4thWall

One night at a dinner party, when called to make a speech, among his many thoughts O.W. Holmes shared with the guests, “…The chief work of civilization is just that it makes the means of living more complex; that it calls for great and combined intellectual efforts, instead of simple, uncoordinated ones…” And he used to believe that this order “made possible the artist, the poet, the philosopher and the man  of science…” sort of the idea that there is a system of life that makes possible every kind of person. All together, we’ll find a place for everyone and then you can do what you want. Along with Holmes, I have to agree that it would seem this is backwards. It is building a giant room and waiting for something to fill it.

Every experience is an opportunity to realize what it is that you believe. Believing in something motivates you to act. What if we let ourselves experience life, find out what we have, and then build a room whose exact dimensions we can specify?

*

At NH I was lead to believe that there is a certain way to be a writer. We gather up the ends of our robes and carefully load ourselves into the starting blocks lined up on the graduation stage. With diploma ready to hand-off to our first employer, the gun cracks and we explode towards the coasts. You must stay with the pack or risk losing everything- Trust the system. Run.

The system has room for directors, producers, gaffers and grips- writers? sure here is where you go to be one- follow these steps.

I wanted to trust the system. The system and its creators were reputable, established- who was I? I was feeling like I was doing it wrong. My proposals were not accepted. My work was strange and so was I. The system was yin and I was closer to being the Yangtze than I was to being its yang.

The gun went off and I stood back in the smoke. I can run fast, very fast- had I choked? Why did I stay behind? My classmates crossed the bicoastal finish lines and accepted their laurels and internships. I went to summer camp.

I do not write to find a place for myself- rather, Modus Scribendi– it is an uncontrollable urge to write. There is so much that I see and believe and that is what dictates my direction. It turned out that I wanted to bring more into the system than what there was room for. I believed in so much.

Holmes decided, “Life is action, the use of one’s powers. As to use them to their height is our joy and duty so it is the end that justifies itself.”

There are many “systems” out there that offer to help give you direction. Don’t let these tools transform who you are, use them as the tools that they are to help you create the life you know you were meant to live.

Yes, that’s how they say you get ahead- nepotism, greased palms, divine kismet leading you to a certain hairdresser whose uncle’s parakeet sitter’s BFF is a Spielberg.

This statement, when taken in the traditional sense- that is, the pessimistic sense- might lead you to think that because your inner circle seems impenetrable to persons of notable fame and fortune, you will have a far more difficult time breaking into the film/tv biz.

But today we are going to exercise our optimistic majoris- that complex series of muscles which lies deep under the rib cage, and far too frequently goes underworked.

Let’s begin. “It’s who you know.” Does this statement cause irritation when I press it to your ears? If yes, let me prescribe a remedy. Think of people you know. Refine that mental gathering to people you know and with whom you enjoy interacting. I’m thinking of my UPS man, Glen. Glen is Canadian yet has managed to overcome his condition and has successfully grown humor-producing organs to about the size of that of a 14-year-old American child- impressive indeed. I enjoy emailing Glen whilst assuming various personae, Clint Eastwood, Hamlet, Tracy Morgan, etc.

Let me now interject one of my theorems: Working with people you know and like is enjoyable. One tends to produce works of a high quality under such favorable conditions as these. High quality work is what attracts the eyes of persons of notable fame and fortune.

Glen so enjoyed these little cyber-treats, that he told his friend about them. He said I should meet his friend. His friend told Glen that he did like my work. His friend asked me to hang out at his work because he thinks we might have similar interests- based on my “portfolio.” Glen’s friend runs a local theatre/film biz and I am now creating content for him and he is telling people about my work, and we are just beginning too see how that goes.

I did not have prestigious connections. I had people who inspired me- albeit is surprising ways- but that’s what lead me to produce work that I liked and in which others saw merit.  Those were just emails to my dear friend Glennastasia. Who’d a thunk.

It is the work you produce that gets you where you belong. You know the people who inspire you- hang out with them.

