The Bad PA

Most experiences on set are a positive one. The cast and crew work together to achieve the same goal and know how hard the work is and try to make it as easy as possible. Occasionally you'll be annoyed with the lack of organization amongst the crew and feel like cattle walking back and forth without a clue as to what is going on. 

However there are those who seem to take it upon themselves to make it the worst experience for you and treat you like an animal. 

My first experience on a commercial and it was an overnight exterior. I knew it was going to be long and tough to stay awake and energetic in the cold, but that was worth the 200 they were paying. What I was not prepared for was the constant yelling by the extras PA in charge of us. He ranted and raved to get to set when there were 200 people getting wardrobe and fan makeup. Instead of asking the crew to move the lines along, we were yelled at for doing what we were told. The volume of his voice and the arrogant tone had me fed up and ready to leave after 20 minutes of arriving. Unfortunately we were over an hour away with no way to return home. He continued to yell at us for the rest of the shoot, calling people out one by one for not doing what he was implying or for no reason at all. Not only were people embarrased to be talked down to and singled out, he made sure to put you down and make you feel stupid for something "you should have known." 

The second PA was one on a TV Show were we were held in a tiny room for 8 hours before setting our sights on set. Understandably the PA was as frustrated as we were but that didnt give him permission to take it all out on us. He threatened that if you did not respond to your given id number at any point in the day he would call casting to send you home and be sure you did not work again. A little extream if you ask me. Now if we are on set and you have been looking for someone for awhile then that's understandable. But threatening people isn't the way to accomplish anything. 

My second commercial was earlier this week and prompted this post. I was dropped off in a random location at 4:30 in the morning to catch a ride to set. Only when I arrived the "ride" was a sketchy school bus. There were grown men standing outside of it smoking, no clipboard im hand. I was about to turn around and tell the taxi I was in the wronbr place when I saw the 1st PA standing there paper in hand. I hesitated to get on but really wanted the paycheck and not to get fired for ditching work. I hoped and prayed that this time he would be better and if I just stayed out of his way I would be fine. 2 minutes into being on set he was calling people out, saying to me "hey redhead who's not doing anything!" I just stared because they had not called background or action and i had not been instructed to do anything. That was all it took to get my blood boiling as he continues to yell at people for not doing what he wanted or implied he wanted. 

Here's a tip, calling people out and by nes will not achieve wanted results faster. I wish I had written down specific examples of why this guy was so awful but i blocked out most of the content and just dealt with loud angry tones instead. A girl did tell me she was close to recording a few of his rants one time, but he calmed down when he saw her phone.

Moral of the story, we need you as much as you need us so let's treat eachother with respect and do the job we were all hired to do.