How To Make an Appointment When You Don’t Know Your Schedule
wonderingeyeoftheeverydaytraveler commented on Friday’s post: Unless you’ve all found weekend hours ( do you even get weekends in the biz?) for this kind of thing, what about sick time for important stuff like doctor/dentist appointments? On most shows, you won’t know what your schedule is next week, much less next month or six months from […]
Calling in Sick
Joey writes in: A few days ago, I was referred to day play on a TV series by someone I had PA’d for once before, which I was really excited about. That morning, I woke up with the worse flu I’ve ever head. We’re talking vomiting, sweating, all the gross stuff. I know this is […]
The Final Stretch
The good people at Bebee lights have decided to sponsor Crew Call at the studio level. That puts us at slightly over halfway to our goal! If you live in Los Angeles, you’ve seen Night Lights by Bebee, even if you didn’t know what they were called. They’re the massive lights mounted on trucks, used […]
Your Money Or Your Life
About a month ago, I received an email with the subject line, “Working on a low-budget feature…” I immediately thought, Uh-oh, because nobody ever writes me to say, “I’m working on this indie film, but despite its low budget, everyone is totally professional and completely reasonable about their expectations for the movie.” So, what’s the […]
Production Assistants Doing Union Work
Last week to support Crew Call! Contribute today. A reader, who I’ll call Ivan, wrote in about a tricky situation. I’m going to modify some of the details, to keep Ivan’s identity a secret, but the gist is the same– I’ve been hired as a set dec{{1}} PA on a big feature. I have been […]
Don’t Be a Flake
One of the most important qualities in a PA is reliability. Your boss, whether an AD or production coordinator or whatever, wants to know that when she gives you a task, you will get it done. Your job is, naturally, to do it, as efficiently and effectively as possible. Which seems simple, but shit happens, […]
Changing Careers
Peter writes in: After three years in law enforcement, I’ve decided on a career change. With the long-term goal of going into talent representation, what type of positions should I be applying for? The standard assistant/receptionist positions? Or, should I be seeking out some type of internship? I’ve cold called a handful of agencies, is […]
Will Working on a Christian Movie Hurt My Career?
Will writes in: I’ve had a decent PA career in Atlanta, working on several movies and TV series. But I’m moving to Los Angeles soon, because I really want to write. One of the movies I worked on was an explicitly Christian film. I have no idea if this credit might work against me once […]
Use Your Boredom
Kelly asks: I was in film school and started this internship at a film production company here in Hollywood. I learned a lot, but just as I was ready to leave they hired me for 6 months to run their office while they went on location for their next production. So now I’m alone in […]
How to Run a Production Meeting
Dax asks: I’ve experienced several different production meetings. Two seem to be the most common. The first AD reads through the script in scene order and then through the one liner in schedule order. if this is correct? If so, should the AD just read the slug lines for each scene and then summarize the […]
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 […]
Errors and Omissions
There were quite a few good comments this week; in case you missed them, I thought I’d point them out. Regarding internships and college credit, WireMonkey said: I found this strange but I interviewed at a few significant companies for internship positions. I always casually dropped that I could earn college credit for the reasons […]