The Anonymous Production Assistant

Don’t Spend Your Own Money

Pie of money

It appears an old scam is circulating again. The gist is, someone offers a job to a PA (who is, presumably, fresh-faced and naive), which sounds great. Then, they say they’ll give you a check, which you’ll deposit into your bank account. You’re to take your pay from that check, and also make some sort of […]

How to Choose Your Credit

Naked Gun 2 1/2 Credits

Larry writes in about choosing the proper credit: I just worked on a show as a PA and the director said I could have an AD credit instead if I wanted, because the crew was so small (6-7 people) that’s what I ended up actually doing. This is the second show where I’ve been hired […]

6 Essential Traits Of A Production Assistant

Our friends at FilmToolKit wrote this inspiring post about working as PA. You should check out their site; there’s lot of great info. If you’ve read this blog for very long, you’ve probably realized that being a production assistant is not for everyone. Anyone can be hired, but in order to continue working in the […]

Weekends Are for You

Yesterday, I got an email from my boss asking me to take care of some specific things as soon as I got into the office in the morning. I emailed him back: “Sure thing!” A few minutes later, I got another email: “Why did you reply to my email?” I was genuinely confused. First, because […]

Ageism in Hollywood

Dianne writes in about ageism in Hollywood: Like most people who patrol your site I’m seeking work in the industry. However, I finished college 8 years ago and my major was in English and Creative Writing, and my internship (though competitive) was with a newspaper in Oregon. I would happily intern for no money to […]

Why Are All the PA Jobs Listed for a Limited Time?

Diana writes in about job listings that appear to be for limited time-frame gigs– I am looking for some PA jobs but most of them are only set for a certain amount of time like a week or a few months. I thought PA’s were a permanent position. How long does the average Production Assistant […]

Confirm Your Schedule

The turning of the calendar got me thinking about dates, and scheduling. This is always a major headache in Hollywood, because you’re working with a lot of busy, important people who want to prove they’re important by pretending to be busy. As an assistant or a PA, scheduling a meeting can be difficult, especially when […]

The One Time Being a Fan Got Me a Job

Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to talk about being a great big fan of the show you’re applying for. This business attracts a lot of weirdos, which makes people extra cautious when deciding whether or not to hire someone. They’re going to be working with you 12 hours a day for the next […]

Choosing Between Gigs

Ryan writes in about being forced to choose between jobs: A predicament that I had earlier this summer was that I was offered an Additional PA gig on a TV show for one day at the time, but with the opportunity for more days; but I was simultaneously offered a six-week Set PA gig on […]

Working as a PA in Austin, TX

texas flag

Hey there TAPA readers! This post comes from a fellow PA to discuss navigating the film industry in the lovely city of Austin, Texas! It seems to jive a bit differently than other major film cities. Relatively speaking, Austin’s film scene is small. We used to have a vibrant film community because of the tax […]

How Not To Approach a Production Office

Angie writes in about how to approach a production office: I have a friend who’s well connected in the local industry (not Hollywood, but there are noteworthy productions around) They have kindly provided me with the phone numbers and addresses of the production offices for those shows. Understandably, they do not want me sharing how […]

How Prevalent is Sexual Harassment in Hollywood?

Reader Jess wrote in response to this blog post on sexual harassment: Obviously each department is its own animal, but having worked the majority of my life on skeleton crew indies (with the exception of one major TV show when I was in school) I’m worried that getting any deeper into things is going to […]