How to PA: Getting steady work

Acquiring good steady work is never easy. You have to fight your way through the crowd, and sometimes, you’ll end up with steady work that doesn’t really satisfy you. You might find a great job with a reality company, but deep down you’d rather work in scripted content. Or you might get hired as an art PA more often than you’d like, because camera work is your thing.

There isn’t just one way of growing your contacts and skills, but some things work across the board. I’m going to give a few pointer to help you get on set, be useful on set, and convert that to a steady stream of work that matches your career ideal.

Getting you first (free) gig

I’m not going to talk about building your resume, but keep in mind that a decent resume will help you get on set. Even though there won’t be any pay, many, many people will apply to the jobs you see posted online.

There are a few standard ressources to apply to low-paid jobs:

• www.mandy.com
• www.craigslist.com
• www.entertainmentcareers.net

Right now, the goal is to get on set. Wether you’re going to be a production PA, camera PA, art PA…doesn’t matter. If you get a call, or are asked to come interview on the other side of town, be professional and answer questions truthfully. Some people just want to make sure that you’re motivated, and not someone that won’t wake up at 6am the next day.

There are a couple schools in LA that give great opportunities to learn how things should be done: AFI (the American Film Institute) and UCLA. Working on short films for these schools usually means working under the supervision of professionals, rather than working for delusional artists. So don’t hesitate to take these gigs.

If you have connections who can place you on set right away, but you lack experience, I would suggest to wait a little. Go make mistakes on sets where it doesn’t matter, learn from that, then go back to your contacts. You don’t want to waste opportunities and be labelled as a “political hire” by the other PAs.

Working to impress

Once you land a gig, the goal is to convert this day of free work into multiple days of future paid work. Out of 3 or 4 PAs working on the day, it’s pretty common that only one person will reap the benefits of their free work. And that’s an important lesson to learn: Los Angeles might have a thousand PA jobs for grabs every single day, but it will always be the same 1,000 PAs that get them. The other 10,000 PAs looking for work will end up going home when their savings have been spent, or will chose a different career.

So getting the job is really just the first step. The good news is that most of the PAs you’ll encounter on free gigs are usually students with little to no experience (like you?) or people who are curious about the industry. The latter will often realize how much work is required and give up, and the students will just suck at their job. So it’s not that complicated to make a good impression as long as you know a few things:

1. Listen: If someone tells you something, remember it. Make notes. Anything that prevents you from asking a question twice. Also, the conversation taking place in the headset you’re wearing is most often more important than the conversation you are having with the person in front of you. With time, you will learn to listen to both and filter out the useless information, but for now, excuse yourself to the person you’re in front of, and pay attention to the voices in your head….
2. Be vigilant: the job of a PA is boring. Once the morning rush is over, it’s very easy to sit down somewhere and lose track of scenes, setups etc…If you want to be better than the others, you have to force yourself to pay attention. This way, when something comes up, like an actor asking for water, or an AD asking for the talent, you can react to it before even being asked. Still, look at the AD in need of help, and once he noticed that you noticed, go for it. Do that 2-3 times and you’ll be set for the day (you’ll become this AD’s go to PA on the radio).
3. Introduce yourself to the production and AD team. Some people just stay in their corner and end up being “that PA”. Plus, when people know your name, they usually ask you for more things, simply because it’s more awkward to say “hey you” than “hey Mike”.
4. Play your strength: if you’re more at ease with the art department, or the camera department, go see the line producer in the morning and ask if you can be assigned to that department. Most of the time, they’ll say yes, or they’ll ask you to split your time between that and other production duties.
5. Be helpful to the people that will hire you. That’s usually your line producer or AD. Making friends with the grips won’t land you any jobs. Unless you want to be a grip of course.
6. If you run out of things to do, consider the following list:
   • check the trash cans : are any overflowing? Can you push trash down to make room?
   • Check the crafty table : is it in order? Is the cooler still full? Is it running out of water/ice? If it is, radio the producer to give him a head’s up
   • Does the camera department need someone to stand in when setting up a shot? Jump in! You don’t even need to say anything, they will frame with you. Jump out when you see cast coming back on set
   • Do a trash sweep, clear bottles and cans from the set
   • Is it hot on set? grab a flag and vent the actors/crew (ask the ADs first)
   • Is it lunch soon? Check that tables and chairs are prepared. One the food is ready, radio the AD saying “lunch as landed, everything is ready”
   • Carry a spare radio battery (“hot brick”). When someone asks for one, you’ll be 10 feet away. Instant friendship.
   • Be very strict on your lock ups. You shouldn’t tolerate anyone who is talking during a take even if “there’s no way the sound guy can hear that”. Again, think about who’s hiring you. Still, try to not be a dickhead. Diplomacy!
   • There are a lot more things than you can do on your own. Make your own list, and go through it every day. After a while, it will become second nature and people will love you for it. Plus, you’ll be less bored!
7. Even if you’ve never been on set in your life, there is one thing that will make you look like you have: gear. When you’re a PA, gear means:
   • a black and a red sharpie (I love the retractable ones)
   • a blue pen (can’t go wrong with the G2 pilot)
   • a belt with a pouch for random things (everyone has their preference, have fun!)
   • utility gloves (you don’t need heat resistant gloves, but it’s nice to have)
   • a utility tool or retractable blade
   • your own surveillance kit (bonus cool point for the super cool all black earbuds & cable)
   • appropriate clothing
8. Be handy. This means having things that other people don’t. Back in my PA days, my car used to be my little tool kit. By the way, having a car capable of transporting equipment is always an advantage. So is being able to drive a cube truck (it’s really not that difficult). Keep a few tools in your car, or a couple spare trash bags, rags etc…You can also build your own little set kit. Be versatile and be prepared.

