A Day in the Life of a Production Assistant

hey I'm Colin um I'm gonna take you through a day in the life of a pa pa perspective man hi Ben yo are you rolling yes I think rolling rolling rolling piays do a lot of things we set up chairs and tables and tents and we get people Waters water skies a lot of random things the things that you sort of would never think of you never really know what to expect every thumbs-up rehearsals up one thing that's great about being a PA too is you can I get to work with all the different departments I mean in one take you can be rankling cords for the camera department as they dolly you know so you're holding up so so the dolly wheels don't roll over the cord and then the very next take you're helping to set up bottles from the art department you know these breakaway bottles and resetting all that and making sure it's okay now they're all in the right places so you know you get a glimpse into all these different departments which is the benefit of being a PA my name is Colin Wes MacDonald and on rock jump the show I was a production assistant good good that's good when you go to a shoot you're either gonna be working on location or like on a set and so tip jar was actually on a set was riverfront stages in Glendale and essentially what it was was a bar set you know would just sort of fake flat walls around it and then beyond that set was like a big sort of warehouse building and so as a PA we were often right between that threshold of being on set and just being offset yeah our department code is cash register from the bargain I'll be back Kathy as a PA the assistant director is your boss and often there's two or even three assistant directors first in a second the assistant director is standing usually right next to the director trying to organize the whole day's shoot so oftentimes the ad will get on the walkie-talkie and say hey PA nation you know we need could I have chains and two additional background pepper and that sort of sends out a web to all the production assistants who go and kind of try to make that happen as soon as they can if the ad calls and they need something you don't have try to find it and try to find it quick and if you can't find it quick let them know because otherwise they think you're going to be doing it and if you can't figure out how to do it quickly then tell them because the worst thing is that you don't tell them and then when they need the thing ten minutes later they don't have it and they ask you and you're like oh I didn't get and then it's like the whole production has to stop and you know that is like the worst nobody on set ever wants to be the reason why the camera is not rolling there's this whole thing happening on the walkie-talkies that most people in production don't even know is going on copy that on it I gotta go get the walkies going as far as communication goes like on the walkies you always have to be present that's another big thing pas like have to do I mean if you want to get callback for another job you have to be present on the walkie-talkie you have to say copy that I got you and often it's it's back and forth so it's like you really need to communicate yes we got the answer to that go for coming it's get us a few worlds paper towel yep I'm one way so the one thing that you definitely do not want to do on the walkie-talkies is not respond so the one situation where you would think oh I can't respond would be in the bathroom but if you're going to the bathroom what you need to do is get on the walkie-talkie and say I'm going ten one and one currently and everybody does that and that's sort of a respectful thing never say I'm gonna go pee or I'm never gonna go you don't think you know don't do that but ten one is the kind of code for that and that sort of signifies hey I'm going to be off walkie-talkie for like the next two minutes so oftentimes on rocketjump the show Freddie would just disappear hell is I done Freddie but I want anybody got eyes on Freddie it was like a common thing seemed pretty I haven't I'm looking for him no eyes I'm Freddie not unfit that happens all the time because not everybody's on the walkie-talkie in fact very few people on set are on the walkie-talkie ready attend one did you get that he's thin one all the peers are usually spread out throughout the set but you are the eyes of the set you're the collective sort of eye of the set so if they need somebody you need to find them and get them to where they need to be because they don't know they're needed oh she's gone walking he's on walking searching defined it was near majestic in disgust when he still needs me hey ash uh channel one and was calling you ah she's gonna talk to you a second so hot bricks that's a big term that goes around part of the job that's PA is you got to carry hot bricks aka fresh batteries for the walkies so whenever somebody wants one we have to be there to give it to you Xena hot bricks yeah coming you just add alright all right um perfect time those often times needed onset a lot of the camera folks always have and the genie guys always have their walkie-talkies but then I have time to go get a battery so you need to be there on set to hand them one and you'll end up getting handed back a cold brick in which case you take that cold brick to the charging station which is usually at the trailers or at the production office and get that charging try to think ahead think of like what people will need and start doing it before somebody asks you to do it you know you always need to be there so if somebody says I need a sharpie you can just there you know and that's what gets your next job being on your game being present and listening you know I think it's important so one of the main responsibilities of the PA is to keep the set clean so a lot of people leave a lot of water bottles around and a lot of times they don't put their names on them so you have to kind of pitch him especially if you're doing a company move you know there's a lot of cleanup that needs to happen and you know crafty food bags trash all that kind of stuff is the responsibility of the PA to get that stuff out to the dumpster before the end of the day what else I do lockup tell people to be quiet when we're shooting even though it's a sign I bet to go for picture let's lock it up so a lock-up is basically keeping everybody on set quiet and letting them know that we're about to go for a take okay we're gonna go on this one so piays are often called to do lock ups people will try to go on the set while you're rolling and that's not a good thing so you'll have to stop them from going on set about to go for real and I said we're about to go for real so we're not allowed on set unless unless you need to be on them and sometimes you know people just sneak on anyway you know the crew if you're not on the walkie-talkie you don't know if the cameras about to roll so being on the walkie-talkie you have to relay all the things that are happening like hey everybody you know if you hear over the rocky like hey we're gonna be rolling in in 30 seconds then you you call out everybody okay 30 seconds and we're gonna roll okay guys pictures up inside let's lock it up we're about to start shooting inside guys pictures up pictures up and then the ad will call over the walkie rollin rollin rollin and so then all the PAS within the next five seconds I'll have to say rollin rollin rollin rollin rollin so everybody on set knows that we're rollin which means everybody needs to stop moving be quiet no footsteps all that kind of stuff and even during a take if you're doing a really long take you need to tell people don't don't walk don't walk you know and try to be as quiet as you can it's all a sound thing frankly it's all for the sound guy Sound speed take 200 I mean it can happen where the PA can really kind of screw up a tape you know if you call cut early or you assume that they've cut because that's where they usually cut go wrong everybody can start making noise and then you've ruined that take you know so the chain of command there is the the director will say cut the ad will get on his walkie and say cut cut cut and then all the PAS will then relay that information to everybody else on sensing cut and that's cut cut that's a cut and then people can go back to doing what they're doing big boys coming in five lionfish between takes you run on set and help out what needs to be done and then when they're going for take you run off set and keep everybody quiet once they roll you're not really doing much but it's really more like in the setup and breakdown that you've got a lot to do much guys that's much gotta get everybody lunch so that lunch it ends earlier basically is that we can get back to work the PAS have to go around to all the corners of the set and figure out there's anybody left in there and get them in line as soon as they can because the last man to go through the lunch line is what they call it the last man that's when last lunch is called so then you have thirty minutes from there that's your lunch break so it's that last person it's not the first person it's not when you call lunch it's that last person to get their lunch that's when the half-an-hour starts so that everybody gets an actual half an hour lunch hey guys that's last man 1:12 back at 1:42 we don't even care we're not included in the time and time outlet they say last man and then we do so yes duh somehow aren't even considered human in the lunch line and actually the lunch is sort of called before you actually get in line it's okay like it's reused to it but you're the last one to eat but that's okay it's all good it's never like a huge deal but we do have to wait here another five minutes oh thank you do not go through the lunch line first oftentimes you're there to help set up lunch so you're setting up the tables and chairs so right when they call lunch you're right next to the food so you may as well eat well don't do that so if you want called back wait and eat last and I know it seems hard to do but it's not a big deal and you just do it if you're getting really tired or you're feeling faint or you're not drinking water take the time to do it and that's the reason why there's four or five pas on every shoot because you got somehow to pick up slack from each other and give each other sort of breaks it's important that if you see something on set that's unsafe or something that's going wrong or you know people doing something not supposed to be doing let somebody know and don't be afraid to do that I mean I know being on the bottom of the totem pole isn't necessarily a place where you think that your voice matters but in those kinds situations like it really does and that's why you're there like you're a set of eyeballs for the ad and so go tell them something's happening whether you think it's important or not just let them know and it may not be there may just blow it off like it's nothing or they may say okay I got to go look at this right now yeah basically that's it I guess picture wrap hey Freddy yeah thank you it's really fun hey thanks man appreciate it buddy yeah it's really good hey Kevin yeah oh load I go bro at the breaker rap guy when they call rap I'm going to kind of on trash duty couldn't get enough trash I'll sweep all the floors the rap outs there's always a lot to do frankly the the last people on set are the PAS clean it up you know and that's that's a big part of the job you know it may not be glamorous but it's definitely part of it and it's worth it you know because the whole first 12 hours of the day you're on set and you're learning all these things and then yeah sure you have to spend an hour at the end cleaning up but that's what you do you know and it's okay after the rat everything's gone downhill so I mean if you're still you may have it all now nobody's end goal is to be a PA everybody who's a PA is also a director also a writer also a cinematographer they're just sort of new to it and they're trying to figure it out even I like I don't PA anymore you know in the rocket jump show taught me enough that I have moved on and I'm a doing and I'm doing these other things I'm writing I'm directing and so it sort of leads into all that and that's the definitely the best part that's an opportunity to go learn what you want and again stay out of the way but but listen here's the pictures up and we're rolling PA is where you need to start where everybody does start and so there's no shame in being a PA because it leads to everything else good good I forgot

