And While We’re on the Subject…
Coincidentally, John August was also dispensing career advice today. Very few others see such a jump in pay grade as the writer, but his advice is still probably good for anybody climbing up the Hollywood ladder. The one think I take issue with is his $850 per week figure. I don’t know any assistant making […]
Life Cycle of a Show (Act III)
Step Nine: The News You might think that there is a fixed schedule, by which you can determine when your time on a show will be up. You would be wrong. Even when you can see the ratings drop week by week, the producers put on a happy face. “They’re giving us time to find […]
Life Cycle of a Show (Act II)
Now you’re on the job! What happens next?
Life Cycle of a Show (Act I)
Step One: Hear About the Show When you’re looking for a job, anything sounds good. “They’re strippers who are also spies? That’s totally plausible, and I wouldn’t be at all ashamed to tell my mom I worked on that movie.” Step Two: Research Once I decide to apply, I immediately IMDb everyone involved in the […]
Whenever
Do you ever get this at your work? “Hey, [your name here]. Can you do X?” “Sure. When do you need it by?” “Whenever.” When, exactly, is “ever? ” Are we talking by the end of the day? By the end of the week? What? It’s worse when they give you multiple whenevers. Which ever […]
Thank You for Smoking
I make fun of and complain about actors a lot on this blog, but they’re not the only ones who are egotistical and disconnected from reality. A friend of mine recently got a job on a big, huge show. It’s one you’ve heard of, trust me. He was telling me all about their sets and […]
Where’s My Script?
A friend related a story to me recently about a well-known prima donna actor. Naturally, I loved it. Because it’s hearsay, I probably shouldn’t name names, so I’ll just say my friend was working on an unspecified Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin off, and I’ll call the actor, oh, “Bavid Doreanaz.” So, a new script […]
Save Your Money
When I worked at an agency, a good fifty percent of our clients were out of work at any given time. Those clients called almost every day, asking if my boss had work for them. I don’t know why they thought he wouldn’t call if he’d found work. He only gets paid if they get […]
Keeping People Happy
EastSt said: Um, they are getting paid FAR more then you… Pizza and your gas money is a SMALL price to pay to keep them happy. I really don’t understand this logic. At all. Isn’t the fact that she’s getting paid more in a day than I get in a week supposed to keep her […]
Take Coverage!
Writing about dogs in unusual professions took me back to the good old days of reading scripts and writing coverage. “Coverage” is basically a synopsis of a script, followed by comments on its quality. This usually involves reading the script twice: once to get a sense of the script, and again so I can get […]
Delivery
The other day, one of our actresses decided she really, really, really wanted a pizza. Naturally, my boss sent me out to the nearest CPK to pick up some hideous Ninja Turtles-style concoction with goat cheese and spinach and who knows what else. Driving back, my car smelling like a culinary nightmare, I wondered to […]
The Case of the Missing Post
Sorry I didn’t post anything yesterday. I was working on set. I was at the stage for sixteen hours, but when I got home, I couldn’t sleep. “Exhausting but fun,” indeed. It was all rain and green screen and waiting for the camera guys to get their heads out of their asses, but I was […]