In Addition

Andrew writes in:

My fiance recently fell into a PA position and landed a couple days on a movie.  After day two/three she was told they had enough PA’s for the next day and they would call her.  It has been a few days and no word back yet.

A family member of mine works in the industry (in an unrelated position) as well, he recommended she try calling and contacting the person who hired her to ask for work.  She has tried phoning this person only to find the voice mail box full.  At this point I have a feeling she is a bit worried that with the lack of experience gained and the potential of not hearing back her PA career could be over as soon as it started.

Is this commonly how additional PA positions are handled?  Are the additional PA call backs usually done via some rotation or at the AD discretion?  How often is too often when calling to trying to get work?  Would it be considered crazy to show up on set if it becomes impossible to reach via phone?  Is there anything she can do with her couple of days experience that may open some doors that would otherwise be closed to someone without experience?  What types of experiences are usually desired on someones resume with little to no PA experience?

Additional PA days are always done at the discretion of the AD.  If they like you, they’ll call you back.  If they don’t, they won’t.

Calling to remind them that you’re still available is good advice.  It’s unfortunate that the mailbox was full, but there’s not really much you can do about it.  Just showing up on set would, indeed, be crazy.  Not ill-advised crazy, but call-the-men-in-the-white-coats crazy.  Unless they happen to be filming in your neighborhood, and you tell them so, I wouldn’t do it.

“Too often” is a tough call.  Depends on the kind of show.  If you’re talking about a sitcom, where they hardly ever leave the studio and need more than their usual compliment of PAs, I’d wait three to four weeks.  If they’re on location a lot, like for an action show or a procedural, maybe every two weeks.

If you don’t have experience as a PA, try to at least have some kind of industry experience.  Working the desk at an agency, being a personal assistant to a producer, something.  ”Starbucks barista” isn’t gonna do anything on your resume.

No Experience Necessary! (Some Experience Required)

Leala writes:

Ok, I keep reading “no experience” needed to PA. So why it so hard to land a PA job?

I actually have some experience -film school, student projects, independent projects, game show pilot, award shows, major network webisode and even dayplayed in the production office of a network TV show.

I get Production Weekly and PRS, contact the offices and fax/email resume, make sure it’s received and follow up til I get “we’re currently crewed up”. I’ve tried pilots, shows already on air, award shows, films and nothing. I’ve even offered to work for free just for the experience but since I’m currently not a student that doesn’t help.

I’m still working on independent projects but how do you make that leap from those to features/tv? Obviously I’m doing something wrong. Any ideas?

I must admit, I am being a little cheeky when I say things like, “A monkey could do my job.”  PAs get fired all the time, for slacking off, for screwing up, for having the gall to speak to a producer when he’s having a bad day.

There is a certain amount of skill involved, even if the main skill is simply being able to stick to it long enough to get promoted.  Not everyone has that skill.

That being said, a lot of people do have that skill, or at least think they do.  On my show, we get at least three PA resumes a day, and we’re in the middle of the season!  At the beginning of the season, we could fill a binder with resumes.

This is also why, by the way, PAs get paid so little (as I explained in a post a few weeks ago).  While there’s always a demand for a good PA, there is an even greater supply of good PAs.

Note the lack of a "Hard Work" curve.

I don’t think you’re actually doing anything wrong.  In fact, it sounds like you’re doing everything right.  There’s no secret or trick that you’re missing. You have to be good and smart and experienced, it’s true.

But you also have to submit your resume at the exact moment that they’re looking for a PA with your exact qualifications.  You have to connect with the AD or coordinator some indefinable way.  You have to be ready when they need you to be ready.

In short, not only do you have to be good, you have to be lucky.

I wish I could be of more help than that, but I can’t.

Atlanta Isn’t Burning (With Jobs)

Kyle writes in:

I recently stumbled across your blog and have really enjoyed the reading. I have a few questions I was hoping you might give some advice on. I have interned as a P.A. on a few different occasions for editing studios in Atlanta, Ga. However, now that I have graduated I am finding it extremely difficult to find any production jobs (I found it easier as a student). Maybe I am going about this the wrong way, do you have any advice? Should I pursue a larger market than Atlanta?

