And That’s All I Have to Say About That
Last week, I told you about my friend and her favoritest director in the whole wide world. Brandon’s comment caught my attention: Finish the story! How’d she handle that extremely, uh, awkward situation? With all seriousness, I’d love to hear how she handled this/what the fallout was/how her post supervisor and/or coordinator handled it afterward. […]
Conference Call
A friend of mine is working in post on a sequel to a big budget movie that you’ve heard of and probably didn’t enjoy very much. The director has that kind of psuedo-fame that comes from being a jerk. I try my best not to judge such people until I’ve worked with them myself, but […]
I Gotta Take This
A friend of mine came up with a great trick, for when her husband calls, but she doesn’t want to offend one of the self-important (yet neurotically insecure) Industry types she deals with every day. When she programmed her husband’s number into her cell phone, she set the name to “Steven Spielberg.” No matter who […]
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 […]
Aliens in America
Jason writes: Do you have any idea on how the industry deals with foreigners? Do people from outside the US even have a shot at a PA (or similar) job? For higher positions I’d assume they’ll prefer resume over country of origin, but how about the lower jobs like PA? I’m from The Netherlands, currently […]
Full Time Work in a Freelance Industry
I know, I know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry. I do have an excuse, though. The show I’ve been on lo these many months has “stopped production.” A nice euphemism for “cancelled.” We’re done. Needless to say, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking for a new job. Considering the luck […]
How a Set Should Be
Taylor commented on an old post, yesterday: You are stupid sir. Locations arrives first and leaves last. Don’t repeat things you don’t understand He (she?) may or may not have realized that s/he was commenting on an auto-comment that’s generated every time one WordPress post links to another. That post read, Set PAs stay on […]
No Lions
rather pathetic comments: great example here people. if you work long enough as a PA, you will hate life. please please please take this blog with a grain of salt. A few years ago, the Internet went down in my dorm. Everyone got super annoyed. What’s going on? Who are the morons running this place? […]
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 […]
No Pay
I received two different, but related, emails in the last few days. Matt writes: I’ve been combing Craigs List and Mandy.com for a while and I tend to notice that like, every single ad or call for a PA is indefinitely nonpaying. Is it as if there is some secret club you’re let into after […]
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, […]
Titles
There’s a curious inconsistency I’ve noticed in the way film industry address each other. No one is ever called “Mr. Spielberg,” or “Ms. Ephron.” It’s “Steve” and “Nora.” Even if you’ve just met the person, you’re instantly on a first-name basis. This is particularly hard to get used to for a polite boy from the […]