Tagged: Los Angeles

Aug 17

One way to never get a call back

While sipping my coffee this morning and going through my daily news and blog sources online I came across this headline:

Script left at Beverly Hills talent agency blown up by police

I am not joking.  A bright young man in Beverly Hills decided to bring a locked briefcase with his script inside to a talent agency and leave it there with the hopes that someone would read it.  The talent agency’s security called the police thinking that it was a bomb, thus resulting in this man’s blown up script.

Read the full article on this story from the LA Times here.

Now I have heard creative ways of trying to get your script in the door, but seriously?  Did this guy actually think that this was the best way to get people to read his script?

To all of your aspiring screenwriters out there..this is NOT the way to get your script read!

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Posted in Entertainment News, Film Community, Los Angeles, Screenwriting

Jul 28

25 Best Film Schools

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) came out with their ranking of the top 25 film schools to attend, and I have to say I’m shocked that my alma mater, University of Miami, was not on the list.  I am even more shocked  that Florida State made the list instead of us.  When did FSU get a film program?

Side note: If you know anything about me personally then you know I hate Florida State.

As much as I loved college and the program I was in at University of Miami I have to say that I have learned more about the industry while actually working in it than I ever did while taking classes.  Film schools don’t offer a Production Assistant 101 or an Executive Assistant 101, and those positions are usually the first ones that aspiring filmmakers get right out of college.

That being said, don’t completely write off college if you want to work in Hollywood.  Despite their insane expenses and lack of classes focused on how to actually work in the industry,  college does help you learn and grow as a person.  And I think that is the most important part of it, no matter if your school is in the top 25 or not.

What schools do you think should be on the list?

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Career Path, Film Community

Apr 04

Comments about UTA Joblist

 

So after posting that I have the newest UTA joblist and I am willing to email it out to you I received an enormous response.  While looking through some of the comments I noticed this one posted by Tyler and I felt like I really should address this:

I would love the list as I am looking for a part time gig to go with my bartending job once a week. Thanks

Ok here is my huge problem with this comment.  The UTA job list does not offer part time gigs.  If you are looking for a part time gig to go along with bartending then I would highly suggest trying to find something else.

The UTA joblist is a list of assistant jobs that are full time and that are available in Hollywood.  The list is sent out to hundreds of people so you can imagine that these jobs are rare and highly sought after.  I can also assure you that if you do not live in Los Angeles you will never receive a call for one of these positions.  Hollywood tends to mostly hire from within but the rare times it does not it will offer interviews to those people that live in that city.

If you are serious about an assistant job in Hollywood I would suggest contacting companies directly rather than trying to land a job through this list.  Try websites like media-match and realitystaff.com as well because they usually have some pretty great positions on there as well.

 

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Posted in Being an Assistant, Job Hunting, UTA Job list

Feb 25

Confusion

 

After a plethora of emails regarding the UTA joblist I feel like I need to explain some things to you.

The UTA joblist is a list that has the most highly sought after assistant jobs in the industry.  This means that if you want to be an assistant to a producer, celebrity, director, or executive this is one of the places you could look.  If you are just starting out in the industry and you want to be someone’s assistant you WILL NOT get one of these jobs.  Even though they are entry level positions, if you have never been an assistant before they will not hire you.

The main way people get jobs in Hollywood is through people you know.  The higher ups like to hire through friends, or through people they know so that they somewhat trust the person they are hiring.  I can guarantee you that if you live in Carmel, IN and you apply for one of these positions on the list they will instantly  disregard your resume because you do not live in California.  The only way you will get one of these positions is if you live in Los Angeles.

If you are looking for any production assistant jobs then the UTA job list is not for you.  You can find these jobs sometimes through craigslist, media-match.com, and realitystaff.com.   Like everything else in Hollywood though you mainly get these jobs through people you know.  The rule about living in California also applies to production assistant positions unless you are trying to get a gig on a movie or tv show filming in your city in which case you could be hired as a local hire.

Good luck and happy job hunting!

