Picking up from last time –
Quickly, let me just re-visit what I actually did in my one day of Skating With The Stars, since I mentioned how I got the day, but not what I did on it.
They had me drive! Can you believe it? I made it multiple seasons on AGT without having to drive once. Sure enough, on my first day as a PA on a different show I had to drive a big SUV all around town.
But at least part of my job was to drive the talent to a meeting at a fancy Italian place by the CBS lot (Maggiano’s). And the production company bought me a humongous dinner that lasted me for days. (Mmmm. Thanks, Skating with the Stars!)
Okay, so enough about that. How did I get job number 3?
The exact details are a little sketchy for me since it’s been a while. But, basically, I moved to New York on a whim (which was really pretty fun, even though it was hard). Once I knew I was going, I emailed any friends I had up there – including local PAs I’d worked with on America’s Got Talent (when we’d auditioned there).
One of the most go-getter, awesome, kind New York PAs was already an associate producer on a cooking show, and got me a job! (Thank you, Charles!)
The people were lovely. The show was fun. The food was plentiful and delicious. It was fantastic.
Then that show ended, and didn’t come back for another season. The people who were moving onto other things all seemed to be going onto things already fully staffed. I was having a super tough time finding another job. My shoestring budget got thinner and thinner as I looked.
Right as I was on the edge of homelessness (pretty for real – learning how to transition into a homeless shelter, sleeping with rats running by me, and having a guy who’d just got out of prison that day playing with my hair), I got a call from a friend (and former PA) on AGT.
She wanted to know if I’d be interested in a job in Vegas that paid for my room & board, along with a surprisingly nice salary (especially for my position) on top of that.
Would I?!
And this is where I’ll pick up next time.