Welcome to LA. But what exactly IS LA?

Well, if you are reading this post you must have some curiosity in moving to the Los Angeles area, and I can only assume this is because you have a dream that you wish to fulfill in the movie or television business. Let me introduce myself. I am Jesse Bogue, I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree and Theater Arts degree in 2004 from Virginia Tech, worked for a while as an engineer, didn't like it, got a MFA (Masters) in Film and Media from American University in 2008 while working in their Accounts Office to pay for school, and then decided to see if LA was for me. Well is it? I don't know yet. I came out here in the Summer of 2007 and interned with Warner Bros. in the Production Office and I interned with a Management Company called Artists International. Both very amusing internships, but amusing because I could learn and didn't work much. Hence my perspective now has changed that I am working real hours. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Basically upon moving to LA I discovered something crucial. For all my attempt at preparation, talking to people I knew, had met and so forth both researching jobs, and life in general out here I stepped off the plane only to realize I knew absolutely shit about this place. Nadda, zero, zilch. Well, not nothing, but not enough by FAR! So, in short I am creating this blog to record thoughts, experiences, and the general lessons I am learning out here in an effort to create a source of information that will give you the knowledge that you won't know coming out here.

So where to start. Well, when I got out here on July 6th, I had no job. Good place to start. I moved into Old Town Pasadena area. Bit pricey but very very safe and nice. I will actually add a section on areas of LA a little later as well. So I actually puttzed around for awhile getting settled in, getting used to the area. Then I decided to actually get my job.

I started applying to jobs I found on the UTA list first. There are several other resources as well that I will post later. The UTA list is the United Talent Agency list which is the list that is sent around by all the assistants to everyone with all the jobs people don't post online or elsewhere. So I applied to all of those and contacted everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, I knew from out in LA. Now this is important. I got two job interviews very quickly, and two job offers and they were from the people I contacted. And ONLY from them. I never heard back from anyone else and I applied to a lot.

The first job I interviewed for was for a Film Company that primarily did documentaries. They offered me a position that didn't really have a title, but was basically a PA job where I would be working for $500 a week, no benifits, in at 8am leave around 5pm with a decent amount of freetime to work on whatever I wanted to, and my only real obligation was to answer phones. Granted they said I would be doing other stuff too, but I never got the chance to see what the job would have been like.

I ended up taking a job as a Production Office PA (Production Assistant) for the *removed for my jobs sake* show. I figured this would be a good opportunity because it was a main stream show with large popularity, it had a guaranteed work lineup through March of 2009 (I'll explain this in a minute), and I knew one of the people working on it. I actually got this job because when I had interned with "Chuck" (WB show) in 2007 I had met "T", who worked on the show. She had been a good source of information at the time, and she was one of the many contacts I got in touch with when I came to LA. So she actually forwarded me a couple jobs, then contacted me about this one, brought me in for an interview and I got the job. It pays $550 a week with no benefits, feeds you breakfast and lunch (some shows do, some don't but apparently Disney feeds the good, the bad, the ugly and everyones puppy), and as I would later find out, works you like a dog. I have routinely worked from 8 am till 8:30 pm. That's right kids, a 12 hour work day and I work through lunch. And sometimes later too. And guess what, no overtime. The way it works out here is that you work 12 hours before overtime kicks in, with a half hour for lunch. (HA!) But it was a job I felt had good connection prospects and so I am still doing it. Also, as I said above, it was a secure job, meaning strike-proof. With the potential Actors strike on the horizon, many companies are holding off on starting up work, and hiring people. But Disney actually hires their workers from a different guild than the Actors Guild of America. They hire from AFTRA, which has already signed its acting contract, so, Hence, the *removed again because my boss knows how to google* show is strike-proof.

Well, that sums up pretty well how I got here and got my job. Other people tell me that it is surprising I got a job so fast, while others say they are practically handing out PA jobs to people, but to err on the conservative side I would say I am lucky to have gotten this job.

In summary:
You get jobs through people you know! You can get jobs through other means, but it isn't easy. Also, I work LONG HOURS. I'm not sure yet if this will change as we get into our groove, or if it is specific to this show because of my superiors. I have been told the hours on this show are better than others by some people (my boss) and told that they are worse than other shows where they usually worked around 10 hours. I will keep you posted as I discover more.