Tagged: production assistant

Dec 07

Always Ask To Help

One thing that I think should be a no brainer when working on a set is to offer to help.  Apparently though while working on set this past week, I found that most PA’s that this particular company has hired have never offered to help out and had to be told to do so.

To me this is a huge rookie mistake that most green PA’s will tend to make.  When you are hired as a production assistant you have to do what your title says and assist the production.  This means helping with things like unloading the equipment van, taking out the garbage, and helping with lunch orders.

So instead of sitting around waiting for orders from your coordinator or production manager, get up and see who needs help.  This is will make you a great PA rather than just a PA.

 

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Things I've Learned From Set

Sep 27

Job Hunting Questions

Sarah sent me a question about job hunting:

Hey Rachel,
I just want to say I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and have found your tips on cracking into the business very wise. I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. I’m a recent college graduate and received my B.A. in TV Production this May. I have been an intern for different companies for over a year and have a decent amount of office experience and on-set experience thanks to my school projects. However, I have been sending out plenty of applications online through entertainmentcareers.net and have only had a few interviews but no luck yet on snagging a job. I have a couple of contacts from my previous interning, but definitely not alot. I’m feeling somewhat concerned that perhaps my cover letter or resume might be an issue. Any help or advice would help so much. Thank you for your help!

  Fellow job hunter,
                                                                                                                             Sarah 

Well first congrats on graduating in May!  Welcome to the real world :)

Finding your first production or entertainment job after college can be very difficult, especially depending on what type of jobs you are looking for.  To find an assistant job you would go a completely different route than if you are looking to work on set as a production assistant.  I’ll explain both ways you can go, and then try to help you figure out why you aren’t hearing anything back after you apply.

Assistant Jobs

The assistant route is a good one to take if you are looking to be a talent agent, studio executive and sometimes a producer.   Assistant jobs, especially for big studios or producers are very cut throat and hard to get.  These are not easy jobs by any means think of The Devil Wears Prada.  However, if you stick with it and work your butt off it could get you to where you want to be.

Now how to find these jobs.  There are several websites you can go to which I mentioned before but you have to keep in mind that hundreds of people are applying to the same jobs that you are so you need to stand out (more on that in a minute).

Another good way to go is to also take a look at the websites of the studio or production company you want to work at and see if there are job listings on there or if you can find an HR contact.  For these jobs it is better to find out who exactly is hiring and get your resume to them rather than the random gmail account (for example assistantjob@gmail.com) where your email will get lost with the hundreds of others.

The best way I think to get jobs though is through referrals and networking.  Contact anyone and everyone that you know in the industry and let them know that you are looking for work.  If you don’t really know anyone then go to networking parties/events, which you can find information about online.

Production Jobs

The production route is good to take if you want to become a director, producer, editor, director of photography or any other production position.

These jobs you can also find online on those websites however it is the same as assistant jobs where hundreds of people are applying to the same four jobs.  I certainly would say to continue to apply to these jobs online but do not let this be your only avenue of finding work.

Networking I think is even more important for people looking for production jobs rather than those looking for assistant jobs, because most production jobs are not posted online.  You have to know someone that knows someone to send your resume to.  So again contact anyone and everyone you know and go to networking events.

Now back to your question as to why you might not be hearing anything back.

There are three reasons why people don’t hear back from jobs posted on entertainmentcareers.net or other websites.

First, your resume got lost in the hundreds of other resumes that got sent in.  The only way to help yourself in that situation is to send your resume in first.  That means you need to stay on top of the job websites and as soon as you see a job or a gig you want apply for it.  I actually have a saved draft of my resume/cover letter in my email so I can just add the email of who I need to send it to right away.  That way I can get an alert on my phone while I am away from home and still be able to apply to that position.

Second, you don’t have the qualifications that are needed for that job.  Are you applying to producer jobs when you have barely been a PA on set?  Or are you applying for assistant jobs that require 3 years experience?  Make sure you take a look at the qualifications before you apply, that way you will have a better chance.

