The Anonymous Production Assistant

Whom I Refer

Unemployment 2012 will come to an end on Monday. I finally got a job. In the last few days, I’ve been offered four other jobs. Naturally, I had to pass on all of them, which begs the question… WHERE THE HELL WERE THOSE JOBS WHEN I NEEDED THEM?! The universe works in funny ways. Since I […]

“In the Next Day or Two…”

As my unemployment comes to a temporary respite, I was thinking about a phrase I’ve heard  a lot lately: Expect a call in the next day or two. Usually, it’s a friend of mine who calls to tell me about a job opening. He (or she) gives me the preliminary info and tells me that […]

When to Lie in an Interview

I interviewed recently to be the assistant to an EP on a network TV show. My interview philosophy has changed over the last few years. When I first started out, I lied my way through nearly every question in an interview. When they’d ask what I wanted to do in Hollywood for the rest of […]

Louisiana

I saw the best minds of my generation… take their shows to Louisiana. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but more and more, it seems like every show is filming in The Pelican State. As we speak, roughly thirty shows are in Louisiana. THIRTY! That includes Cataclysm, Ender’s Game, Django Unchained, and the Untitled Diablo […]

Job Postings on TAPA

I just received an interesting email from reader Ashley– Not sure if you do this sort of thing, but can I make a request to post a job on your site? I’m a personal assistant to a lit. film agent at a major agency, and since he just got me a reading job there, I […]

Zero Experience

Katie writes: I am wondering what my resume should look like if I have absolutely ZERO experience in the entertainment/PA world. My background is in fashion, I have worked only in theatrical works (some stage managing). I really don’t want my resume to sink my ship. I’m a great ass-kisser and do-good-er, but can’t put […]

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 Decision

Photo by Jason Strull on Unsplash

Stick with a safe job, or make the jump to something more challenging?

UTA Joblist on TAPA

I’ve blogged about the joblist before, but for those of you who don’t know, it’s a basically just a list of job openings, compiled by assistants at the United Talent Agency. There are a number of places online to find the UTA Joblist, but lately, they all seem to be updating way too slowly. These […]

Professional Email Address

Scott writes: I was told by someone that a gmail address is “more trusting” in the industry rather than using another free email or your own domains email. What do you think? The most important factor in an email is not what comes after the @ sign, but instead, what comes before. Sure, a Gmail […]

Art Project

When you’re looking for a job, scanning Craig’s List is a constant source of both humor and horror.  Case in point: Bondage Art Project (North Hollywood) Digital artist seeking female models for bondage art project. I need a few lovely models for a series of mock kidnapping photos/videos. Must be comfortable with being tied up, […]

Production Assistant Portfolio

Reader Drew commented on an old post, yesterday: I’m just starting to put together a resume for future jobs – I have two independent films under my belt – and for the examples I find, they have a portfolio section. What goes into a PA’s portfolio? Production photos of them? I think they just crammed […]