Hard to say.

I don’t know if you’re going about it “the wrong way.”  Times are tough all over; you may just be yet another victim of the economic downturn.

Atlanta has a fairly large production base.  Ted Turner’s companies are there, and Tyler Perry just built a fancy new studio.  I’m sure there are a bunch of smaller, local companies there, too.

But that it doesn’t come close to what we’ve got in Los Angeles.  We have thousands of productions companies.  You could make a whole career and earn a pretty good living working for production companies nobody’s ever heard of.  Even with all the runaway production, no where else in the world has the film community we have, outside of possibly Mumbai.

That being said, there are a lot of people out of work here, too. You can’t expect to get a job right away.

I assume you made some connections during your internships? Why not use those to your advantage?  You’ll be starting from scratch here.  It’s tough all over, and you should use an advantage you can get.

Does Age Matter?

Reader Dan writes:

I am 17, soon to be 18. When I am 18, or sort of maybe a few months after I’m 18, I wanted to be a PA for reality tlelevision. I’m worried I’m a bit too young to do this. I’ll be ready late this year or early 2010, depending on how much I can save for a chance to move to LA. Do PA jobs prefer or even require someone to be a certain age?

I have never heard of any age limit, other than being old enough to drive.  I’ve worked with nineteen and twenty year olds in the past.  PAing is the very definition of “no experience required,” and that includes life experience.

My main recommendation is that you should recognize you know nothing.  You were, what, ten when Survivor came out?  Whatever you think you know about the creation of a reality show, you’re wrong.  And for every one thing you’re wrong about,  there are a thousand things it didn’t even occur to you think about in the first place.

The main purpose of taking a PA gig is to learn.  You work horrible hours for terrible pay and zero respect, but if you shut up and listen, you’ll advance quickly.

I, on the other hand, can’t keep my trap shut, and I’m still a PA several years out of film school.  Learn from my mistakes, Dan.

Bird in the Hand

A reader asks:

I am currently working as a receptionist at a post production house in Hollywood. I took this job not too long ago, assuming that as this place is fairly renowned, it would eventually provide me with the opportunity to move on in the business toward some of my real interests: script development and/or production coordinating. Having been here for a chunk of time now, I am realizing that not only will this job not propel me toward anything related to what I want to do, as they deal mostly in graphics, but it also requires that I sit at a desk for 10 hours a day waiting for the few phone calls that inevitably die off before mid-afternoon.

I realize that I am complaining while I am in a situation where I receive a steady decent-sized paycheck. This is hard to come by in the current economic situation and I am well aware of how blessed I am to have obtained this position.

I have been offered two unpaid internships with well-known, established production companies, one of them on a studio lot, one of them with two well known tv shows and major feature films in development. I’ve done an internship before and know what the work there entails. I just want to make sure that these internships will at least have the potential to open doors for me to begin working in something I am actually passionate about.

I will get to the point: do I leave my solid, boring, unproductive job to pursue more meaningful and interesting (and also unpaid) work, or do I stick it out here and wait for a paid opportunity to waltz along and save me from my misery?

As I’ve said before, it’s almost impossible to get anywhere in this business without taking a risk.  But the question is, what are you risking?

How long can you sustain yourself as an intern?  Are you independently wealthy?  Are your parents footing the bill?  Your spouse?  This is probably not a good time to be eating into your savings.

Another way of looking at it is, most people are out of work now, anyway.  If you’d been just a little less lucky, your only question right now would be, “Which internship should I take?”  (The one on the lot, by the way; practically everybody has a show “in development.”  Who knows if that’s for real?)

If you can sustain yourself–or be sustained by someone–I’d suggest jumping ship.  If not, wait until the economy, or your own personal finances, improve.

Another Way to Network

I was hanging out on the set today, and I overheard a background actress talking with one of the set PAs.

