The Anonymous Production Assistant

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 […]

Awkward Conversation

An anonymous reader writes in: Recently, the 2nd AD kinda said something inappropriate and made me feel uncomfortable. I kinda just told him I wasn’t comfortable with what he said, and we moved on. So I thought. After that incident, I haven’t really heard anything from him as far as work was concerned. When I […]

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

One of the most important factors in your day is the [glossary]turn around[/glossary]. No, not that turn around.{{1}} Jeez. “Turn around” is the time you have between wrap one day and call time the next. The minimum required turn around varies from 12 hours for actors to 8 hours for teamsters.{{2}} If you require someone […]

Celebrity Handling

Kendra asks: I was wondering if you have any advice on the right way to go about interacting with big name celebrities on set. Some people say to not talk to them and just be there for when you are needed, others say to treat them like a normal person so they feel comfortable around […]

Should Wannabe Actors Be PAs?

Over on Facebook{{1}}, Christina asked: Do you have a post on wannabe actors being PAs? No. Because it’s a terrible idea. If you’re serious about acting, you’ll spend your days either attending classes or auditioning. You need a flexible schedule that allows time off  when you get a part. This is the exact opposite of […]

Act Like You’ve Been There Before

This week, our #2 actor started, so we sent him a bouquet of flowers to congratulate him. (It wasn’t until I typed that last sentence that I realized how stupid of a Hollywood tradition it is to congratulate an actor for starting a show. The only thing they’ve done up to that point is sign a […]

Apple on set

Here’s a short digression from the normal PA stuff: Despite the disillusionment I still somehow find some good in my blackened heart to help friends out on their shoots (as long as they’re not, you know, on the beach) or foof around in filmmaking myself. Knowing firsthand the intensity, scale, and inevitable costs of production […]

Let It Never Be Said That I Can’t Change My Mind

A couple of sound points came out of yesterday’s comments section.  From Galen: Don’t forget that actors often have to go through hair and make up after the blocking during the lighting set-up. This takes a fair bit of time and it saves production money to have a [glossary]stand in[/glossary]. I’m all for efficiency on […]

Harsh

Stephen Gallagher took issue with my post yesterday: “For those of you who don’t know, a stand-in is quite possibly the most perfect manifestation of how lazy actors are.” Seems kinda harsh both on the actors, who usually seem to use the chunk of time between blocking and shooting to get their lines, and stand-ins, […]

Callsheets

Callsheets are weird, aren’t they? They’re legal-size sheets of paper, covered from top to bottom, on both sides, with ten-point font. It’s just packed with information. For most people the crew call on the front, and their department’s call on the back, is all they’ll ever look at. Hair and make-up need to know when […]

Animated Acting, and KeyPA

While reading some old blogs, I came across this post about performance capture, from Observations on Film and Art.  While not as mind-bogglingly dumb as Mark Harris, Kristin Thompson still exhibits a terrible misunderstanding of the relationship between acting and effects.  She lists several differences between Zoe Saldana and the character she plays.  What she […]