Picking up from yesterday –
So, I flew to Florida. And I worked with America’s Got Talent down there. I was on a city-by-city basis. But somehow I always worked my way onto the next one.
There were a few of us who’d do different cities. Some people only made it to a couple. I don’t know if it’s because they ran out of money, time, or weren’t able to fight hard enough to stay on.
(Me and one other guy made it all the way through. He was a production assistant superstar, and as far as I know he works in television to this day.)
Now, when I say that some people didn’t fight hard enough to stay on, this may not make sense to the average reader. If someone’s doing a good job and paying his or her own way, why wouldn’t she be staying on?
When people say the entertainment industry is mostly about who you know – they’re exactly right. (Or at least, judging by my experiences they are.) I was so lucky that I got paired with a producer on the show. Had I not been the note-taker, and been a wristband attacher or waiting-room watcher, I’m sure my time there would’ve been over much sooner (probably after my initial two or three days).
Some people expressed interest in going to other cities, but the production office had enough to worry about without having to trust that people were gonna have it together to plan and afford their own travel.
Plus, I don’t want to speak out of turn or anything, but the TV game is tough. Some (some) of the production people had just gotten out of PA purgatory. I’m not sure they felt the need to try to bring in a whole new class of PAs, and willingly invite people to try and chase them up the ladder.
(We can talk more about the vibe and politics of working in TV sometime in person if you want to. But that’s as close to crossing the line as I can get here in this public forum.)
Anyway, I was incredibly lucky. And as long as I went through the producer I sat next to, I always made it on to the next city. (However, I did not learn this lesson soon enough… More on that in tomorrow’s post.)
I used discount travel sites and airline miles making it through the audition cities. In the last tour city, I asked if I could work the Vegas callbacks. They let me. Not only that, but they paid for my hotel room that time around. (And I didn’t even have to share!) What a swanky life, right?
Vegas was incredibly fun. Since we were done with the initial auditions, I didn’t have the same note-taking job.
(Side note: Small point, while writing this, I just remembered that I was actually originally assigned to be an outside the room PA. who led auditioners in/out and organized paperwork to be ready to go.
But the girl assigned to inside the room wasn’t familiar with Excel, and didn’t feel she was a fast typist. It was decided we’d switch (in case anybody’s keeping score and wanted to know that).)
Also, let me circle around and say in case anyone was wondering, the note-taking job on the road was extremely fun. I loved watching people audition all day.
I can’t really say anything specifically about what it’s like inside the room and behind the table, ’cause all that’s protected in a confidentiality agreement. Suffice it to say, it was interesting. And the day moved pretty fast watching all the auditions.
As far as the traveling was concerned, in case anyone’s wondering how hard it was – it was kind of hard. I had to stretch every dollar. I obviously wouldn’t have had the luxury of doing that had I been in a different position (not in college). It was the right timing, and through research/favors/friends and family in random cities, I somehow made it work.
I visited places I hadn’t been before, met great new people. It was probably a risk worth taking.
And we’ll pick up in Vegas tomorrow.