Lastly, the reason why you might not be hearing back is because your resume sucks.  I don’t say that to be mean.  I just can’t tell you how many resumes that I have seen that are absolutely terrible.  Check out my other post about resumes and that should help you out.

If you still have questions about your resume after you re-worked it or if you just want another set of eyes on it I can take a look at it for you.  Email me at rachelmmarks@gmail.com

Hope this helps with your job hunt!  If you have anymore questions let me know.

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Being an Assistant, Job Hunting

Aug 16

The Find Work Panic

The current show I am on is completing production in about a month or so, and I am now entering what I like to call the find work panic.

It is always at this point in time when I start to hear other crew members already talking about their next gigs and unfortunately I have no idea what I am going to be doing after this yet.  I start to have minor panic attacks as I realize, well crap I have to find another gig too.

To ease this find work panic I start to email everyone, and I mean everyone I know in the industry letting them know my availability.  Most of these contacts are people I have worked with before and hopefully one of them will know of another show crewing up around the time that I am available.  I cannot stress enough oh important it is to keep up with people you have worked with before.  This entire industry runs by word of mouth and recommendations.

This time I thought I would utilize my blog as well, so starting mid-September/ October I will be available for work!  If anyone knows of anything please send the info on over :)

What do you do to find your next gig?

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

Jul 12

Disgruntled Neighbors

 

I am currently working on reality show (or as production likes to put it, “a documentary style television show”) that is filming at a house in a very ritzy and secluded  neighborhood. Now when I say secluded I mean so damn secluded and conservative that having crew members walking around with tattoos freaks the neighbors out.

This morning I was walking from the production office around the house to the tech room.  As I am walking on the sidewalk I see an older woman riding her bicycle and like any other good samaritan I side-step out of her way so she can pass.  I smile at her and instead of a smile back she bitterly says “go back to hollywood!” as she lifts her arm and shakes her fist at me.

Now first of all I don’t live in Hollywood.  I am a local hire for the city that we are working in.  So going back to hollywood would not really make any sense for me to do.  Second what exactly does she think this is going to accomplish by this?  Does she think that since she said that we are all going to magically pack up and leave?  What ever happened to people being nice or maybe even just polite?

Now personally I do not see the big deal of a production filming in a neighborhood, but I am probably jaded since I work in the industry.  I mean it’s not as if all of us crew members are here specifically to make this woman’s life miserable.  We are here because we were hired and this is steady work for four months.

We honestly have no say of where or when we shoot and if they really have a huge problem with us being there then they should talk to the film commission that allowed us to be here in the first place.

Or they can just continue to yell angry remarks at random crew members since that will obviously get things accomplished.

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant

Jul 10

Making it outside of LA

It has usually been common knowledge that the way to make it in the entertainment industry is to move to one of the two big hubs, New York or Los Angeles.  Believe it or not though many people do live outside of these cities and are still able to work and thrive in this industry.  Take for example, yours truly.

I started out in this industry in Miami, FL.  After graduating from University of Miami I was too nervous to leave my comfort zone for the last 4 years and make the big move to LA like most of my fellow classmates did.  I started out at a talent agency and eventually moved on to freelance production.  Thanks to tax incentives created in Florida more productions started to move down there and I was able to step away from the talent and casting side to production.

After a few years I finally decided to make the move to the west coast but I was hesitant about moving to LA.  I visited LA a few times over the years and even considered going to college out there but to tell you the truth I actually despise LA.  It really is just not my scene.  So I decided to move to San Diego instead.

In San Diego I have been fortunate enough to find work in both places, especially with reality television shows because most of them are travel shows anyway.  Does this mean I will never move to LA?  Who knows.. but for now I am able to work in both places and I am extremely happy.

As for others that have made it outside of LA take for example Gabriel de Jesus who is a screenwriter living in Puerto Rico.  Gabriel made it to the finals of the Nicholl Fellowship competition.  Read an article about his exprience on John August’s blog here.

Is it easier to make in LA?  Yes, since the number of jobs available is higher.  However, that does not mean that you do not have a shot outside of the big city.  Look into your local film commissions, and check out various websites like craigslist, media-match and entertainmentcareers.net.

