Read on Twitter
Just read this article and have a few thoughts - https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/06/going-broke-in-hollywood-tvs-overworked-assistants-reel-from-pandemic-pay-cuts?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=vanity-fair&utm_social-type=earned">https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood...
1. They say that assistants in Hwood get paid $15-17/hr. Only on shows that have fought for that. LA should be hitting $15/hr min wage this July, I believe - most studios/productions I& #39;ve worked for never pay assists more than min wage.
2. A long while ago, a studio I worked for decided to nix the 12 hr guarantee for PA& #39;s, requesting their real hours on time cards. At the time I was a PC working for a PM and LP that decided against following that policy, but I kept thinking-how are PA& #39;s going to survive that?
There were weeks as a PA where just having the extra $30 of mileage on a given week made the difference between paying a bill and not. I feel the same when studios pull box rentals as well. To not have the full day rate would& #39;ve ruined me.
3. You pay a 12hr guarantee, because you need PA& #39;s for the whole damn day. You give them a guarantee just like you would another crew member, because you are securing their time by paying them even if you end up not needing them. Our industry is chaotic.
You have to pay for the right to that chaos. As a PC, I KNOW I would& #39;ve had a helluva time locking down long term PA& #39;s if I couldn& #39;t guarantee the minimum DAY rate for a guaranteed 12 + mileage. Office staff are no different. Sometimes their hours can be even more.
To that end - scheduling PAs during production and prep or wrap can be a nightmare without the flexibility of knowing you have everyone for 12 hours, because p/us go long, producers shoot to the very limit of their scheduled time, writers are finishing a draft that needs distro.
4. On every show I& #39;ve ever been on - whenever budgets need whittling down there are two groups that always get hurt the most - production staff salaries (it& #39;s easier to cut your own arm off than have the convo w/ say an experienced LD whose wants a bump from last season) AND...
Cutting the amount of assistants on a show or the amount of hours they work. Which, by the by, generally also hurts production. The amount of money saved in getting rid of assistants is negligible compared to other line items - but it& #39;s easy and it& #39;s the standard.
BTW - depending on the type of show - a lot of budgets are based on the previous season& #39;s budget and it& #39;s rare that raises for returning assistants are factored in. It& #39;s assumed you& #39;ll work the same rate as before (or the show will hire new assts.) (Also happened to me as a PC)
Talking about this stuff is scary. Not talking about it is frustrating. I& #39;ve been working in the industry for 15 years - for 11 of those years I worked as a PC/PM. You are absolutely taught that talking about these things or fighting against them would hurt your career.
My goal was to protect my PA& #39;s as best I could - many times to my own detriment - making sure they got lunches, they could take sick days, they got all their OT, they got all their mileage, they got support or guidance, they were advocated for.
I did this, because I knew being a PA was hard - and you needed any break you could get. And I did this, very specifically, because I wished people would& #39;ve done the same for me. Every little bit of help can go a really long way. I made mistakes, I was never perfect, but I tried.
As many other much smarter people than me have said - it is much more common in Hwood for people to pull the ladder up behind them, then to wait and lend a hand for those coming up next. The thing I was always told was "only take care of yourself."
But I didn& #39;t want whatever legacy I ended up with to be leaving anyone behind. Especially, those who deserved to be recognized and put in the hard work... and it& #39;s all hard work - from the bottom to the top.
I like to think that my PA& #39;s appreciated the support? It fueled loyalty & trust & teamwork. But what I couldn& #39;t do - the thing that would& #39;ve helped the most - is a fair wage. For years, assistant pay was stagnant. Until the county voted to increase min wage.
Over the years I saw PAs have nervous breakdowns from finding out their Frankensteined cars needed major repair and they couldn& #39;t scrape the money together. Double dip on an extra two day gig just to make rent. Make lunches from crafty, because they don& #39;t have money to buy food.
I know phenomenal people who left LA, because they couldn& #39;t afford to keep fighting the good fight. Navigating low pay and dealing with sexist, racist, nepotistic gatekeeping broke them. Which is heartbreaking.
I know we often say that the ones who can afford to be in this business are ones whose income is supplemented by parents - I will say this - of all the PAs I& #39;ve hired in my life, I only rarely came across anyone who wasn& #39;t hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
Most people shared two bedroom apartments with 5 other people or slept on a rotation of couches or were driving to work on fumes waiting for their next paycheck or borrowed cars or lived weeks off the leftovers from the free office lunch. (I may have done several of these.)
And these were people with varying amounts of privilege and no extra help. If I was an employer & found out that my employees were homeless or starving, because I wasn& #39;t able to pay them a living wage- I would be embarrassed. But we often either don& #39;t ask or look the other way.
Doing right fosters better employees. I never understood why this philosophy always seemed so rare... Pay people their worth and for all their time. Mentor and advocate for the people giving you their all. Hire diverse voices. Take care of the people taking care of you.
I promise you it& #39;s all worth the price.