Keats had his quirks. Emily Dickinson is- well- a lunatic. F Scott and Zelda should of chilled. Bukowski could have benefitted from some etiquette training. Writers may well be the voices of reason and insight, guiding us to a place of near-enlightenment in their work- but golly gee damn- what happens off the clock?

7:00 am.  I wake up at the squeal of the side door letting in my parents from yet another “really cookin’ 12 miler.” I push the cats off my legs and saunter into the kitchen to see if the ‘rents bothered to make enough coffee for everyone in the house. By the time I overcome the grueling predicament about whether or not ‘Almond Joy’ creamer will hit my gag reflex, everyone is off to work and I’m alone.

I sit on the porch surfing online shopping sights irritated that nobody seems to sell quality bath robes anymore. Then I remember, damnit- I’m a writer now. I find a pen. It’s dry. I get my computer to type. First I check my email and see that another batch of classmates are in LA and have jobs. Before I fly into a fit of self-loathing I force myself to remember that writers are a different breed of folk. We are quirky, and our job is a trying one.

I return to my Tintern Abbey and swan dive into the depths of my negative capabilities. I read an old email from my mentor which tells me to do exactly that in moments like these. When I remember that I love writing and that it does poses its own kind of power to reach people, I don’t feel so far away from the industry. I remember that I recollect my emotions best when in tranquility.

I write, and the storm is calmed.

For all you writers out there, remember that you are the ones extracting the inspiration from the universe. You are the ones translating the silence of a blank page into meaningful text that moves people. Its ok to be where you need to be to create. After lots of thought, I’ve realized too that at $74.99, the pink cashmere robe at Bluefly.com might just be well worth the splurge.

I got a day of work with a production company called Ignition Films through the DP I was supposed to do my mentorship with. Since he never had the time to do the mentorship, he passed my name along to some of his DP friends and so far that has turned into one day of work for me. Ignition Films I guess works sometimes for a company called Liquid Theory and they do a lot of stuff for MTV. A DP from Ignition was shooting the 2 stars of MTV’s Teen Wolf in an interview like setting, and they were talking a little bit about season 1 of Teen Wolf and about the upcoming season. The DP from Ignition needed a PA/camera assistant for the shoot so I got the call. It was an easy day, about 6 hours of work, and I got $100 to do it.

The first thing I had to do was go to Ignition Films and pick up all of the equipment for the shoot. The production manager gathered all the equipment that the DP wanted, I loaded it into the cargo van, and off I went. I was to meet the DP at the shooting location, unload the van, and help him set up for the shoot. I unloaded everything I knew the DP needed before he even arrived at the shoot, and then unloaded anything else he requested. It was a simple shoot, in a very small room, and there wasn’t too much that needed to be done. The DP threw up some lights, set up the camera, and my main task was to somehow rig up some C-stands to hold up two framed Teen Wolf posters that were to be set up behind the actors. Once everything was set up the whole shoot took about 10 minutes and we took everything down and loaded the cargo van back up.

While the job was short and simple and there was limited opportunity to show myself to be a super PA I still got a lot out of the whole experience. By talking with the DP he learned that I was interested in camera work, and since we were waiting around for a little while for the stars of Teen Wolf he used that time to show me the camera. He was shooting on a Sony F900, a camera I was unfamiliar with, so he walked me through all the buttons/settings etc. He had me take the camera off the tripod and put it back on a few times, had me take the battery on and off, and I did the same with the lens. At the end of the shoot he had me put the camera away. So just by telling him I was interested in camera work, I got a little hands on experience. So at the end of the day, even if the most impressive thing you can do is not have to ask what 1/4 CTO is when the DP asks for it, if you can find the time to talk to the person on set who is doing the job that you want to do, then you are going to get something out of the whole experience. Chances are if they aren’t too busy they will be willing to talk to you.

