No Lunch Break for Office PA’s?
When you work on set, you’re supposed to break for lunch after 6 hours of shooting. Some people break before that, if they got to set particularly early (like the drivers and location manager). Sometimes hair and makeup artists do, too, so they can get the actors camera ready for the first shot after lunch. […]
Why Are Movies So Expensive?
For longer than I’ve been in the Industry, we’ve been hearing how cheap, digital cameras and readily available editing software would democratize cinema. There would be a revolution in independent filmmaking that would tear down the studio system. Except… that hasn’t happened. The reason is, equipment is no where near the biggest expense on a […]
The Minimum Wage and You
Several readers have asked how I think LA’s minimum wage increase will affect PAs. Well, it means we’ll get paid more. There’s a whole bunch of caveats to go with that, though. First of all, the $15 an hour minimum wage you’ve been hearing so much about doesn’t take effect until 2020. I would hope […]
Production Supervisor Kelley Sims
Our guest today, Kelley Sims, has had a long a varied career– from actor to accountant to production supervisor to, most recently, co-producer. These are the kinds of jobs you don’t necessarily dream about when you’re in film school, but they’re vitally important to the running of a show. And, as Kelley points out, working […]
There Are More Accountants Than You Think
Today’s topic is… ACCOUNTING! Seriously, though, people seem to be confused about accounting. Maybe it’s because most of the crew doesn’t see the accountants every day like I do. At most, you’ll see one of the accountants on Thursdays. But, like most departments, accounting{{1}} is divided up among specialties. There’s usually a head accountant (or […]
How to Fill Out Your Start Work
At the beginning of every show, everyone must fill out [glossary]start work[/glossary],{{1}} yet a distressing number of people don’t know how to do it. I once had this conversation with a makeup artist who had more years in this industry than I had on this Earth: [scrippet]INT. PRODUCTION OFFICE – DAY A woman with a […]
Payday!
Thursday, for most shows, is payday.{{1}} It’s a wonderful time for payroll accountants, because they suddenly become the most popular people on the show. But for us in the production office, it’s a deluge of phone calls, asking the same question, over and over: “Are paychecks coming today?” YES, PAY CHECKS ARE COMING TODAY! Paychecks […]
Clocking Out
Some readers emailed me about my use of the term “clocking out” in yesterday’s post. No, there is no actual clock to punch on my show, or any show I’ve ever been on. No, nothing cool like that. We actually fill out time cards here in Hollywood. “That just seems really archaic, filling out a […]