So it has been a long time since I have actually sat down and attempted to write on my blog, which could mean two things for me.  I have either been so swamped with work that I haven’t had a chance to sit, or that I have not had any work and I am doing everything possible to find my next gig.  The truth is it has been a little bit of both.  It is season in South Florida so I have been kept fairly busy this winter.  I have started to step away from casting and get more into what I really want to do which is production.

Now production is wonderful, but I am pretty much the lowest person on the totem pole and the most expendable.  I am the ever so valuable (or in some cases invaluable) production assistant.  Without the production assistant production vans would not be driven, coffee and water would not be gotten, and most importantly no one would have everything they did wrong to blame on.  Don’t get me wrong I have loved some of my new jobs however I am starting to remember what it felt like to pledge a sorority back in college.  I have to prove myself worthy in order to be in the club.

Breaking into this “club” is extremely difficult.   You have to have either know someone or have experience to land a gig as a pa on a set, but the only way to know someone or gain experience is to have a job as a pa on set.  Essentially the industry is just a big catch 22.  How I got started is through casting.  A lot of reality television shows use casting recruiters to find participants to be on their show.   As a casting recruiter  you will go out to different places in your city and find people the would be great for the show.  The trick is you need to find real people that would fit the show, not an actor that wants to break into the industry and would do anything to be on TV.

There are other ways to start out in the industry.  You can try the assistant route where you are an assistant to a producer, director, or a high up executive in the industry.  In this job you will do a lot of scheduling, read a lot of submitted scripts, and learn a lot about what the person you are assisting does.  The benefits of this job is that you do have a normal job so to speak.  You will most likely be working normal 9-5 hours and get a steady pay check, but this job will be completely different from working as a pa on set.  This job usually leads you to working at a studio or a production company.

I think the most important thing to remember is what your goals are.   Sit down and actually think about what you want to do with your life.  If you want to be a producer then I suggest you try to work as a pa on set because you learn everything about production that way.  If you want to be an executive at a studio then work as an assistant somewhere and you will eventually learn everything about being a studio exec.  Do research.  Look into biographies of top producers or directors and see how they accomplished their goals and then try to copy them.  Just don’t give up.  I know being at the bottom sucks, but once the hazing is all over an done with you will be so happy to be apart of the club.