So that’s your road map. Do all these things and you will hopefully get a call back for another job, with a paycheck this time.

Giving and receiving work

As you go along, you will meet other production assistants. Based on my experience, there are two ways to play your connections to increase your work days:

• Give one job to a lot of people
• Give a lot of jobs to one person

I’ve tried both, and find the second approach much more successful. And the reasoning behind it is simple: like I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of jobs for grabs in Los Angeles, but the same people get them over and over. So you need to make friends with someone in that group.

The person you need to find is usually someone more experienced than you, and someone who works in a slightly different part of the industry (Scripted vs Reality, Union vs independent). Once you have found that person, and provided you get along, start forwarding all the jobs you can’t take to this person. In the beginning, odds are, the jobs you find won’t be good enough for that other guy. But things will get better, and, that person will feel grateful either way. A PA doing their days on union shows might also appreciate an opportunity to work as a 2nd AD on a random project. So if you take on a short film or spec commercial as 1st AD, why not ask them to come work for you?

In addition to building a valuable relationship, you will also acquire what I would call your “backup”. Your backup is a guy that can replace you when you have to jump to another show at the last minute. When you do that, you need to replace yourself (otherwise the line producer will hold a pretty serious grudge against you), and ideally, replace yourself with someone just as reliable as you. If you’re worried about this person “stealing” your contacts, don’t. You’ll still be first call. Better, you’ll probably get to work with your backup at some point, making your job that much easier.

All of this will eventually culminate in work for you when your backup returns the favor. And if that person is more experienced, or has access to “better shows” (a great way to compare jobs is to look at the quality of craft services!), the reward will be like winning the lottery.

Other ways to find work

There are several services that offer lists of companies either in pre-production or post production. I’ve tried cold calling using these lists, but never saw any benefit there. It’s time consuming, most of the companies either aren’t hiring PAs yet, or they’ already hired them. They don’t know you, and really have no reason to do you a favor of any kind. So don’t waste your time.

On the other end, “cold talking” someone on set might work. I once worked as an art PA for free on a pilot, and used a lunch time to talk with the 1st AD on the show. We had a little chat about comic books among other things. A few days later, I emailed that person (I found his info on the call sheet/crew list), reminded him of who I was, and asked him to consider me if he ever needed a PA. 20 minutes later, I received an email from this guy, letting me know that he had passed on my information to a friend of his. An hour later, I received a phone call from a transportation coordinator, who needed a driver to come in the very next day. That’s how I started working on NBC’s The Voice, which kept me busy for a solid 2 years.

So the point of the story is: you never know what’s gonna work! But you at least need people to sympathize with you, which is really, really difficult to accomplish over the phone with a stranger.

Choosing your work

There are good gigs and bad gigs. But it isn’t always the one that pays best that qualifies as “good”. Take the 2 following opportunities for instance:

1. A two days spec commercial, $50/day.
2. A two weeks indie feature, $75/day.

It would seem that the best job is the indie pilot. And sure, if you need the money, it is. But if your goal is to grow your contacts and acquire real jobs, then the spec commercial is the better pick.
Proving that you are better than the other PAs should only take you a day. By the end of the 2nd day, the line producer and the other PAs should view you as the “Key PA”, even if that title was never given.

The two weeks independent feature might be good, but if there’s no money to pay people a decent rate, then you can’t really expect to be working with working professionals. And if you’re going to spend 2 weeks somewhere and not making valuable contacts, then what’s the point?

If the project is short, then the odds of working with professionals giving out their time and experience are much higher. I once agreed to AD a short film for free, and got to work with a production designer who’s regular job was as a set dresser for major studio blockbusters. He had agreed to help on this short, knowing that once he started working somewhere, he would get a random call! (that’s a mysterious rule in the film & TV universe, you’ll see!)

After a few months, you’ll start having the option to chose between jobs from time to time. It’s important to keep building your network and avoid “putting all your eggs in the same basket”.

If you became the go-to PA for a small production company, that’s fantastic. But don’t lock yourself in that structure. Try, from time to time, to expand your network. This might mean refusing a day of paid work to go work for free somewhere else. See it as an investment though. Keep in mind what we just said about good and bad jobs, and make a call that is advantageous for your future.

Thumbnail designed by Freepik