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Posted in Job Hunting

Feb 21

Questions About Making The Move

 

I received this question in my inbox this morning:

Good Afternoon,

I was reading your website and you have a lot of resourceful things/advice. Thank you for helping those, like me, who are clueless out here. I’m aiming to move out to LA by May and trying to apply to places. Anywhere I can get a foot in. I’m interested in film/sports, Don’t have a specific specialty though. My interests are broad including production, talent management, PR, broadcasting, and performing. I’ve looked into applying to Entertainment/Sports firms because I have a Sport/Business Administration degree and was an athlete and it seems like it’ll be my best bet. I’ve been told Agent Trainee Programs are your best bet to network. But other places I’ve read tat if you don’t want to be an actual agent, don’t waste your time. I’m moving out there relatively soon so I’m trying to commit and have an attack plan. Any advice?

Also, I’d like to receive the UTA Joblist. I’ve read that there are tons of assistant jobs, which I don’t mind at all. But are these jobs enough to live off of or do you usually need outside financial help? Another job?

Any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Well first things first you really should decide what it is that you want to end up doing.  There are so many different jobs in our industry and hundreds of different paths to get there.  Say for instance that your goal is to eventually become a director.  Well then I would suggest working on as many production sets as you can.  Start out as a production assistant and learn all the ins of outs on set.  From there you can start to move up into different things but I think the most important thing to learn is how the production set functions and how it runs.  If you want to be a producer try working as an assistant to one.  If you want to edit start working at a post production house as a runner or a production assistant.  My point is figure out what it truly is that you want to end up doing and then find the best path that will eventually lead you to that goal.

If you are interested in sports that is a completely different field than production and entertainment in general.  I honestly know nothing about that field, so you may want to look into that on your own and decide what is the best path for that field.

With the Agent Trainee programs, they are a lot of pros and cons.  They are great if you want to be an agent, because you learn first hand what it takes to be one.  I have to warn you though that I have heard some bad things about the program including EXTREMLY long hours and a unhealthy connection to your blackberry.

If you are just looking for networking oportunities there a millions of different ways to accomplish that.  The best way to look at networking is to really see it as making friends, rather than making contacts.  Your friends will be more than happy to put their neck out there for you to get a job, while a random phone number will not.

On to the UTA job list.  This joblist is a highly sought after list in Hollywood that has all of the new assistant jobs.  This list is great, however, you have to realize that thousands of people get this list, and even more apply to these positions.  Also Hollywood tends to hire from within so most of those jobs are already filled by their friends cousins sister-in-law.

You can make a living off an assistant job just know that it will not be a lavish one.  Same goes for any entry level job in this industry.  My biggest suggestion is to save as much as you can before you come out to LA, that way you will have something to fall back on when you only make $500 per week.

I hope this helps!  Please keep the questions coming.


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Posted in Job Hunting, Los Angeles, Production, UTA Job list

Jan 31

I Think We Need To See Other Cities

I found this interesting article on media-match:

Leaving Los Angeles?

January 26th, 2011 by Lee Jarvis

California has long been the heart of the film industry. It saw huge growth throughout the early 1900s with huge investment in infrastructure and migration from the rest of the US. It’s perfect weather and vast landscapes were ideal for filming, and the glamorous lifestyle portrayed by movie stars helped the Los Angeles area blossom into a haven for anyone looking for a break.

With an incredible rise, there is often an inevitable fall. As society and technology changed, so did people’s social habits. Cinema wasn’t as popular once TVs, drive-thru fast-food and rock’n’roll came around. Whilst the LA population continued to sky rocket, the film industry was shook up. Paramount Pictures are now the last major film studio still headquartered in Hollywood, the other having moved around the city after the Golden Age had burned out. MGM went from selling 50 movies a year, to selling their Culver City studio lot. The decline is also re-iterated today, with recent financial struggles forcing production companies and film studios to scrutinize the economic impact of their works harsher than ever. Even still, MGM even had to file for bankruptcy just two months ago.

Many film projects have move across country, rather than having to pack up altogether; this is made possible and more common with technological advances. Equipment is better, faster, smaller, lighter. Projects can be worked on digitally, saving space and time for transport.

Last year I came across this interesting map of filming locations selected for visual similarities between each area and their worldwide counterparts. The map was used by Paramount Studios and is from around 1927.

film location california paramount studio map 1927

Nowadays, the reality is that you can fly a team out to the middle of anywhere, and your running costs may even be cheaper than the LA equivalent. This recent report in the LA Times shares that “even with the increased activity, feature production remained less than half what it was in 1996, underscoring the long-term challenges L.A. faces as it struggles to keep movies and TV shows from leaving Southern California”

Things may be looking up. Film LA Inc. recorded an increase in commercial and television shoots over the last 12 months, although still some way off of where things were 15 years ago. The growth in using video as marketing and promotional tools means that every business is looking for talent to help expand their branding.