When I returned with the cargo van to Ignition Films the production manager was not there to help me put the equipment away. When she had gathered all of the equipment I had paid very close attention to where she got everything from, in case I ever got work from her again. This came in handy when I returned to the offices and she was not around. I am sure I could have just left all of the equipment in a nice organized pile and that would have been fine, but I decided to go ahead and take the extra step and put everything away (hopefully in the right place). I put the audio kit away, unloaded the battery charger, plugged it in and put all the batteries on it to charge, put the unused tapes away, and put the monitor away. The one piece of equipment that I hadn’t seen the PM get from the equipment room was the camera, because that had been in her car. I noticed a locked shelving unit that had 2 other camera bags in it, and then I discovered that one of the keys on the keychain that the cargo van key was on opened this shelving unit. So I went ahead and put the camera away too. They may never know that I was the one who put all the equipment away, but, at least I still took that extra step to try to impress these people.

So, the overall lesson from this experience, talk to people on set, you are likely to learn something, and always look for those extra little ways to impress people, even if it may go unnoticed.

As a side note, I did get a call from Ignition for another day of PA work, but, I had to turn down the offer because I was already working that week (if only that happened more often).

My first paid PA position was for a production company called Thunder Road Productions on a show called Car Science. Thunder Road shares a studio with BASE Productions, and it was through people I met at BASE that I got work on Car Science. Looking to get into camera work, I set up a meeting with an SU alum who is the jib operator for one of BASE’s shows, Sport Science. He had me meet him at the studio, I watched part of the taping of an episode of Sport Science, and we talked during his lunch break. Then he took me around and introduced me to all the people at BASE that hire people. As I was meeting with these people they said they might need an office PA and that I could start as early as Sunday if they decided to hire me (it was a Wednesday). So that seemed really great, I went home and sent out thank you emails to everyone I had met, and sent out my resume to anyone who had requested it, then Sunday rolled around and I hadn’t heard anything, and from then on I continued to not hear anything. When I finally did get work for these production companies it wasn’t because of the jib operator who I had met, but through 2 friends who work for these production companies. They kept putting my name out there and suggested they bring me in for PA work. So maybe a month after I had initially gone in and met all these people I got a call for work. Car Science was bringing in a bunch of potential hosts for season 2 and they were going to film the hosts doing some mock monologues and they needed a PA for the day. I started work by picking up one of these potential hosts from the airport and bringing him to the studio. I was told the night before when to be at the airport, to call the guy who hired me when I got there so he knew I was there, and that I would be emailed the itinerary for the person I was picking up. It started to get late and I hadn’t gotten the itinerary, and it was too late to call and ask about it, so, I figured I would get to the airport early, call the guy who hired me, and get the flight information then. Just as I was getting to the airport, about 20 minutes before I was supposed to be there, I got a text asking if I had received the itinerary, I responded that I had not, but that I was already at the airport, this impressed the guy who hired me.  Then throughout the day I continued to do other typical PA work. I went on an ice and table cloth run, I held extra batteries and tapes for the camera operators, I helped put mic’s on the people who were auditioning to be hosts, I brought people water, I brought people wet paper towels so they could wipe sweat off of their faces so they looked better on camera, and I went to pick up lunch. Lunch can be a stressful task for a PA, especially when dealing with a large order, you don’t want to forget anything. I still remember what the lunch order was that day, it was from Olive Garden. 2 trays of penne with meat sauce, 2 trays of Alfredo, extra Alfredo sauce, 4lbs of chicken, 2 dozen meatballs, 2 dozen sausages, 2 large salads and dressing, soup for 12 people, a lot of bread sticks, plates, bowls, napkins, forks, spoons, knives, and serving utensils. Everything went fine with the lunch order, nothing was forgotten. Another job of mine was to set up everything for lunch and to make sure all the important people ate first. At the end of the day I took the potential host back to the airport and that was it. It was a simple day, but the most important thing was showing that I was capable of doing these simple tasks, and doing them well, and although the majority of the day involved me serving other people, it was important that I seemed like I was enjoying what I was doing. Not that I didn’t like working, but there is only so much one can enjoy about the kind of things that PA’s are often required to do, so you need to seem like you really want to be doing all of the bull shit you are doing. Overall its about impressing people, keeping yourself busy so you look useful even when you have absolutely nothing to do, and not messing anything up. You’re just a PA, you’re there to make other peoples jobs easier so they don’t have to deal with menial tasks, so doing these tasks correctly, and with a smile on your face is the best way to get hired again.

