The Anonymous Production Assistant

Booking Agent for PAs

Martin writes in: I was wondering if you had ever heard of Booking Agents for PA’s. I found a job posting through a networking group on Facebook for a two-day PA gig which pays the normal rate. The contact person sent me an email stating this “Thank you for your submission. I would like to […]

The First Time You Get Paid For It

Lauren writes in: How many things/what sort of things did you have on your resume when you started applying for PA jobs? PAing my be the bottom rung of the ladder, but unless you know somebody, your first day on set will not be paid. Before I ever applied for a real PA job, I […]

Be Personable, Not a “Personality”

Genevieve commented on Tuesday’s post about cover letters: I can’t tell you how many resumes I get that have an overly familiar, joking type of “cover letter” where the writer tries to be witty. Things like “Coming soon to a set near you!” and the entire cover letter is themed like that. I had one […]

You Need a Cover Letter

After sharing a job posting on TAPA yesterday yesterday, the HR person at the unnamed firm sent me an email: If you could please add “and cover letter” in the last line I would really appreciate it 🙂 What this says to me is, at least one of my readers (probably more than one) sent […]

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 […]

What’s Important in Your Resume

Marcel writes in: In the area I live a lot of potential film work has recently popped up the local film registry. With that I am reformatting my resume to make it more appealing. I have done a significant amount of videography student projects that mostly involve athletics or seminars along with some work in […]

You Control the Information

Brianna writes in: I’ve been hesitant to take anything reality-based work that I am offered. An acquaintance (who is now an AD after earning his PA days) told me that no one will hire a PA on a scripted show if they only have reality on their resume because they’re two different worlds. My entire […]

Does a Theater Degree Count Against Me

Jimmy writes in: I have a bachelors and a masters in theatre. I never intended to break into the entertainment industry as a Production Assistant, but I now have decided that that is where I want to start. I trained to be an actor, and I am finding that it may be more difficult than […]

The Match Game

This is another one of those things I keep seeing when I help people with their resume and cover letter: the name on your resume needs to match the name on your email address. This is especially true of Gmail accounts, since it’s probably the most common email out there, both for individuals and for […]

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 […]

Slight Delay

Welp, the Kickstarter campaign for season 2 of Crew Call was supposed to start today, but just like the previous TAPA, I ran into some technical difficulties. Sigh. Instead, here’s some links! Road Trip Randy wrote a long, detailed article called How to Land a Production Assistant Job in the Film Industry – Actionable Steps […]

What Kind of PA Was I?

Jo asks: Does one usually specify the department they PA’ed in? For example, I just PA’ed on a TV show pilot, but it was in the costume department. Do I need to specify that in my resume? Or just list it as PA? The great thing about sending your resume electronically is, you can change […]