The Anonymous Production Assistant

Two Sides to Hollywood

When someone contacts me about my resume service, the first thing I ask is, “Do you want to be a PA, or an assistant?” Because, you see, there are two sides to Hollywood: the business side, and the production side. Here, I’m using “production” in the broadest sense, encompassing every department from art to editorial. […]

Reading Material

I recently got a comment from Dawn Climie, who runs a blog called Don’t Shoot the Costumer. Naturally, I clicked her link, and found the blog an entertaining and engaging read. If you haven’t heard of her, you should check her out, too. It’s got great advice and fun stories, whether you’re interested in the […]

Insults

A friend of mine wrote in response to yesterday’s post: What’s the difference between a grip and a PA? A PA can spell “grip.” Now, I like grips, but I had to laugh at that. It’s strange how making fun of each other is a way of bonding on set.  People are constantly busting each […]

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 […]

Just Joking

When you’re carrying something big and heavy around a corner or down some stairs, it’s usually good form to call out a warning, like “Points!”, to make sure you don’t smack someone in the face. It doesn’t really matter if it’s pointy or not; it’s just what you say. Sometimes people try to come up […]

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, […]

I Want Answers!

In this blog, I generally hold court on the few topics I’m an expert at. I am just a PA, though, and there’s a few things I really don’t understand. Maybe one of my kind readers knows the answers. Why is the props department in charge of the director chairs? Not that I want more […]

Boredom

A lot of time on set is spent sitting around, waiting for other people to do their jobs. You gotta wait for the actors to block the scene, then wait for grips and electrics to light it, then camera has to set focus marks, then hair, make-up, and costume have to fix up the actors, […]