Ready for Anything: The Adventures of a Production Assistant
I took the mantle of office PA at Production Craft a few months ago, and at the time I was aware of PA duties, but I never knew until I had the job how dynamic the role could be. As a PA any day can become my own little adventure.
I’d assumed, in the world of video production and filmmaking, that it’s the creative decision makers that get to have all the fun. I had understood that the PA handles all the laborious tracking, researching, and going-to-get-someone-somethings that producers, directors, and DPs wouldn’t want to get bogged down in. But the needs of a production can be so broad that I find myself assisting in new ways all the time.
What Part Will I Be Playing Today?
Since working here, I have assisted on set and in the editing room. I’ve been a courier of hard drives and a curator of stock music playlists. I’ve shoveled snow and lugged equipment, but I’ve also been asked to “model” on camera. I have steamed costumes and decorated sets. I have mastered myriad acronyms organizing BTS crews and EPK shoots. There have been moments to shine—like when I got to drive a pretty blue sports rental car onto set for a shoot, and there are moments to grind—waiting on hold with said rental company to dispute some upcharges that we never requested. It’s been a mixed bag of one-off missions that reflects the work of a video production company in Chicago.
As a PA for corporate video or commercial videography, it can often feel less like making movies and more like living in them. When there’s a job, I must put together a crew—which sounds like something someone would say in a movie. In spirit, I suppose it’s a lot like “getting the gang back together for one last mission,” but crewing is just a simple matter of coordinating the right crew for the job and asking around if the project requires some special skills or an IATSE or IBEW crew.
The “Guy in the Chair”
When designated as Office PA, you’ll likely be left behind on shoot day and unable to enjoy that on-set energy in person (don’t feel too bad for me, in Chicago corporate video production, “on-set” is often very cold if it’s outside). I don’t usually end up going on the mission, but I do collect everyone’s lunch orders and write up a call sheet. So even when I’m not there in person to see everything coming together, I’m there in spirit by being Production Craft’s guy in the chair.
Sure, looking things up or answering questions on-the-fly seems like pretty standard assistance. But it really makes you feel like you’re making magic happen when your producer comes to your desk and says, “get me a one-ton truck for Wednesday.” I would later realize a one-ton grip truck is standard in production equipment rentals, but it sounded like quite an ask at the time.
If you’re wondering, over the program’s run, the judges’ table in American Idol never had microphones (just Coke cups)—however Pop Idol and X-Factor both featured the original American Idol judges, and they do have a very specific kind of microphone at their table.
Ask Me Anything, I’ll See What I Can Find
My phone will ring, and it’ll be the producer on a location-scout in another city; she’s searching for parking lots that might look convincingly like an active roadway on-camera and needs to find some more places to visit. She also needs to find out who to ask for permission to film in each place. Once again, this request sounded not impossible but very specific and turned out to be a standard part of this kind of work.
I will often make a document to neatly compile all the information and screenshots that I find and keep as an easy resource to reference in the future: location pictures with pricing and availability, out-of-town lunch options for the crew with menus, production companies nearby that we might partner with etc. Sometimes though, a PA has to figure out what the microphones looked like on the judges’ table in American Idol because the client had something very specific in mind for their video. Now I have a comprehensive document filled with screenshots just to answer that question.
PA Life Beyond “The Chair”
These singular PA requests go beyond just looking things up. I often get requests to search stock music or photography databases for a very specific kind of song or image. I’ve been handed a script and requested to record scratch narration.
Sometimes I even get to join the crew on set. My first time was as “drone spotter.” We were getting aerial shots in the early morning using a remote-controlled flying camera. It was my job to keep an eye on the drone from the ground.
The next shoot that I was able to be on, we needed to rent a car to be in the video. I booked it and then was trusted to pick it up. It was the first time I had ever rented a car in my life. During the pickup, I checked with the producer who was with the client and there was a last-minute request for “something sporty.” That’s how I got to drive away in a shiny blue Mustang. Sure enough, when I arrived on set, we also needed someone behind the wheel while shooting.
So that’s what I do as PA. I mind the paperwork and answer the phones, but I also get to drive sports cars, quickly source information, find stock photos, shop for snacks, and watch flying robots in the sky. With everything I’ve found myself doing as a PA, I think I must revise my previous statement when I said that I’m not the secret agent. Being a PA goes beyond just my guy-in-the-chair duties, and when you wear this many hats it’s hard to not feel like a master of disguise.
Production Craft, Inc. is a video production company based in Chicago, serving markets worldwide.
We are proud to be a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certified by the State of Illinois Business Enterprise Program (BEP) and the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC).
