I have a baby. My husband and I both work. His hours are set hours…you know 12+ hours a day with a commute… mine are a bit closer to 9am-6pm…but not quite… so how do I get out the door? This was not something I thought about before I became a mom. Who knew it would be this hard to just leave the house…. NOBODY warned me. Well, they did say it would be hard… but they never said parenting was THIS hard!!!! Think of the hardest thing you have done… and add no sleep to that… and the desire…
Author: Ashleigh Nichols
A dear friend of mine recently moved back to the Los Angeles area. She and I met years ago and had similar career paths until she left the industry and then ultimately moved away. Well she is back, and she is trying to get her career going again… but money is a big deal. When you don’t have an income your savings seems to go really fast, and just having a job becomes the goal. I get needing money. It’s sometimes a hard thing to admit, but if you are in dire need of money you probably should take the…
I will help women out. I will be there to support other women. This is a promise. As I write this article I am watching my almost four month old daughter sleep, (finally a nap longer then twenty minutes!!!). She is my everything. I had no idea the love I would have for her before she arrived, or how all I would want to do is make her happy and make her life wonderful. I am a very organized, an on-top-of-it kind of person and having a baby has not changed that. Part of making sure my daughter is happy…
As I write this, I am at home. I’m in my messy room, using my currently chaotic desk. I have been on leave from work for a week or so and am still getting used to working from home. I am on leave from work, as a soon to be mom, but like most of life the work emails and phone calls do not stop right away. The work I am doing has slowed down, and there are people to handle most things, but there are things I am still wrapping up and responsible for. So… I am trying to…
Just the other day I was having a conversation with a Show Runner friend of mine. The conversation was eye opening for me. He works on a lot of shows that go on the road and was talking to me about how hard it was to find good, steady Production Coordinators. This got me thinking about why this is the case. I have heard this before and as someone who has been a Production Coordinator and has hired Production Coordinators before I too have experienced this. Some reasons I have come up with as to why it can be hard…
So, this article is about creating a budget for first timers. Part One talked about a little bit of the homework you need or should do before you actually start to put numbers together. If you are a first time budgeter, I urge you to read that article first. This article is going to begin where I left off in Part One… with the beginnings of a budget. Okay, so we have broken down the script. We know which characters are in which scenes, we have our locations in mind, along with a list of props, set decoration, wardrobe, makeup/hair…
As someone who thinks of herself as a strong, opinionated, passionate person… I find myself giving advice a lot. When I write my articles, I’m usually full of what I hope are helpful thoughts, they do not always apply to everybody in every situation but I try to give solid advice. Well… this time…I am feeling a bit more thoughtful and curious. I find myself in a place where I do not have all the answers. I am pregnant. Yep…there I am putting it out there. I am overjoyed, excited, happy beyond belief and completely bonded to my baby. Am…
Sometimes I sit there and wish I had had an “in” to the industry. How nice would it be to just have an Uncle at Paramount who could place me in a high position on the studio’s latest project? Oh… to not be struggling all these years to make sure my voice is heard, and to find money for rent. It would be so nice to just be given my dream job, to have the reserved parking and not be the first one in and last one out each day. I am sure at some point we all wish this…
My husband and I both work in production and have both been freelance for many years. This works for us…most of the time. There are definitely times where it can get stressful, there are times where I wish one of us had a “normal” steady job that was not based on how many viewers watched an episode. There are also times where both of us being freelance can be great and I couldn’t think of any other lifestyle for me or my partner. We met many years ago when we were both Production Assistants. Both of us also had to…
Recently, I was on a set that had a lot of volunteers. They were there to donate their time and to get experience. They were legitimate volunteers, who were friends of the location owners who were coming in for a few hours to help out. The production team ordered a nice lunch with lots of options and had a very nice set up for cast, crew and volunteers alike. The one hitch is that several of the volunteers were vegan and everything that had been ordered had meat or dairy in it. The volunteers were not upset. As someone who…
Looking back over the many years I have been working in this crazy industry, I reminisce over all the things I wish I had been told as I started my career path, and what I have constantly told people throughout the years as they work for and with me. I thought I might share some of them here. These pointers are aimed towards the fresh to our industry, but I still follow all of these suggestions. 1) Be on time and ready to go. Traffic in LA can be bad, but do your best to be on time, if not…
Recently, I was asked if I know of any places to learn how to make a budget. Well, I do in fact…but the places I know are for people who know how to make a basic budget already and who want to focus on using advanced budget making programs. The courses offered are more to hone your skills and make budgeting a smoother process. I wanted to share tips with you on how to get started making a budget, if you haven’t made one before. I think paying someone who is a skilled budget-maker to create one for you is…
So… today let’s talk about how to take a good picture at an event, when maybe having your picture taken is not your favorite thing. As someone who is a creator in general you will be going to events and chances are you will be photographed, so let’s take a great picture. Most of the time I am behind the camera, but I do come from a family of Photographers so I have had years to practice posing and not posing. Growing up with everyone taking pictures I have learned a lot about how to pose so that I will…
Did you know that in the State of California, if you are hiring a minor for your production, it is not only the minor that needs a permit? Yeah, the production itself is required to hold a permit issued from the city so they can employ minors. Here is another fun law for minors. Minors can work two or more jobs in a day, but the combined total hours of all jobs cannot exceed the limits of the law. If a minor is working multiple jobs in a day, the final production they work on in that day is responsible…