At a certain point, she asked “casually” (those are sarcastic air quotes; I actually paused while writing this to wriggle my fingers in the air): “Say, who’s in the office right now?  Is [showrunner's name here] in there?”

“I think so.  Probably.”

“Do you think you could introduce me?”

Really?  Is that how you think this works?  Bat your eyelashes, and suddenly you have a part on a major network show?

Aaaaaaand, cue the comments section filling up with, “What are you, naive?  Of course that’s how it works!  That’s how it’s always worked, and how it will forever work!”

On a related note, don’t do a Google image search for “casting couch” at work.  The whimsical New Yorker cartoons I envisioned are not at the top of the list.

No Pay

Above: The American economy

I received two different, but related, emails in the last few days.

Matt writes:

I’ve been combing Craigs List and Mandy.com for a while and I tend to notice that like, every single ad or call for a PA is indefinitely nonpaying. Is it as if there is some secret club you’re let into after you’ve done a few non paying gigs where you start to find paying gigs? Also, I’ve been roving the internet like crazy trying to find any other jobs that have anything to do with productions. It almost seems as if I made a huge mistake in getting my degree. The reason I say that is that every single entry level position for film or television production I can find is either A.) non paying or B.) an internship. So even if they were paying, they’re looking for college students. Whats a 5 years of experience television station production assistant with a bachelors degree to do?

And Chris asks:

PAing, as you’ve said, is a full-time job, and often the only way to get started is to get on a low/no-budget production before you move on to a paid position.  So how does someone in that position pay the bills (such as student loans that have suddenly come due) when they’re working full-time in an unpaid position?

The answer, in both cases, is suck it up.  This is that time in your (and my) life called, “Paying your dues.”

People survive in a number of ways.  They borrow off credit cards; they live off mommy and daddy (also unfair, I know); they get part time jobs on nights and weekends, filling the rest in with savings; they get married and sponge off their spouse, who has a real job.  (Hi, honey!)

Basically, you do whatever you can, until you actually do get paid.  There’s really just no way around it.  (Mostly.)

Unfortunately, we are paying our dues in a recession.  Everyone is taking pay cuts, from A-list actors to lowly PAs.  People who were getting paid millions are now settling for hundreds of thousands.  Departments heads are seeing their salaries and their budgets slashed.  Those of us who used to get paid next to nothing are now getting paid literally nothing.

It’s completely unfair, but if you decide to pack it up and move back to Michigan (or wherever), take comfort in the fact that no one will notice.  There’s always another PA, ready to take your place.

Casting Called Out

I asked an AD to look over my resume, and make some suggestions. He pointed to two listings for “Casting PA,” both on game shows.

“Get rid of these”

“Why?”

“No one respects the casting department. They don’t do any work. It makes you look lazy.”

Wow.

The thing is, I knew he kinda had a point. I never got paid more for doing less than when I was a casting PA. Basically, I hung around with the contestants, and occasionally shuttled them to wherever they needed to go.

I worked on two different game shows, and in both cases, the casting associates regarded themselves as the cool kids. They didn’t know anybody outside their department, and they didn’t want to know anybody outside.

Another thing I noticed was, a lot of these folks were failed actors and actresses. I guess they spent so much time sitting across from casting directors that they thought, “Hell, I could do that.”

In my time as an office PA, I interacted with casting very little. Mostly, they just called when they needed something. They rarely came by to just hang out, like people from just about every other department. (Even camera!)

Needless to say, I have a pretty negative view of the casting department. But I also recognize that it’s a fairly limited one. Does anybody have any stories that might  change my mind?

Mail Bag

I haven’t kept up with the ol’ mail bag like I should’ve.  Time to play catch up.

Rob writes:

You had mentioned that you walked into an interview and impressed them despite wearing a t-shirt and jeans and being unshaven. You got the job.

Do you have any tips on how to ace an interview? Especially for someone like me who has never worked as a PA before?

