Feb 10th - 11th, 2024
June 8th-9th, 2024
August 10th-11th, 2024
November 2024
Warning! This Workshop Is Not For the Weak of Heart. (Or the weak of feet.)
Want to know what it’s really like to be a production assistant? Experience the passion on the set? Be part of an exciting, creative industry? How to work with a large cast and crew? How to make contacts in this industry? How do deal with, um, difficult personalities and in difficult conditions? Well, you can’t learn any of that in a classroom. But you can learn all of that and more at the PA Academy. Think you fit the bill? Scroll on to learn more.
Sometimes, it’s the Wild West.
So you want to be a production assistant. It’s an amazing experience. There are all kinds of perks and plenty of opportunities. You get to meet creative, talented people and put passionate ideas in motion.
At the same time, this can be a grueling line of work. Long hours, physically demanding, and mentally taxing. You have to be super sharp, extremely organized, and incredibly flexible, because expensive operations like film and video productions won’t slow down for bad days. To sum it up: this ain’t no sissie desk job.
Sure this is the right field for you? I promise after a couple of days with us, you’ll find out for certain.
As a young filmmaker trying to navigate the film industry, your boot camp gave me the most realistic idea of a set that I’ve ever gotten. Thanks to you, I’ve fallen even more in love with film and developed some pretty strong calf muscles in the process!
All the things you taught in the PA class really do apply. When an actor asked for a highlighter, I reached in my pocket and gave her one. When a member of the sound team needed a carabiner, I had one. Thanks for the real-life experience.
I never thought I’d thank someone for making me stand for 12 hours a day in Georgia heat, in a room without A/C. But I was wrong. Thank you for giving me realistic unfiltered expectations of the life of a PA. I came out with the confirmation that crew life is the life for me.
I have never attended a workshop that was more thorough and comprehensive. Your sharing of your knowledge and experience was invaluable. Each speaker brought another facet of the movie business into focus. I learned more about the industry and movie making process in two days than in years of research.
What You’ll Learn
Job Descriptions & Roles
Set, office, art, camera, wardrobe, locations, and post-production PA duties, as well other entry level and general crew positions on a film set.
Terminology
What’s a hot brick? A C47? A C-stand? The football? You’ll learn more terminology than you can remember.
Paperwork
Sides, PRs, DOOD’s, Vouchers, Exhibit Gs. What is all this paperwork and what do PAs really need to know?
Walkie Talkie Protocol
Sign-in and out, terminology, functionality, and care of the most important communication tool on set.
Lunch Runs
Order lunch for the office the easy way, get everything correct the first time, and survive the dreaded coffee run.
Call Sheets
Understand the plan for the day, find your call time (when you report to work), and anticipate your ADs needs.
Set PA Positions
Understand the difference between 1st Team, Background, Paperwork, Walkie, Basecamp, Key, Additional and Dayplayer.
Production Runs, Petty Cash
Production can feel like the wild west. Things happen fast. Money changes hands. Avoid getting ripped off, losing money, and owing production cash.
Hands-On Equipment Training
The tools of the trade. Equipment PAs should know how to use, and the gear they should never touch.
Set Etiquette
How to stay in your lane, deal with fragile egos, and manage big personalities.
Set Safety
How to lock up the set, stay vigilant, and protect the crew, because set safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Video Village & Extras Holding
What they are and how to set them up.
The Sets You’ll Get to Know
Every PA Academy is different, but I typically offer real-life scenarios of what it’s like to work on multiple types of sets.
Broadcast Commercials & Promos
PA duties and responsibilities differ between commercials and feature films, and it’s important to know when to stay in what lane.
Corporate Industrials
Music Videos
Reality TV
Network, Cable & Streaming TV Series
Studio Feature Films
Indie Films
Meet Your Drill Sergeant, Linda Burns
I’ve worked with butterflies, penguins, dogs, maggots, horses, cats, flies, a taxidermy molded shark, babies, kids, entourages, difficult clients, movie stars, musicians, politicians, pro-athletes, strippers, crack addicts, prostitutes, thieves and murderers. I’ve shot, stabbed and set people on fire, decapitated heads, drilled holes in arms and smashed in skulls. I’ve shut down busy roads and highways to create an accident on I-85, raced a NASCAR car down Peachtree Street, faked a hurricane evacuation in Miami. I’ve shot 100 spots in 15 days with only an Arriflex and a Milo MoCo, and taught Himalayan monks and grade-school kids how to make movies. I do film and I love it.
Contact Linda for questions.
Meet Our Sponsors
Our sponsors play an important part in pulling off this workshop. Check out all that they do, and how you can become a sponsor, too.
