School vs. PA
Heather writes: I’m in a dilemma about trying to find the money to go to film school or just getting off my tush, going to New Orleans and applying for a PA job. I was accepted to a film school but I can’t seem to find the money to pay for it. I know that […]
Help! I Need Some Direction in Life and I Feel You Are the One to Help Me!
Krista writes: I’m graduating in May from college. Even though I majored in advertising, the film industry has always been interesting to me. If I’m able to land some type of internship in this industry, what are the work hours usually like for a PA? 9-5pm, 6-12pm…? and how much do you work on weekends…..? Considering how dire […]
The Future is Now
Amy writes: How long do you have to be a private assistant until you get a job in a TV show or a movie ? Do you get to talk or know the actors and actresses ? And how hard is it to get that job?… I am not even done with school yet but […]
Film School Explosion
The New York Times recently wrote up a story about the current surge in Film School applicants: for example, 4,800 students applied for 300 spots at USC Graduate, up from 2,800 last year. This is astonishing, and astonishingly scary. There is no place for all these people to work. What a glut in the market. […]
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 […]
We Don’t Need No Education
Commenting on yesterday’s post, Tom asked: Correct me if I am wrong but… Nobody cares if you have a college degree in the industry anyway. You are not wrong. Being a filmmaker, from the biggest producer to the lowliest PA, is not like being a doctor or engineer. If we screw up, nobody dies. You’ll just […]
In Defense of Film School
A Fan commented on yesterday’s post about PA Bootcamp [sic]: I’ve heard this applied to film school in general. You can either pay to learn how to make movies, or get paid to learn how to make movies. It just depends on what you’re more comfortable with. A not uncommon view of film school, but […]
Useless
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again– nothing we do in Hollywood matters. We’re not doctors or soldiers or police or fire fighters. No one’s going to die if we make a bad TV show. There are a few individual exceptions. People can get hurt if a grip or an electric or a […]
The Right Attitude
I have a large backlog of questions in my in box, but this comment from a few days ago is just desperately crying out to be answered. Hi, currently I’m in my senior year of college, and I will be graduating with a B.A. in Cinema and Television arts.My goal is to be a television […]
After Film School Special
There is an important thing that I neglected to mention in my discussion of film schools last week. It has more to do with what happens after you graduate than choosing a school. See, the thing is, you don’t know anything. Well, you know a lot, but you also know very little. Film school can […]
What Film School is Right for You?
How to decide between the hundreds of film schools in the world.
Who Wouldn’t Want to go to Film School?
Yesterday, I told you why going to film school is stupid and pointless. Today, I’ll explain why it can be smart and pointful. When I graduated from high school, I didn’t know any more about filmmaking than what I’d read in Entertainment Weekly. I knew there had to be a writer, and actors. I knew […]