Tip one: Shave.  (You too, ladies.)  It was a stupid risk I took, coming in all sloppy.  I’ve done it on another occasion, and I failed miserably.  Don’t mistake a humorous anecdote for actual advice.

Tip two: Do your research.  Figure out who the players are and find something, anything, you can talk to your interviewer about.  There will be small talk, so at least have something prepared.

Tip three: Be friendly. 90% of the interview is to ensure that you’re not creepy or a drooling idiot.  They already liked your resume.  The job is basically yours to lose at this point.

- – -

Ben writes:

I graduated from film school in California last year and have been living in London the past 6 months freelance PAing (on set), mostly working on music videos. I am planning on coming back to California in a matter of a week or two and am beginning to freak out over my lack of contacts in LA (and the fact that 90% of the work I have managed to get since graduation has been in music videos and commercials rather than features or TV, which is where I ultimately want to work).

What I am wondering is how I can best land a job PAing in general, and on pilots this season specifically. Is it too late for me this season? If not, do you suggest cold calling production companies, or is there a better way these days?  I managed to get work over here in the UK by interning unpaid for a production company for a couple weeks, and they began to send jobs my way and threw my name around with their contacts. Is such a plan feasible back home? I don’t usually hear of such internships in LA, so I’m concerned as to how to get going in a new town.

Interning is a great way to make contacts, but you can’t intern without being in school.  It’s against California law to hire someone without paying them; also, there are liability concerns.

As far as how to find jobs, just click the “Finding a Job” category on the right side of the page and read on.

And pilots?  They’re done.  You’re looking for series now.

- – -

Joyce asks:

I’ve been thinking I should get business cards to pass around. Your opinion? And if yes, would it just have my name and contact information?

I’m sort of divided on this.  On the one hand, a business card makes it look like you take yourself way to seriously.  On the other, it gives people you meet something physical to remember you by.

Truth be told, I don’t know of any PAs that do it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

- – -

Joel writes:

I’m sending in some resumes and cover letters to a bunch of different productions and I was wondering if it is appropriate to specify which department you want to work in.  I’m interested in working in camera– should you call the production office and ask for the camera department and talk to someone with them, or is that not really an option?

The camera department probably doesn’t have a phone.  They’re on a truck.

Every production office I’ve ever worked in collects resumes for all the departments, and I’ve never once seen a department head ask for those resumes.  It’s a weird sort of kabuki we do.

Generally, department heads hire people they know.  The way to get to know a department head is by working in lesser positions and making friends.  It’s why I work in the office, to meet writers.  You should get a set PA job and make friends with the ACs.

- – -

Lastly, Nathan, my second fan, offered me this news:

PA Bootcamp has both of our blogs linked on their homepage now.  I’m not complaining, but WTF?

Cute.  All publicity is good publicity, I guess.

Although, they do list me as “Anonymous Assistant,” when the title of the blog is properly “The Anonymous Production Assistant.”  I registered with WordPress as “anonymousassistant” with the hopes that, someday soon, I would be a writer’s assistant, and the blog’s title could change without affecting the address.

Going further afield of the point, when I first started, googling “anonymous asssistant” would land you with this chick. I wasn’t even on the first 100 pages.  Now, I’m the top hit.  Woohoo!

Anyway.

I received a few emails from Das Bootcamp last month, including one addressed to Nathan.  (They even invited me to meet them at a camp session, seemingly missing the point of the whole “anonymous” thing.)  At my wife’s behest, I discontinued my baiting of the group, and never responded to those e-mails.  Still, in the spirit of today’s post, I present to you those e-mails, in all their glory.

These are, by the way, copy-and-pasted from my inbox.  I’m not going to go and [sic] the hell out of these letters, much as they may deserve it.  Just assume the spelling and grammatical mistakes are the writer’s own.  Or, possibly a secret code activating their sleeper agents trained in a “P.A. Bootcamp.” (Which, I should note, is a misspelling in and of itself.)

From April 7, 7:39 AM–

P.a. Bootcamp Thank you for your posting.

