climbing.
I’m not sure you’re aware of it, but you do often come off as ‘better than thou’ with your comments and I don’t understand how they are validated…ever. The most successful industry people I’ve met, and I’ve had the pleasure to meet many, are the most humble, giving, considerate people I’ve met in this industry. They have nothing to prove and it shows. The assholes that are to busy wearing their sunglasses indoors, mocking the craft service guy or don’t know how to join in on a team effort always confuse me. Do they not know or understand that these people working their asses off usually have no where to go but up? And like anybody would, they are keeping a list of who they will or will NOT hire when it comes their time to make the decisions.
I stopped reading your blog a while back due to one of your ‘jokes’ towards someone in production that was in poor taste and smelled of insecurity. And I again, will repeat myself and regret coming back to this blog after your joke about 35 year old PA’s are a sad sight. A 35 year old PA probably has years of life experience you could learn from…why take a dig at him. Does it really make you feel better?
Rude is crude. Funny is money.
Thanks for the love you’ve shown in the past with your helpful info but don’t pat yourself on the back to much. Some one is bound to be watching and just as quickly cross you off their rehire list. Then you’ll REALLY have a reason to call yourself the ‘anonymouseASSistant’.