The second time I worked for Car Science was a little more exciting. On Monday of some week in August I received a text from the guy who had hired me before asking if he could put me on a soft hold for Wednesday. I didn’t really know what this meant, but I assumed it meant he might have me work Wednesday so he wants me to keep myself available incase he needed me. Skipping some boring information, he did end up having me work. For this day of work we were shooting a test episode of Car Science to show the network. They had decided on 4 hosts out of 10 or 12 and were going to have them all do scenes for the test episode so the network could decide which hosts they wanted. They had 2 of what they called stunt hosts, who are stunt drives, and 2 science hosts, who are supposed to know a lot about cars. For this test episode we went out to an old race track where we were going to have the stunt hosts try to drift a BMW convertible, and a semi truck. For this shoot they brought along a jib operator, a camera operator, myself, another PA, a head set PA, and some coordinators, producers, directors, whatever. These production companies try to spend as little money as possible, so instead of hiring another camera operator, I got lucky and got to be the third camera operator. My friend was operating the jib and he had told them I knew camera’s so they put me on camera for the day. The shoot consisted of one of the stunt hosts and one of the science hosts having a dialogue about how they were going to try to drift the BMW and the semi. For these shots the jib did the two shoot, and myself and the other camera got close ups of the hosts. Then for the car stunts the jib was in the middle of the race track and the two additional cameras were positioned along the edge of the race track. Each combination of the 4 hosts had to be shot for each part of the script, and both stunt drivers attempted to drift both vehicles. Call time was 6am, and I spent the entire day standing in the middle of or along the edge of a shadeless race track, I put on so much sun screen my skin stopped absorbing it, I drank an excess of water and was still dehydrated, I smelled bad, we didn’t get second meal, we didn’t get back to the studio till 9, I only got paid PA rate for doing a camera operators job, and I did not get paid overtime, but I still loved every minute of it.

Working for smaller production companies often allows you to get more hands on experience. You may not get treated fairly, and you are likely to get taken advantage of, but you will get experience. If you do a good job, and people start to figure out that you are capable of doing things than you tend to move up quickly as well.

My camera, looking out onto the race track, waiting for one of the cars to drift around the turn.

WAIT WAIT…Professor Schoonmaker…Wait….Im not done….yet!….Thats Right!  I am still interning. Magically, I was extended to continue to learn. Now I am not sure what this practically means, yet I am excited to extend this news to you all. What makes this so interesting is that I am able to continue to learn in hopes of being offered a position. I have been extended the 16th of September and I really show promise here with Radio-One. I will continue to work with the tours that have been pre planned with the company and will also have the opportunity to hopefully travel to the different venues to watch in the field work being done. Currently, I’m gearing up to be apart of the HBCU tailgate tour and I am super excited to attend many football games aroudn the country. Just being able to stay on board with possibility of being offered a position and constantly learn is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!! I am very happy and would not have it any other way.

On September 1st I will have been out here in LA for 3 months, and I will have spent about 2 of those 3 months trying to find PA work. I spent my first month or so trying to start up a mentorship with a director of photography, every week I emailed him, he said he was out of town, email him next week, so I did, still out of town. This went on for awhile until it reached a point where it just wasn’t going to happen, he was too busy, and he passed my name around to some of his DP friends. Having lost about 5 weeks of my time out here to trying to start up a mentorship I switched over to just getting work, not a mentorship or an internship but paying (hopefully) PA work. So how did I go about this? I occasionally skimmed through craigslist, mandy.com, realitystaff.com, and some other sites. But I think I applied for one job I found through these sites and didn’t get the job. Since I haven’t been actively using websites to find a job, my method for finding PA work has been to just meet with people. Every week I try (it doesn’t always happen) to have a meeting with a Newhouse or even a VPA alum. I have met with DP’s/camera operators, producers,  a special effects coordinator and a post production director. So I’ve met with some people, but how did I set up those meetings? Well, I email or call them, say hey I got your contact info from so and so, they said you would be a great person to look to for advice on finding PA work and if they are available I’d love to meet with them. Something like that has been working for me. What sort of advice has come out of these meetings? Work for free, it gets you experience and gets you contacts. Look on craigslist and other entertainment job websites. Stay on people’s radar, if you worked for them once, remind them you exist every once in a while. Stay connected with your classmates because they may hear about job openings where they work. When you’re first starting out, if you have little to no experience put your school projects on your resume, but as you start to get work, bump those off.

