I’ve been reading lately, alot.
October 25th, 2008Corrections appended on 10/28/08
Which I should probably supplement with just as much writing, but you know how it goes… Things are changing for me at an increasingly rapid pace these days, and with much anticipation, I’ve been trying to scout out my future so as not to shock my system when I land in Los Angeles in December.
Granted I’ve already been there, alleviating most of the initial shock (holy crap the West Coast is weird) but saving a long car ride or two on the 101 and couple of meet and greets in Studio City, I still have much to learn about this surreal and alien land.
That’s why I’ve been reading blogs! Well, not the most exciting blogs (unless you’re really really really into behind-the-scenes production type stuff) but blogs written by real, hard-working, honest joes (and two chicks) who all work as either production assistants, writer PAs, or as actual bona-fide screenwriters.
For me, becoming a screenwriter is the ultimate goal, or atleast it’s as far ahead as I’ve thought. It isn’t the easiest position to obtain (unless you work as a stripper and happen to write a one-off script that has a little bit of heart like Diablo Cody did) but with lots of hard work and even more ass-kissing anything is possible in Hollywood.
Anyway, this adventure all started when I curiously searched “production assistant” and “blog” on Google. I wasn’t too surprised by the amount of results (what else does a PA do all day at the office?) but the quality of writing and the frequency of updates (the first Google result hasn’t been posted to since March 2007) led me to start following The Anonymous Production Assistant’s Blog, a perfect window into the life of a dime-a-dozen PA in LA with similar ambitions and a knack for writing funny things.
TAPAB, as I will now affectionately refer to it, is actually part of a bigger network of film industry bloggers at, wait for it, Film Industry Bloggers.com really awesome, but another really awesome site is Film Industry Bloggers.com. The aforementioned is an incredible resource filled with great advice and cautionary tales of the industry, but even moreso, is a sounding board for the bottom tier of the production biz, a space for them to share the realities of working in Hollywood and all of the triumphs and frustrations that can follow. Every facet of the industry you can imagine is represented on the site as well. Many excellent reads.
Through TAPAB I was also pointed in the direction of the blogs of screenwriters John August (Big Fish, Go, some others) and Ken Levine (a TV writer with equally impressive credits). Unlike most of the blogs on Film Industry Bloggers both of these guys are seasoned veterans of script and dispense their knowledge and advice on a daily basis. A special thank you goes to Ken Levine for reminding the blog-o-sphere about Free Taco Day (Oct. 28th from 2-6PM), courtesy of the fine folks at Taco Bell.
A final two journals to add to the list are Dollygrippery (if you’ve always wondered what a grip does on a movie this is a good starting point) and Confessions of a Hollywood Juicer (no, he’s not addicted to steroids). As a high school theatre tech who rigged and lit the shit out of some great productions I can relate to a lot of the observations in both of these guy’s worlds. Long ass set builds and strikes, ubiquitous mismanagement, curious on-set tasks, and a boatload of tech lingo that only a behind-the-scenes type could appreciate. You will find it all this and more extensively recorded on these sites.
There have been some other blogs here and there, most found through TAPAB’s site, but not all have made it to the “check these reguarly” zone of my web browsing habits. I’m sure there will be more that eventually get added to the list (reading about other people’s experiences with the job you will be pursuing very soon is too good to pass up), but so far these blogs have given me even more reason to be excited, nervous, and impasioned about my soon-to-be adventures on the West Coast.
