A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work as a PA on a music video for Disney. The artist was Demi Lovato. I could share some behind the scenes details about her and how she acted on set but I won’t.

About 7 years ago, I worked for a month on a really bad feature that was shot in Sarasota, Florida called The Bail. It is also known as Fizzy Bizness. The film never got distribution. Some poor guy is out $2 million. The good news, is I got my first IMDB credit from this film. That was awesome.

Check out the trailer here.

Anyway, this was the first time I had ever been on a film set and I was blown away. The production process is so cool. I could live on a film set. I love it.

But at the time, I didn’t love being a PA. (Who does?) I was really intimidated by the whole thing. I was only 21 so I guess that’s excusable. But I always hated the thought of having to PA again because I wasn’t very good at it.

One of the things keeping me from moving to LA was this fear. I knew if I moved to LA, I’d probably have to PA again. And I really didn’t want to. But after much prayer, God helped to to lay down my fear and pride (I’d directed a feature – PAing was beneath me – haha.) So I moved to LA and met up with a music video director who is also a pastor out here and he got me booked on this music video for Disney as a PA.

On the Disney shoot, I wasn’t the greatest PA in the world. I made mistakes. I got yelled at by the AD (it wasn’t my fault – I had a faulty radio but try telling that to an AD.) I spent half the day nervous. But by the last half of the day, I had discovered that the real key to success as a PA is just plain old hard work. Run faster. Work faster. Never take a break.

I learned that even though I’m not the best PA in the world, I could try and be the hardest working PA. So I busted my butt. There were other guys who were way better than me but I tried to work twice as hard as them. It was a great day. I was so sore the next few days but it felt so good.

I had conquered my fear. PAing still isn’t my favorite thing in the world but I’m not afraid anymore. Evening being yelled at by the AD wasn’t the worst thing in the world (I used to have nightmares about the AD who worked on The Bail.) He actually apologized for yelling at me. That guy (named Chef) broke every AD stereotype in the book by doing that.

God was good to give me closure to my “Bail” experience. I’m very grateful.

Last Friday night, I volunteered as a PA on a night shoot. I was feeling pretty comfortable as a set PA. But early on, they put me in Camera department – doing some of what a 2nd AC would do. I’d never worked in camera before so this was new. I was a little nervous but mostly excited to learn. And it was a great experience thanks to a nice bunch of camera department guys.

So that’s one more fear I faced down. Next up, I think I’ll try to watch Neverending Story with the lights off – that Gmork scares the crap out of me. I’m serious. I have nightmares about that thing.

Oh, FYI –

PA= Production Assistant
AD= Assistant Director
AC = Camera Assistant (I know the words are swapped – its just how it is)