The Anonymous Production Assistant

No Lunch Break for Office PA’s?

Out to lunch sign

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. […]

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 […]

Toilet Wars

My production office is small. It’s really just big enough for the office staff itself; the writers, accountants, and everybody else are in other bungalows elsewhere on the lot. We don’t even have space for separate women’s and men’s bathrooms, just two, regular ol’ house-type bathrooms that everyone shares. And therein lies the problem. Some […]

First Day in the Production Office

Photo by Roman Bozhko on Unsplash

Jerrica wrote in: I start an office PA position on a network show in a week and I was wondering If you had any advice for the first day/week. OR maybe a list of things to bring with you or make sure you have handy. I sort of want to be prepared since this a […]

So You Want to Become a Suit

Jessica asks: First of all, thank you so much for all that you do. I am incredibly grateful for everything your blog and all of the information you provide. You are awesome. I have lived in LA for 5 years now—began as a barista who knew no one until I finally got a Costume PA […]

How to Find the Number to the Production Office

Brooke writes in: I am looking for a specific internship on a production set and looking for information on whom to ask. I’m trying to find out through Warner Brothers if they know if there are internships on the production set of Supernatural. I researched for months about whom to contact and only yesterday was […]