Channel: RocketJump Film School

Views: 301,903

Rating: 4.9813647 out of 5

Keywords: rjfs, rocketjump, film school, rocketjump film school, film, tutorials, film production, video production, video tutorial, cinema, filmmaking tutorial, filmmaking, rocketjump the show, production assistant, PA, PA nation, walkies, set protocol, day in the life of, short film

Id: UPBfoEFgR28

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/przano]

This has to be the coolest damn video I've ever seen in my life. Makes me less nervous about becoming a PA.

[u/walgman]

That was a lot better than I expected. So cool to see the slight differences the other side of the pond. Codes for having a piss. Actually a good idea. We just panick and drop our radios in the toilet. Hot bricks too.

[u/worldtravelworld]

Usually, people post stuff like this and they are self indulgent or just pure crap.

Having said that, I very much appreciate the time it took to create this video and the info shared. I think this is something anyone trying to get into the business should watch. What I really appreciate is the "star" of the video had a real good attitude. Spoke about being present, being ready to help. While he seems young in age, he didn't seem to have any of the "I'm too good for that" mentality that some people have.

Thank you very much for sharing this.

On a side note: Aside from the go pro what was used to shoot the PA?

Thanks! Well done!

[u/loco64]

This was exactly on point. Set that fuckin' ego to the side and you will see how high you can fly.

[u/KidKickingRobot]

I am currently a Post/Editorial PA and.... this video makes me yearn for the set. I show up, get some kind of pastry crafty for the crew, wait around to take lunch orders, run for lunch, eat lunch, then sit around for the next 9 hours trying not to kill myself. I'd punch a baby for a walkie talkie to play with.

[u/willm92]

Nice. Pretty good video showing what it's like for us day to day. It makes me miss set to be honest. The show I was on just got cancelled, so it's back to day playing for me.

[u/Jedimastert]

PA actually looks kinda fun

[u/jajadejau]

Everything in this video is so true! Great to see that productions work the same, whatever the country is!

[u/PimpMyBatmobile]

Kind of a newbie question, but what's that "utility belt" action he's got going? I haven't been on set super recently, but have a PA gig coming up and wanted to check out one of those sweet belts.