Your negative “opinion” could cost us. But you have the right to it, and if you don’t care about others helpful services who are we to be critical. As long as your readers understand that this is your OPINON and not based on any FACTUAL EXPERIENCE with P.a. Bootcamp, we wish your blog all the best.

You have people however now jumping on the ban bootcamp bandwagon and it will continue to cause a stir. We understand it is getting your blog more attention which is great but it has the potential to hurt others in the process.

Poster JOSH is saying that we go after people who don’t praise us. That isn’t true. We feel unfairly passed judgement on by people who trash us before having any right to. If one of your posters were to attend, find it not worth their time and money than they have every right. Would you say a meal is going to taste bad before trying. Would you day a movie sucks before viewing. Would you comment to a set of parents that having children is a drag to everyone?

If you don’t care and this doesn’t effect you, so be it. We have the right to speak, as much as you do, so we are sharing our thoughts.

Telling you that attending could make a believer out of you, you addressed that on your blog. But then implied that isn’t enough. What would you like? Our staff to not be able to pay rent and bills and provide you all that we teach?
This seems a bit stupid for business sense no?

We’d like suggestions from you. You are so wise at this, how would you go about making P.a. Bootcamp sound worth it? Close up shop and start giving these years of accumulated knowledge from multiple crew members out to people for free? Try for quantity and not quality? Don’t help production, or the A.D.’s just tell everyone the same rule applies to every show and every department? Mislead people who really want to learn?

From April 7, 9:45 AM–

We wanted to take the time to thank you.

Hello. We would like to take the time and thank you for your blog.
You have helped us gain more campers, surprising, with the economy being what it is. As often as blogs do, it stirs interest. We are quite happy with these results. You set out to do that, you have succeeded, and helped our small business in return. Thank you again. We hope we can return the favor some day.

We don’t want to cause any controversy on your blog. We won’t be participating in comment (until we need free press again maybe)
But we wanted to take a minute to thank you.

:)

All the best.

-P.A. BOOTCAMP STAFF www.pabootcamp.com

From April 7, 2:52 PM–

Hello.

I’m assuming this is Nathan,

My name is Charles Canzoneri.  I am not an owner of P.A. Bootcamp, but I do work for them.

Things have quickly turned unfortunate, and rereading the posts, I see it is not entirely your fault.  You initial post contained a flippant comment about the “course guide”, but it appears that reader Josh has really fanned the flames with his remarks.  From there, a couple of members we have on staff to look for internet traffic have taken it upon themselves to protect the company’s interests.

For some, this has become a main source of income during the production slowdown brought on by the current economy and lack of a SAG agreement.  (I’ve been lucky to be working full time on “The Office”.)  That is why the replies from our side have been harshly defensive.  We apologize.

You state that you are traveling and that you may blog about all this.  Before posting a judgement, I would like to invite you to meet with members of our staff, perhaps even during a camp session.  We are a legitimate business whose members work within the Film and television industry in a variety of positions (mostly P.A.’s and A.D.’s.)

Of course, you can post what you wish, and I know you have no control over your readers and their comments.  But I would like you to see the camp for yourself, and ask your questions to us directly about the camp’s content and price.  Maybe we can help you to see (as you put it) “the point.”

When I first heard of P.A. Bootcamp, I was completely unconvinced.  I thought you could train somebody everything they need to know in an hour or two.  I was invited to see the camp and was amazed by how much there is to learn.  And yes, some of it can be learned in a “trial by fire” basis over time.  But with the camp, P.A.’s arrive completely ready to handle the rough sets and the harsh A.D.’s.  They don’t burn the bridge of the first sets they get on.  The camp weeds out people who have the wrong idea about what’s required and how a set really operates.  While everybody retains their own knowledge and learns at their own pace.  There is a definite improvement to a Bootcamp trained P.A. over an untrained one.

After seeing the camp, I was convinced, and asked to help them out.  That was 3 years ago.  The camp is so much better now than it was then.

