The Anonymous Production Assistant

Which Schedule?

I’m often surprised at the number of people who don’t know that ADs create more than one kind of schedule. Frequently, experienced crew members will come into the office and ask for “the” schedule, only to be baffled when I ask, “which one?” So, here’s a quick primer on what’s what: The most common schedule […]

Do As I Do, Not As I Say

An AD by the name of Jason Roberts recently commented on a post from a couple months ago: I would like to think that you didn’t actually call background artists “untalented actors”. Maybe I am misreading your sense of humor. Just in case it wasn’t in jest, I would like to point out how very […]

Locking Up the Unlockable

Brett asks: What’s a good line to give someone during lock up and they’ve just asked what authority you have to keep them from walking into your shot? For the uninitiated (which is most of you; why else are you reading the blog?)– “lock up” is when you stand guard blocking some strategic pathway that […]

Act Like You’ve Been There Before

This week, our #2 actor started, so we sent him a bouquet of flowers to congratulate him. (It wasn’t until I typed that last sentence that I realized how stupid of a Hollywood tradition it is to congratulate an actor for starting a show. The only thing they’ve done up to that point is sign a […]

90% of success

Script Goddess had a fun post last week about filling as an AD on a commercial. This passage in particular caught my attention: Day 3 Exterior House. My first time directing trucks and production vehicles. As I was arriving at the location My key P.A. called in and said he’d be late. How late I […]

Emailing Strangers

Danielle asks: I recently graduated college, during which I had internships on the corporate side of three different television stations (all headquartered in NYC). Since graduating, I’m looking to move into the production side but don’t have the contact base required, since the stations outsourced to external production houses. Through some serious stalking, I uncovered […]

Not Scheduled

Elyse writes: I was told by the UPM to go ahead with getting a job as a PA on the tv show set I’ve been standing-in on, and she told me to speak with one of the ADs. I spoke with one and he was going to set me up with the person to hire […]

Locations and Set PAs

In case you don’t read the comments, I thought it best to reprint Nathan’s comment on my previous post: Location Managers (and ALM’s) never hire the Set P.A.s. Anywhere. (I’m an East Coast Location Manager — trust me on this one.) Locations will hire Locations P.A.s, but their job is different from Set P.A.’s Example: Locations P.A.s don’t do […]

Clarification on Terms

Reader VJ commented on Friday’s post: Where in the hell does an “assistant” anything – even Director – get off being a dick to anyone? Unless the actual director is an überdick, then I guess it’s ok. But you would think they would save the dickery until they had a title without “assistant” right up […]

Rarities

Regarding yesterday’s diatribe, I wanted to mention an AD I know who is an exception to the rule. He is one of the nicest guys that I’ve ever met.  And not “nice” on the evil-troll-to-asperger-syndrome scale that most ADs are rated on.  I mean, even compared to normal people, he’s really, really nice. Other than the […]

The Prevalence of Asshole ADs

Anonymous Base Camp PA writes… Well, actually, first let me explain what “base camp” is, for those who may not know.  You ever see a usually-empty parking lot full with unlabeled white semi-trucks and trailers?  That’s base camp.  It’s where the physical production is based, specifically the AD trailer. Even if you’re shooting on stage […]

Workin’ on the Night Shift

One of the worst things you can read in next week’s script is, “EXT. [WHEREVER] – NIGHT.” Say goodbye to your weekend.  Say goodbye to your wife and kids.  Say goodbye to good, old fashioned sunlight. You see, we can fake a lot of things in television, but when you’ve gotta shoot outside, day is […]