Is this enough to reel it back in? Are the new markets evolving fast enough to keep the film population in LA? Have YOU left LA? Have you taken work out of town? Would you never leave? Is all this complete bumpf? Share your thoughts below…

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Posted in Production

Jan 13

You Are Such A Hypocrite James Cameron

 

As some of you may know Peter Berg is currently working on a new film based on Hasbro’s iconic game of Battleship.  Since James Cameron likes to comment about everything Hollywood here is his take on this upcoming film:

“We have a story crisis. Now they want to make the Battleship game into a film. This is pure desperation. Everyone in Hollywood knows how important it is that a film is a brand before it hit theaters. If a brand has been around, Harry Potter for example, or Spider-Man, you are light years ahead. And there lies the problem. Because unfortunately these franchises are become more ridiculous. Battleship. This degrades the cinema.”

Hmm that’s funny Mr. Cameron.  I seem to remember a little movie you created called Avatar that was a COMPLETE rip off from stories like Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas.  Before you start criticizing Peter Birg for creating a unique story from a game maybe you should look at your own work and see how much of it is actually an original idea.

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Posted in Movie News

Jan 12

2010 Films

I found this great youtube video showcasing  pretty much all the films made in 2010.  Check it out!

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Posted in Movie News

Jan 11

This just makes me love Pixar even more

 

Check out this article from Geek O System on how Pixar’s bosses Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull saved their employees from getting fired:

How Pixar Bosses Saved Their Employees from Layoffs

by Robert Quigley | 10:07 am, January 11th, 2011
Today, Pixar may be a multibillion dollar company seemingly capable of doing no wrong in the box office, but in its early days as Lucasfilm’s computer animation division, its future was far from certain. Indeed, in the mid-’80s, some at Lucasfilm doubted the value of computer animation, and the division faced deep layoffs. Then, its two heads, Alvy Ray Smith and Ed Catmull, saved it in a positively Pixaresque way.

The Harvard Business Review recently spoke to 25+ year Pixar vet Craig Good, who recounted the remarkable story:

[Lucasfilm president Doug] Norby was pressing Catmull and Smith to do some fairly deep layoffs. The two couldn’t bring themselves to do it. Instead, Catmull tried to make a financial case for keeping his group intact, arguing that layoffs would only reduce the value of a unit that Lucasfilm could profitably sell … But Norby was unmoved. As Craig tells it: “He was pestering Ed and Alvy for a list of names from the Computer Division to lay off, and Ed and Alvy kept blowing him off. Finally came the order: You will be in my office tomorrow morning at 9:00 with a list of names.”

So what did these two bosses do? “They showed up in his office at 9:00 and plunked down a list,” Craig told me. “It had two names on it: Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith.”

The gutsy move worked, and not a single employee of what would soon become Pixar was fired. Not long afterwards, Lucasfilm spun Pixar off as its own company under Catmull’s and Smith’s leadership, selling it to Steve Jobs for $5 million; two decades later, Disney would buy it for $7.4 billion.

http://www.geekosystem.com/how-pixar-bosses-saved-their-employees-from-layoffs/

Seriously guys..please hire me

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Posted in Movie News

Jan 10

Update on production resume

 

Today in the office I got assigned to put submitted resumes into a binder for my line producer.  As I was going through the resumes I started to realize that there are some extremly terrible production resumes out there and I mean seriously terrbile.

If you are making a  production resume or a CV for you silly Brits,  please just keep it simple.  All you really need is four columns.  First for the date you worked on the project, second for your title, third for the show name and network and the last one for the production company and viola!  You have the perfect production resume.    You do not need to describe every single thing you did  in your past positions because usually the person hiring you will know exactly what a PA does.

Also another tip.. make sure your resume makes it clear what type of position you are applying for.  For example if you are applying for a production assistant position make sure you have production assistant positions on your resume, not your summer job working at McDonalds.  Keep in mind that this is the first thing a potential employer will see from you so make it look good..not like you just threw it together 10 minutes ago.

If you are interested in seeing what my resume looks like for your reference feel free to email me.  I am no resume expert..but I do keep getting hired so I must be doing something right.

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant

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