how to be a P.A. on a big movie?

[Brandon Fraley]

or rather, how to be a P.A. on a movie you WANT to work on?

I'd bet there's a million kids who simply want to be on the set of Tarantino's latest. Or imagine what geeks would do to run coffee on the Episode III set.

A LOT of people must want these lowly P.A. positions. How do they hire people?

Maybe I should open it up to other "entry level" movie professions. How do you get on the set of you movie YOU want to work on?

[Tonaci Tran]

you already know that saying..its not what you know but who you know. connections baby. work leads to more work..networking until you land that dream gig. be good at it and sprinkle some luck.

[Brandon Fraley]

you already know that saying..its not what you know but who you know. connections baby.

too true :) Anyone have any interesting stories illustrating this point? Landing a dream gig because "you knew a guy"?

[GlennChan]

It probably won't hurt to politely call up one of the productions (e.g. talk to the location manager or assistant location manager). They may or may not take you on, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Just be prepared to:
A- Do grunt work. Anything everyone else doesn't want to be doing... they will ask you to do it. Cleaning up garbage, mopping up a wet bathroom floor, etc. etc. Everyone else has their own job and they'd like to focus on it... the PA's job is to help them do that by doing the grunt work.
B- Long, long hours. >>10++ hour days.
C- Be cool to work with, don't complain, have a positive attitude.
D- And for all the crap you have to go through, you may not get paid that well (if at all). BUT, you're learning way more than film school and you're actually making money instead of spending it.

2- I wouldn't necessarily call being a PA a dream gig.

3- From the production's perspective, they have to figure out if the free labour is worth the hassle (and if they have enough PAs already). They don't want someone who thinks picking up garbage, doing grunt work, etc. is beneath them.

[Noah Kadner]

Being young, cute and female never hurts...

[Brandon Fraley]

1 outa 3 aint bad... right?

(and when i said dream job, I wasn't talking about PAing)

[Petr Dvorak]

tell them that you will work for free :clown2:

[Mark Allen]

Being cogniscant and motivated are two coveted skills for PA's. The only thing that would stop you from getting the gig is lack of connections and experience. Look for the people who work all the time. I know I've done PSA's in the past and all the good people got more work out of it - so the time donation was worth it. One of my favorite DP's was an AC on a PSA I directed and I liked his attitude and that made a big difference to me when I needed a new DP and his name came up. I ended up using him a lot. Try getting on shorter shoots - commercials and music videos, for free and just amaze everone with your attentiveness and motivation and you'll find you'll start getting calls. Work for free at first if you must even - you're working for connections. Then when the work starts coming in, you start charging rate and whoever doesn't pay will go look for the next person. Ease your rates up slowly for the people who help you get more work.

The most important thing is to get out there and get to know people. I can't tell you how many times a week a get calls for some set position. Sound Guy? AC? etc. People are always looking for quality people.

Also be proactive. Let people know always what you want to do. And stick to the present especially at first. Don't say "I want to direct features" - it makes you seem unrealistic when you first meet someone. Even if it's true - even if you are shooting DV features with friends... stick to the present, you need to lay things out for people and you can lay out the next step. "I'm trying to PA as many shows as I can and meet people." that makes sense, people can help you with that. Once you are doing this. "I'm trying to continue to PA, but get closer to the producers so I can learn the process." or whatever.

Also keep in mind mandy.com and other employment resources. The movie industry is a business like any other business and there are job postings and such - for the major studios even more so. Jobs through temp agencies like Friedman though usually end up being in offices.

Here's a funny note for you. I was at a screening for a new feature that was out. I was introduced tot he executive producers and one of them said. "I know you. I was a PA on a music video shoot you did like 10 years ago. It was my first industry job."

The guy went on to produce features, not bad.

[Noah Kadner]

Also, most folks who say they want to 'direct' have no clue what they're doing other than they've watched a lot of DVD special features docs and admired the guy calling action. But they rarely have anything interesting to say.

