I am everyone's ex-girlfriend, but better
I survived. I not only survived the making of a feature film with only 1 week of pre-production, but somewhere along the way, I met wonderful people and was drown in an industry that I fell in love with. If you were following my FB status updates, you would have learned that first 10 days of production had me wearing many different hats: Production Office Assistant, Production Coordinator, Line Producer, Location Location Locations, Key PA, Set PA, 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd, and of course, the most important, Assistant to Mr. David.
It was probably more important to say that I filled in wherever I was needed, and I was needed a lot. We were short staffed and spent many long days and nights playing catchup (which we never really did). After 10 days of filming, I was promoted to Location Coordinator/Manager (There's still some debate about what my title actually was, and even to this day, I'm still not sure). Our previous Locations Mgr didn't really do his job - my boss showed me the list of everything Locations covers, and he was only doing about 10%. When they asked me to do it, I didn't tell them that I thought just the day prior, "I can do Locations, and I can do it better."
Which I did, according to the people to whom it mattered most. To that end, I have already been offered my next Locations gig. I'm told that good location people are hard to come by, and I see why now: it requires a certain skill set of creativity, vision, management, PR, detail oriented organization, drive, negotiation, photography, people-pleasing, and delegation. Doing Locations requires every skill I have ever learned in my adult life, even food prep and service. I'm not sure if I love it enough to stay with it, but I want to try it a few more times before I move onto to other positions.
~~~
I met some amazing people. Many I will stay in contact with; a few I hope to cultivate deep and long lasting friendships. There was a lot of bonding that happened with the cast and crew: we all looked out for each other and watched each other's backs, kept each other going, even when the going was roughest. We became a family, despite our differences. For that, I am grateful. And the talent just oozed out of everyone and spread like honey: we had more photographers than I could count, musicians, dancers, singers, fine artists and sculptors, horsemen and stunt drivers; no one was without additional talents that were shared. If someone wrote a list of all the talents the cast and crew had, we would still be reading it days after the fact.
~~~
One of the Grip crew kept calling me his "ex-girlfriend" and when I finally had the chance to ask him, he said "You have a twin. You have the same hair, same eyes, same figure. It's creepy. But I like you better." At a party one night, the 1st AD said, "Now I know why I like you. You look like my ex-girlfriend." He showed me pictures, and yes, I looked much like his ex-girlfriend too. I started laughing and stood up to announce: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to announce that I am everyone's ex-girlfriend!" I was promptly booed and told that I was far too loved to be anyone's ex. That gave me warm fuzzies... but I guess I have some twins out there.
~~~
Will I do it again? In a heartbeat. I have fallen in love with the film industry - and it looks like I'll be in a while. I just hope to make enough money off it to live and continue doing it.
It was probably more important to say that I filled in wherever I was needed, and I was needed a lot. We were short staffed and spent many long days and nights playing catchup (which we never really did). After 10 days of filming, I was promoted to Location Coordinator/Manager (There's still some debate about what my title actually was, and even to this day, I'm still not sure). Our previous Locations Mgr didn't really do his job - my boss showed me the list of everything Locations covers, and he was only doing about 10%. When they asked me to do it, I didn't tell them that I thought just the day prior, "I can do Locations, and I can do it better."
Which I did, according to the people to whom it mattered most. To that end, I have already been offered my next Locations gig. I'm told that good location people are hard to come by, and I see why now: it requires a certain skill set of creativity, vision, management, PR, detail oriented organization, drive, negotiation, photography, people-pleasing, and delegation. Doing Locations requires every skill I have ever learned in my adult life, even food prep and service. I'm not sure if I love it enough to stay with it, but I want to try it a few more times before I move onto to other positions.
~~~
I met some amazing people. Many I will stay in contact with; a few I hope to cultivate deep and long lasting friendships. There was a lot of bonding that happened with the cast and crew: we all looked out for each other and watched each other's backs, kept each other going, even when the going was roughest. We became a family, despite our differences. For that, I am grateful. And the talent just oozed out of everyone and spread like honey: we had more photographers than I could count, musicians, dancers, singers, fine artists and sculptors, horsemen and stunt drivers; no one was without additional talents that were shared. If someone wrote a list of all the talents the cast and crew had, we would still be reading it days after the fact.
~~~
One of the Grip crew kept calling me his "ex-girlfriend" and when I finally had the chance to ask him, he said "You have a twin. You have the same hair, same eyes, same figure. It's creepy. But I like you better." At a party one night, the 1st AD said, "Now I know why I like you. You look like my ex-girlfriend." He showed me pictures, and yes, I looked much like his ex-girlfriend too. I started laughing and stood up to announce: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to announce that I am everyone's ex-girlfriend!" I was promptly booed and told that I was far too loved to be anyone's ex. That gave me warm fuzzies... but I guess I have some twins out there.
~~~
Will I do it again? In a heartbeat. I have fallen in love with the film industry - and it looks like I'll be in a while. I just hope to make enough money off it to live and continue doing it.