Charles Canzoneri
P.A. Bootcamp Staff

And again from Chuck, on April 7 at 7:15 PM–

Hello, from Chuck Canzoneri

Wasn’t sure if you received it at my account from work, so I’m using the main Bootcamp computer.

I’m assuming this is Nathan.

My name is Chuck Canzoneri.  I’m not the owner of P.A. Bootcamp and I don’t run it, but I do work for them.

Things have quickly turned unfortunate and rereading the posts, I see it is not entirely your fault.  Your initial post did contain a flip comment about the “course guide”, but it’s the reader/commenter Josh that really fanned the flames with his remarks.  You questioned the need for such a camp, while he called us an outright “scam.”

From there, a couple of members we have on staff that do internet research, email replies, site updates and network traffic watching took it upon themselves to protect the company’s interests.  They even got a couple of former campers to respond.

For some, this business has become a primary source of income during the production slowdown brought on by the current economy and lack of a SAG agreement.  (I’ve been lucky, working full time on “The Office.”)  This is why the replies from our side have been harshly defensive.  We apologize.

You state that you are traveling, but will probably blog about all this.  Before posting judgement, I would like to invite you to meet with members of our staff, perhaps even during a camp session.  We are a legitimate business whose members work within the Film and Television industry in a variety of positions (mostly P.A.’s and A.D.’s).

Of course, you can post what you wish, and I know you have no control over your readers and their comments.  But I would like you to see the camp for yourself, and ask your questions to us directly about the camp’s content and price.  Maybe we can help you to see “the point”, as you put it.

When I first heard of P.A. Bootcamp, I was also completely unconvinced.  I thought you could train somebody everything they need to know in an hour or two.  I was invited to see the camp and was amazed by how much there is to learn, stuff that I just take for granted. (Over 270 terms…we really do speak a different language.)  And yes, some of it can be learned in a “trial by fire” basis over time.  But with the camp, P.A.’s arrive completely ready to handle the rough sets and the harsh A.D.’s.  They don’t burn their bridges on the first sets they day-play on.  They can move into staff positions immediately.

The camp also weeds out people who have the wrong idea about what’s required and how a set operates.  While everybody learns and retains that knowledge at their individual skill level, there’s a definite improvement to a Bootcamp trained P.A. over a completely green one.  Think about a screenwriter.  They don’t need to read “Adventures in The Screen Trade” or “Story” or take Robert McKee’s seminar to write Pulp Fiction.  But there’s a reason why these resources are so popular.  They put your head in the right place so you can deliver what’s expected.

After seeing the camp, I was so convinced that I asked if I could help out.  That was 3 years ago, when they only had around 150 terms and the cost was $175.  P.A. Bootcamp is constantly evolving, and the camp of 3 years ago is a pale shadow to the current incarnation.

Chuck Canzoneri
P.A. Bootcamp Staff

Phew.  Those have been sitting in my in-box for a month, staring at me, pleading to be responded to.  But I think I’ll leave the responses to you, dear readers.

And I’m Freeeeeee! Free-Lancing!

Analis asked recently:

Once you get the low/no-budget film job and it ends, what do you do next?

Should I assume that I made great connections and the next production I apply for will swoon upon my arrival?

I wish.

It’s true, after that first credit, landing that next job will be easier.  But remember, the job hunting process is an endless. No one ever looks for you. You have to find them.

Why? Because there are hundreds of other PAs just like you, and they are looking for jobs. Actively looking.

Unless you’re the daughter of a world-renowned (and highly overrated) filmmaker, you will be job hunting every six months or so for the next… Well, I can’t say how long, since I still haven’t reached the point where I don’t have to look

And they're creepy-looking, too.

And you’re not gonna go straight from Death Bed: The Bed that Eats People to Burn Notice (the awesomest show currently on TV).

You’ll probably be hired on Death Bed 2: Bed Harder, followed by a shitty reality show on channel 397, then maybe a network reality show, then a network show that gets canceled in seven episodes, until finally winding up on a show you actually watch.

And that day, my friend, will be a glorious day.