Sometimes, You’re Wrong
A couple months ago, I wrote a post about giving yourself extra time to complete tasks: Whenever you’re given something to do, you need to factor in “shit happens.” If you think you can get something done in five minutes, say it’ll take ten. If you think it’ll take an hour to get across town, […]
Personal Lighting
Germainicorn{{1}} replied to the PA shopping list I created– @TheAnonymousPA in addition to flashlight, I’d recommend a headlamp to free up your hand from using flashlights at night. External battery 2 — Germainicorn (@JudgeGermaine) July 22, 2015 This a great point, and I wish I had mentioned it earlier. Obviously, a headlamp would be useful […]
One Subject Per Email
The One Subject Email You probably noticed people are busy. Like, all the time. Even when they have a moment to relax, they’ll probably spend that moment whipping out their cell phone and checking Reddit. I’m not criticizing or praising this trend. It’s simply the way life is now. You need to deal with this […]
How To Randomize A Crowd
Most of the time, you’re not going to deal with more than a handful of extras in any one scene. That’s because extras are people, too, and people cost a lot of money. Still, every once in a while, you’ll get a crowd scene. The problem with a crowd of extras is that, at a […]
What Did You Do Wrong?
Not even a week into the new season, and there’s already drama behind-the-scenes on my show. Sigh. I was hanging out in the wardrobe cage, as I am often wont to do. Partially it’s because wardrobe is a department I know next-to-nothing about, and partially because I’m fascinated by the sheer number of outfits required […]
Do Foreigners Have To Start Over?
Raúl writes in: I’m an immigrant with a background in film production (TV Commercials). I worked in the films department of a leading advertizing agency for five years before going on to become a producer for a TV Commercial production company. So here I am in Los Angeles, looking for jobs. My question to you […]
Managing Background Actors
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have heard some of my frustrations with background actors on a small shoot I was helping out on. First of all, bear in mind that I definitely did not say any of these things on set. That would be even less professional than the extras{{1}} I was […]
Keep Copies of Everything
Andi followed up on yesterday’s post: Total bummer though about the mileage. I’ll definitely be claiming it on my taxes however. Should I still keep tracking my mileage on a mileage form in case I’m audited? Absolutely! In fact, make copies of everything you fill out around the office– mileage reports, petty cash receipts, petty […]
Are You Getting Mileage?
Andi writes in: I’m an Office PA working on a low budget feature film in LA. I’ve typically worked on bigger features that have their own rented production vehicles for me to drive. Must be nice. I’ve worked on massive budget television series, and always had to drive my own car. Film has a different […]
Presentation Matters
Claire shot me a DM over Twitter: Quick question, if you have the time: I’m an office PA, mini septum nose piercing yay or nay? Or should I hide it and feel it out first…? First of all, you’re in Hollywood. A nose piercing is probably less shocking than nothing at all.{{1}} I doubt if […]
Debating Actors
There’s an old TAPA post about wrangling extras that still gets comments from time to time, because it has some unflattering things to say about background actors. Extras are basically untalented actors… They tend to not listen to instruction, dawdle, or just plain wander off. If you’ve ever been a camp counselor or grade school […]
Being an Actor Is Really Hard
Gina writes in: Hey there ! I hope you’re having a great Memorial Day weekend. I stumbled across your blog today while job searching. I am an actress trying to get started out in LA and working my booty off to pay my rent. I just hate how my everyday job isn’t helping me work […]