The Anonymous Production Assistant

Debating Actors

There’s an old TAPA post about wrangling extras that still gets comments from time to time, because it has some unflattering things to say about background actors. Extras are basically untalented actors… They tend to not listen to instruction, dawdle, or just plain wander off. If you’ve ever been a camp counselor or grade school […]

So You Want to Become a Suit

Jessica asks: First of all, thank you so much for all that you do. I am incredibly grateful for everything your blog and all of the information you provide. You are awesome. I have lived in LA for 5 years now—began as a barista who knew no one until I finally got a Costume PA […]

Being an Actor Is Really Hard

Gina writes in: Hey there ! I hope you’re having a great Memorial Day weekend. I stumbled across your blog today while job searching. I am an actress trying to get started out in LA and working my booty off to pay my rent. I just hate how my everyday job isn’t helping me work […]

How To Make an Appointment When You Don’t Know Your Schedule

wonderingeyeoftheeverydaytraveler commented on Friday’s post: Unless you’ve all found weekend hours ( do you even get weekends in the biz?) for this kind of thing, what about sick time for important stuff like doctor/dentist appointments? On most shows, you won’t know what your schedule is next week, much less next month or six months from […]

Calling in Sick

Joey writes in: A few days ago, I was referred to day play on a TV series by someone I had PA’d for once before, which I was really excited about. That morning, I woke up with the worse flu I’ve ever head. We’re talking vomiting, sweating, all the gross stuff. I know this is […]

The Final Stretch

The good people at Bebee lights have decided to sponsor Crew Call at the studio level. That puts us at slightly over halfway to our goal! If you live in Los Angeles, you’ve seen Night Lights by Bebee, even if you didn’t know what they were called. They’re the massive lights mounted on trucks, used […]

The Final Stretch

The good people at Bebee lights have decided to sponsor Crew Call at the studio level. That puts us at slightly over halfway to our goal! If you live in Los Angeles, you’ve seen Night Lights by Bebee, even if you didn’t know what they were called. They’re the massive lights mounted on trucks, used […]

Your Money Or Your Life

About a month ago, I received an email with the subject line, “Working on a low-budget feature…” I immediately thought, Uh-oh, because nobody ever writes me to say, “I’m working on this indie film, but despite its low budget, everyone is totally professional and completely reasonable about their expectations for the movie.” So, what’s the […]

Production Assistants Doing Union Work

Last week to support Crew Call! Contribute today. A reader, who I’ll call Ivan, wrote in about a tricky situation. I’m going to modify some of the details, to keep Ivan’s identity a secret, but the gist is the same– I’ve been hired as a set dec{{1}} PA on a big feature. I have been […]

What’s Important in Your Resume

Marcel writes in: In the area I live a lot of potential film work has recently popped up the local film registry. With that I am reformatting my resume to make it more appealing. I have done a significant amount of videography student projects that mostly involve athletics or seminars along with some work in […]