There are several benefits to being a freelance Production Assistant; one of them is getting to meet new and exciting people. This week I worked a few days at the “Dirty Jobs” gig and than I switched gears and worked with a company based out of DC. It was interesting because they are building a pilot ‘docu-series’ as it was being called but lets face facts folks - it’s a reality show. So, I spent the last two days hanging out with a guy who is a rocket scientist with a need for speed. Thankfully he was not full of himself and extremely friendly.
We started the day at his place which was super nice in Venice Beach and ended up in my hometown Van Nuys at night. The pilot is based on watching him build things with all his rocket science friends. It was fun seeing all his fast cars, and inventions in his house. The series is pretty much already on the fall list called “Mr. Impossible” but they were creating a 15 minute ‘taster reel’ for the network to showcase. I hope they pull it off.
There is also the small world factor in the film world. The girl who is the show runner, she went to school at AFI with all my teachers at Chapman, so we discussed that quite a bit. She went to school for film directing but has done what most do out here - find work in other ways. You see here’s how it works when living in LA and chasing the ‘dream’. You come to LA thinking, “I want to be a director, producer, writer.” Those are the big three right? But than reality kind of sets in and you start finding whatever you can just to live out here (because let’s face it, even though we are in a recession California is a pricey place to live). So you do PA’ing or something in the art department (anything to pay rent) and than you ‘fall in’ as the phrase goes, into that area. It can be hard for some to break free of that once they’re very deeply rooted in this. I believe if you keep striving for your ultimate goal, fighting the good fight and remembering the reasons you came out here, you might have a fighting chance against this pigeon holding that tends to happen.
In many ways I’d like to keep freelancing in stuff, because you network like crazy with people and producers. I’ve already really enjoyed one of the producers at my other place and I’m hoping she’ll let me on her show in May to PA or whatever cuz it sounds like a lot of fun. However I know I need a steady job even though there really isn’t something like that out here. There is no real thing such as job security because you wear so many different hats. On one show you may PA, on another you are a script sup. But I think in many ways our world is also changing into this mentality as well. Jobs are no longer secure and you sometimes don’t know where you’re next paycheck is coming. In the less than a year I’ve worked for 4 different companies (paying gigs) but it was all freelance stuff.
On the plus side though, the place I have been a PA at has hired me on to be a transcriber now. Basically I take the interviews they do with the guests on the shows and write them out for the producers. It’s in the post department and after my shift I can ‘shadow’ some of the assistant editors there for an hour (my shift is from 6 PM to 2 AM and theirs ends at 3 AM). Again it’s all about networking and showing you can handle the work.
I will admit I miss directing. After my thesis I think I swore it off, I was burnt out from just the whole school experience. Cranking out 5 short films over 3 years may seem like nothing but it was more than I’d done in a long time. However, I feel the bug hitting me again. I’m writing more, I’m thinking about stuff in how I want to shoot, locations, stuff that makes me get excited about wanting to direct again. So maybe if I can save some money I can shoot something this summer. Something small, but it would be fun to do it again.
Till Another,
Ne in Hollywood!
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