The Anonymous Production Assistant

How Prevalent is Sexual Harassment in Hollywood?

Reader Jess wrote in response to this blog post on sexual harassment: Obviously each department is its own animal, but having worked the majority of my life on skeleton crew indies (with the exception of one major TV show when I was in school) I’m worried that getting any deeper into things is going to […]

There’s Nothing Wrong With Ambition

Your script probably isn’t very good. Even if it is good, probably no one will read it. Even if they do read it, they probably won’t give you the money to make it. Even if they give you the money to make it, the movie probably won’t be very good. Even if it is good, […]

Why Won’t He Call Me Back?

Ellis writes in: Newly minted PA here and I need some help with networking. Several crew members have given me their numbers and encouraged me to reach out and stay in touch. Here is the problem: Some respond and others don’t. For those that don’t respond, do I continue to reach out and stay in […]

I Fucked Up

Originally, this post was going to be titled “Lessons Learned,” but that was going too easy on myself. I fucked up, and I apologize. That’s hard to admit when you’re the supposed “expert” that people write to for advice. But instead of ignoring the issue or making excuses, I’m going to try and make this […]

Joining the DGA

Madeline writes in: I have a lot of questions and they relate to DGA so I apologise if they aren’t the right questions for this blog. I did try to do my own DGA research but I’m very confused. Once your in the DGA, are you allowed to have multiple titles? e.g be a UMP […]

The Anonymous Production Assistant Book

The Anonymous Production Assistant has been around for eight years. Eight years. That means, if you’re graduating from film school now, this blog has been going since you were in junior high. In that time, there has been over a thousand blog posts, hundreds of answered questions, two score podcast episodes, a half-dozen TAPAs, and […]

The Best Book on Directing I’ve Ever Read

First of all, if you haven’t been to the library since you graduated, you’re missing out. They’ve got millions of book, and they just give them away. For free! And if you’re having flashbacks of the card catalogue and Dewey decimal system, don’t worry. The LA library’s website has a search engine, just like you’d […]

Incorrect Credits

Ryan writes in: My first feature film I ever worked on was recently released. After seeing fellow friends and crew members post pictures of their name in the credits, I noticed mine was there, too. It was listed wrong on two accounts: my title was incorrect as well as my name. They originally signed me […]

Peak Job Opportunities

If you hadn’t heard the good news, I’m happy to be the first to tell you. In 2015, there were 409 scripted television series. That’s not reality, news, MOWs, specials, soaps, or kids shows. John Landgraf calls this “peak TV,” and seems to think it’s a bad thing, for some reason? For people who watch […]

In Defense of the Valley

https://www.anonymousproductionassistant.com/2009/02/06/who-needs-a-car/

I was exchanging emails with a reader about my resume service, and at one point, he wrote this: I just got hired for my first assistant position (for a writer/director) out in the valley. I hope it’s not porn. People make fun of the San Fernando Valley a lot, and that’s fine. It is kinda […]

Survival Jobs

Racquel writes in: I’m an aspiring scripted TV writer who’s been living in LA for almost 4 months now and am scrambling to survive financially. I’ve been utilizing TAPA, the UTA joblist, EntertainmentCareers, LinkedIn, Mandy, the Friedman Agency, and any person from the industry I come in contact with to try to land a gig. […]

A Bad Movie Is Still a Good Job

I’m a big fan of On The Media, especially their off-air podcast interviews. Last week, they had a fascinating conversation with Alec Baldwin: I recommend listening to the whole thing, but the salient point for my readers is about nine and a half minutes in, regarding people who had been bad-mouthing the latest Schwarzenegger movie: […]