Keep at it and eventually you will be able to make it no matter where you live.

 

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Los Angeles

Jun 30

Courage to take that chance

 

TAPA has a blog post up yesterday that really made me sit back and think.  TAPA explained how he currently has a job as an office pa on a movie that will last him until the end of the year.  Recently he got an offer to work as a director’s assistant on a low budget horror film which he was ecstatic about.  When he went to the interview he found out that the job would only last him 8 weeks, and he sadly had to turn down this dream position because he couldn’t afford to have that job and he decided to stay in his current position as office pa.

I started to think what would I do if I were in this position?  It made me think of my predicament of being stuck on a hamster wheel and how I would love to be offered a different position.  Would I bite the bullet and take the job knowing it would help further my career or would I stay at the steady job so I could pay all of my bills?

This is such a tough decision that I feel that a lot of people in our industry have to make.  At what point do we need to start thinking about moving up in our careers and taking the gigs that don’t last that long over taking the steady ones in positions we have done countless times before?

I completely understand TAPA’s decision and I have to say I don’t blame him for staying in the longer gig, however, I think I may have taken the director’s assistant position and dealt with finding money to pay my bills afterwards.

Walt Disney said “All of our dreams can come true- if you have the courage to pursue them” and I agree with Mr. Disney 100%.  We have to have the courage to take the chance for our dream jobs to happen.  If we do not then we will remain in the dreaded hamster wheel and never truly get to where we want to be.

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Career Path

May 12

First Feature Film

So I have been terrible at posting lately, but it has been for a good reason.  I just finished working on my first feature film!

The movie I was working on is called Caleb and here is the link to it’s imdb page http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1907639/

It was an amazing experience and now I am so excited to work on the next big project.  Comment on what your feature film experiences been like!

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Production

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 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

Jan 07

Job Hunting

 

As the gig I am currently on sadly comes to an end with no second season picked up I figured it would be a great time to blog about job hunting.  I know it sucks..but as a freelancer you always have to keep looking for work.  Here are a few avenues that you can go through to find the best thing for you:

Call or email your past contacts

This is possibly the most important thing you can do.  All those people you worked on set with before are probably working on a new production now.  While you were working you should have gotten all of their contact information so put that to use and email them to see what they are up to.  DO NOT just flat out as for a job because that will usually annoy people.  Create some form of a conversation that will lead to them asking about if you are working and hopefully they will know someone that needs help.

Job Sites

There are a few job sites that are usually pretty good to check out when looking for production work.  Some are free while others charge per month to use the service.

www.mandy.com – free

www.craigslist.org – free

www.crewedup.com -free

www.realitystaff.com- free and subscription (The subscription allows you to write more in your cover letter).

www.entertainmentcareers.net – subscription

www.media-match.com – subscription

www.filmstaff.com – subscription

www.productionhub.com- free

www.varietymediacareers.com- free

www.productionweekly.com – subscription

www.mercuryreport.com- subscription

You can also check out specific production company websites, studio websites, imdb in the forums section (though it is shady sometimes) and any other place you can think of.  If anyone knows of any more websites please let me know!

Go to a networking event

This is just like calling your old contacts, however, here you are making new ones.  A lot of different film groups or societies tend to have networking parties that you can attend.  Google or ask your other friends in production and go armed with your business card.

Cold calling/ emailing companies

You can always cold call and email production companies to find if they are hiring crew or if they keep potential crew resume’s on file.

UTA job list

This as I have mentioned before is a list created by UTA of all the assistant positions in Hollywood.  This list is awesome if you are looking to be an assistant, but very bad if you are looking to actually work on set in a production.  Keep in mind thousands of people receive  this list so don’t be surprised if you never hear back when you apply for something.  If you want to receive the UTA job list email me at rachelmmarks@gmail.com

It is important to remember to not doubt yourself and give up.  There are a lot of production companies and projects filming that need a hand.  Keep at it and eventually you will land a gig.  Happy hunting!

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Posted in Being a Production Assistant, Job Hunting

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