The Anonymous Production Assistant

Book Reports

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Two great books everyone should read: Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino and Keys to the Production Office by Gilana Lobel and Jennifer A. Haire.

How to Avoid Eyelines

Photo by Alexandru Zdrobău on Unsplash

I’m re-reading Making Movies by Sidney Lumet for, like, the fifth time. It’s a great book, and I highly recommend it for any aspiring filmmaker. Some of the terminology is dated (and a lot of the technical stuff is dated), but there’s no better way to learn than at the foot of the master who […]

“Are you doing anything right now?”

Busy Bee

Pam writes in: I have a question about something that happens to me on sets and in offices sometimes, but I never know how to answer. What should I do when someone gives me something to do, that isn’t that important, and then someone else asks if I’m busy and can help them? I know […]

Fire Watch With Me

Fire on the Backdraft attraction at Universal Studios

Lauren tweeted a question at me: @TheAnonymousPA Hey TAPA this might be a dumb question but I’m just starting to get more professional gigs. When I’m on fire watch do I count as available? I.e. if someone asks for something flown in elsewhere I can’t leave my post right? Even if everyone else is on […]

Keep Your Eye on Your Long Term Goal

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

Marty Lang contacted me on Twitter, presumably in refernce to the joblist, or my own jobs page: @TheAnonymousPA there really is no way to get an inside track on a writer’s assistant position, is there? I scour sites all over the place, and the closest I ever came to finding one was the showrunners assistant […]

Amazon Rentals

Jamie writes in: I just got a job as a PA (really an unpaid intern) on an independent movie. They put with the production designer as part of the ‘art department’. (really just the two of us). She told me we would be using Amazon Rentals for most of the set decorations. I can’t seem […]