In my TV Research class when we were doing focus groups we learned then when you reach a point of saturation, where your focus groups are starting to repeat themselves, then you don’t need to carry out anymore focus groups to supplement your research. I think I have reached the point of saturation with my meetings. I am now hearing the same thing over and over again on how to get PA work. But am I going to stop having meetings? No. You should never stop building connections, no matter how many times you hear that you should work for free, when you really can’t afford to work for free nor do you really want to, you still continue to meet with people. Why? Because as useful as every persons advice may be, I’m not actually meeting with them because I want their advice, I mean I do, but, that is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to meet with them, find a way to connect with them, impress them, make them believe I’m an able bodied hard worker (because I am), get them to like me, and have them get me a PA job. Do they know that I want a job more than their advice? Most likely yes, but do I go into the meeting acting like I want a job more than I want their advice, NO!

As many meeting’s as I have had, I don’t know if I have mastered the meeting, I haven’t really gotten any work out of any of them, so maybe I am doing something wrong, or maybe these people just don’t have any work for me, who knows. Regardless, here is my take on having a successful meeting. Remember, you are just meeting with this person for their advice, this is not a job interview, so don’t dress like it is, but still look nice. Tell them what you want to do, and what you’ve done already. Get them to talk about themselves and what they did to get first jobs. Always act interested even though you could care less. You can only talk about how to get PA work for so long before things start to get awkward because you’ve ran out of questions and they begin to repeat themselves, so I think one of the best things you can do is to just try to have a meaningful and stimulating conversation with them. This is where you are going to make a connection and show them that you are capable of more than just asking simple questions and nodding and saying “yeah” as they are talking to you. After you have met with this person, follow up, tell them how nice it was to meet them and that you really appreciate them taking the time to meet with you. If they ask for your resume they will most likely say that they will pass it along to someone in production or something like that, and to check back with them in a week if you haven’t heard from them. Don’t be afraid to feel like you are nagging them if you don’t hear from them, they are busy people, and they mean it when they say check back with them. I think the most important thing you want to accomplish after meeting someone is to be the person who’s name comes to mind when they need a PA, or when one of their friends asks them if they know of any PA’s. So don’t just meet with someone and hope one day you will hear back from them, stay fresh in their mind, because eventually they or someone they know will need a PA.

That is the advice I have for now on my road to PA work, I will post more later on PA work that I have actually gotten and continue to share what I am learning.

Adrienne

Did you know that “Stan” by Eminem and Trey Parker’s song “America, F!#* Yeah!” both have the same important lesson to teach about comedy writing (even screen writing in general)?  I would have certainly never grouped these two songs together in any circumstance.  Even less so if the category is “important lessons to be learned on comedy writing.

Let’s think about this, what can a song about a guy trapping his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of his car have to do with comedy writing?  Plain and simple: everything.

It’s all about heightening or taking the joke to the next level.  The song doesn’t start with his girlfriend in the trunk.  It starts with Stan writing letters to Eminem about how big of a fan he is.  Then as Eminem doesn’t respond, Stan’s letters get progressively angrier and more violent. This is the same thing you have to do with a comedic scene or premise.  If you start the scene out with someone screaming and then falling down the stairs, where do you take that?  It has hit the ceiling of how far you can push it.

You have to build up to points like that just like the Stan character builds up to killing his girlfriend.  Now I know that this song is a rather violent way to learn this lesson but that’s how it was explained to me.  And I just wanted to share that experience.