Occupation: Creative Assistant to a Film Producer
First of all, I have to explain that no day is ever the same as the
one before. What follows is just what happened on one particular day.
8:30a – Arrive at our production office in a residential house. We’re
shooting in the house next door. My office is on the landing outside
the master bedroom. Its distinguishing feature is dirty shag carpet.
Coffee. No voicemail this morning. Check calendar. First appointment
is a studio meeting at 11a here on set. Read trades (Variety,
Hollywood Reporter, Film News Briefs, Rotten Tomatoes), checked email.
Checked boss’ email on my computer. Logged new script submissions that
came in last night and assigned to an intern to read. Submissions are
scripts that someone sends to us in the hope that we’re interested and
want to make it as opposed to projects, which we are actively working
on.
Emailed producer about a radio story I heard on the way in to work
that could be a great movie. Tracked down radio show producer and
emailed about availability of film rights.
Picked up call sheet for day 7 of 18.
9:10a – Phone rings with the first call of the day. It’s another
assistant confirming a call that’s set for this afternoon. I’ll most
likely need to reschedule due to production.
Booked travel for boss for a trip to Washington D.C. leaving tonight
on the redeye and returning tomorrow night on the redeye.
I look at the list of meetings I have to set (2 pages long) and put it
aside. Anything I set these days will just be rescheduled anyway.
10a - Time to squeeze in some reading.
10:15 – Boss calls. He’s on his way in and wants to roll calls.
Rolling calls is when you have your boss on one line and you run down
the list of calls he has to return, calling each in the order he
specifies. You leave word for each person who isn’t available until
you reach someone and then you connect that call to your boss. When
the call is finished, you drop the outside caller, keeping your boss
on the line and move on to the next call on the list. Hollywood is
somewhat unique in that the assistant will stay on the line and listen
in to most of their boss’ calls. It helps us keep track of everything
that’s going on and the boss assumes that you’re taking notes as
necessary and will follow-up on anything discussed in the call. For
example, if my boss promises to send a script over, it’s assumed that
I’ve heard the call and will take care of it.
11a – Director, Producers and Studio execs arrive for their story
meeting. I try to get in a bit more reading.
12:00p – Production staff starts to arrive. We’re currently shooting
splits, which means that first shot is at 2p and we film until 2a. I
pick up my walkie and turn to channel one. Now that Transpo is here, I
have to move my car down to crew parking and take the shuttle back up
to the office. I also collect the keys from everyone in the story
meeting and have interns or P.A.s move their cars as well.
12:30p – Catering serves breakfast. I eat at my desk. Normally, I try
to get out for lunch, even just to go for a walk, but it doesn’t work
on set when we’re gearing up to shoot at 2p.
1:30p – Our prop master asks if I’ll pose for a photo. Suddenly, I’m
cast as our lead actor’s absent mother in all of the family photos.
1:45p – The Assistant Directors give me a 15 minute warning that I
pass on to the producers, who head next door to the control room where
they’ll watch the shoot.
2p – Okay. Now I can get some work done. Expense reports, petty cash
paperwork, time card.
2:30p – Just got in 3 project drafts, one is in pre-production and two
are in development. I’ll need to write 5-8 pages of notes on each of
these in the next couple of days. Most important is the project that
starts production next month. This is only the second draft of this
one that I’ve read. It’s a fun one… outbreaks and zombies.
3pm – New pages come in on the movie that’s shooting next door. I
reformat, make copies and walk over to the control room to distribute.
Our control room is in the garage of the house we’re filming in. 3
producers, the director, a studio exec and the first AD sit in front
of 3 large monitors watching exactly what the camera is recording. On
the other side of the garage our sound guys, script supervisor and
electrician have their set ups. It’s hot (we’re shooting in the valley
in august) and claustrophobic. It might even smell a little bit.
3:15 – Okay. Back to reading. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that the
phone rings every five minutes all day long. About half of these are
people wanting to submit resumes for crew positions on one of our
three movies. The first already wrapped, the other two, I deny that
they exist so that we can keep production under the radar. One of the
two is a high profile sequel and is top secret. We have a code name
and everything.
3:30p – Time for coffee.
3:45p – Back to reading.
4:00p – Boss comes in and wants to roll calls.
4:30p – Back to reading.
5:30p – Finished reading and started writing my notes. I’ll finish the
first draft tonight, but the producer will have comments tomorrow and
I’ll have to do a couple of drafts before sending them to the
director.
6:30p – Boss tells me that he’s not going to Washington D.C. after all
and asks me to get a full refund for his ticket.
7:30p – Crew breaks for lunch. My day is over.
8:30p – Crew is back to work. I’m on my own time, but head over to set
for the experience. I grab a Comtex, which lets me hear what the mics
on set pick up, and sit in front of the monitors. Between takes, I
start reading the second project draft that came in today. On the
monitors, we watch for performance, continuity and happy mistakes that
will add to this unconventional movie.
9p – Coffee and a visit to craft services to see if they’ve made
tortilla soup again tonight
9:30p – Back on set. New pages come in again and, even though I’m off
the clock, I head back to the office to print copies for everyone.
10p - Back on set, our stunt team is setting up for a shot where
someone falls down the stairs. Our lead actress will do everything up
to the fall. Then we cut to the same sequence with the stunt woman.
Without pads or mats, the stunt woman throws herself down the
stairs…twice.
12a – Time to go home so that I can get back here by 8:30a tomorrow.
The rest of the crew will continue until 2a.
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