You want to direct features, then write some awesome screenplays and sell them with yourself in the big chair. Or go direct them with whatever camera and gear you can lay your hands on and win Sundance.

Noah

[John Hunt]

Many 'dream job' prod/dirs have crews they work with regularly. Getting into the 'family' can be near impossible if you don't know someone.

So get to know someone else. Get on message boards with ultra-low-budget movies and offer to help out. You will get screwed a few times, but you may find a gem. You will also get to do stuff you will never get to do on a 'big' (union) shoot and learn the ropes so when you do get the cool gig, you will perform like a pro. Schmoozing at this level is easy, and often people on the crew will move up and will bring you along if you work hard and play well with others. I made $100/week working on a terrible horror movie - 18 hour days, backbreaking work, truly crazy crew, but I learned an incredible amount of real-world basics, made connections for future gigs, met my future wife, and also gained some great stories to tell. What a shoot that was.

American Film Institute fellows in Hollywood often need free help on their shoots. Get on board with them and keep in touch as they progress thru the ranks. Same goes for your local University film school.

Or get a job with an ancillary service company that the big prod cos hire for their shoots. The best job I had in the beginning was working for a small teleprompter company in Hollywood. I worked on many, many big-budget national commercial spots and many feature films (remember Robert Downey Jr.'s Great Dictator speech in "Chaplain"? maybe not...but working with Sir Richard Attenborough and his crew was almost a religious experience).

Because I operated the prompter, I had a headset on and could listen to the director interact with actors - every job was like going to a directing seminar. I also sketched lighting set-ups, chatted-up the audio guy, etc. There are many opportunities to schmooze and learn once you're on-set...

Be creative and be the hardest working one in the bunch and you'll get there -

[donatello b]

how - you ask !!!
you list what city/area you are located ....
perhaps you become friendly with some RED owners ... perhaps they can get you on a set for a few hours ... maybe you meet somebody on that set - maybe they take your # ... maybe they call you when they need extra PA's ???? there's alot of maybe's, some being in the right place at the right time and many/mostly who you know in the business ...

what city are you located ?

[Brian Valente]

Pretty much *all* my gigs are because of who I know. That, and a reputation for working hard, being punctual, and fun to be around. If you do a stellar job, in not too long you'll have more offers than you know what to do with.

And do it as much as you can - at any opportunity. In college there was a guy who rubbed me the wrong way, and all he did was talk about this movie his dad was working on, and if I wanted to join the crew. I blew him off - it was "Amadeus". You never know





Brian

[Michael Schrengohst]

or rather, how to be a P.A. on a movie you WANT to work on?

I'd bet there's a million kids who simply want to be on the set of Tarantino's latest. Or imagine what geeks would do to run coffee on the Episode III set.

A LOT of people must want these lowly P.A. positions. How do they hire people?

Maybe I should open it up to other "entry level" movie professions. How do you get on the set of you movie YOU want to work on?

Do some homework:
This tidbit from the excellent http://www.rondexter.com site.

http://www.rondexter.com/intermediate/production/set_ettiquette.htm

[Brandon Fraley]

what city are you located ?

Monterey, Ca. Pretty Far from LA, pretty close to SF. I have family in LA so I've been taking monthly trips down there for every opportunity I can. A couple short film shoot, music video, the RED collab. training...

I'm indeed one of the sry "I want to direct" guys, although I have written/directed/shot/edited 3 shorts, all of which have been selected and won something, although nothing prestigious. Now I just meet everyone i can and hand out my card, saying i wanna help. It's starting to lead to things, just been a slow process. Or maybe it hasn't, I've only been at it 3 years, but i'm trying to progress as much as possible.

Thanks for all the advice and indeed PM me if you have an opportunity :)

[Nathan Buxton]

I've been offered PA positions countless times... I don't think i would ever do it. But, then again, none of these offers were for very interesting productions.

To go back in time ans PA for T2 or Heat or some wicked movie... i would probably do that.