The Anonymous Production Assistant

Does ‘Video Producer’ Experience Count for Anything?

Photo by Steven Van on Unsplash

Elsa writes in: I’m a long time TAPA reader, first time question asker.  I’m a video producer for a media company with 2 years of experience.  I’m trying to move into film production, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what roles I should be applying for. Does my experience with pitching/producing/directing/writing/editing videos for […]

How to Run a Production Meeting

Dax asks: I’ve experienced several different production meetings. Two seem to be the most common. The first AD reads through the script in scene order and then through the one liner in schedule order. if this is correct? If so, should the AD just read the slug lines for each scene and then summarize the […]

Am I Too Small?

Indy (a college student) writes in: I’m currently in college, and I’m interested in working behind the scenes for film and television. I would love to someday become a cinematographer, but one question that I’ve always wondered is if I’m too small to hold and operate a camera for long periods of time. I’m very […]

Cinematographer Joaquin Sedillo

You guys, Joaquin Sedillo shot Veronica Mars (the series, not the movie). Do I really need to say anything else? Oh, he’s the director of photography on Glee. So, he’s pretty much awesome. Listen in on a great conversation that covers the beauty of Kristen Bell, making marriage work between entertainment industry professionals, and brewing […]

There’s Lazy, And Then There’s This

It’s been a while since I complained about ADs, so how’s about I do that right now? We had a [glossary]tech scout[/glossary] on yesterday. When the party bus{{1}} returned, the 1st AD called the office and asked for a PA to come down and gather the stuff that people had left behind. Now, our production […]

When I grow up I wanna be…

When you first start working in the film industry you realize that it is, well, big. I mean crazy small REALLY big. It employs a lot of people (although never enough it seems…). The term “filmmaker” is kind of a misnomer; everyone who works here actually does something else that they happen to translate to the […]

Perfection

Following yesterday’s post, I had a few more thoughts on mistakes. I used to be a personal assistant to a producer. He asked me if I ever wanted to be a director, and I said I did. He told me I could never do that job until I could do this job perfectly. This statement […]

The Most Important Person on Set

I’ve complained about the camera department before, but just last week, an operator managed to reach below my already low expectations of civil behavior. My set counterpart was passing out prelim call sheets to department heads. Since we were rolling at the time, the PA went around to the “soft crew” first– hair, make-up, costume. […]

Do Me a Favor

Hollywood is built on favors, but some people don’t seem to realize that. I’m making a short film. Just about the only way to make a decent short, without going broke, is to borrow equipment and get your friends to work for free.  In exchange, you offer them free food, their name in the credits, […]

Perspective

Yesterday’s post produced some interesting comments.  Capn Cookie said that, while Bale’s outburst was uncalled for, the DP was still kind of a dick.  Which called to mind an incident that happened on set only a few weeks ago. As you probably know, it’s standard procedure to turn your cell phone to vibrate when on […]

Unhappy Birthday To Me!

Birthdays are always fun on set. My birthday, a few weeks ago, was a workday this year.  There were cake and balloons and singing and all that good stuff. For the DP.  Whose birthday was the same as mine. The best I got was, “Hey, isn’t it your birthday, too?” Whenever balloons or flowers or […]