WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM BEING AN INDUSTRY ASSISTANT

(aside from making coffee)

The cool thing about being an assistant in the entertainment industry is that you have the benefit of listening in on all of your boss' phone calls. You're essentially a fly on the wall to conversations with studio and network presidents/executives, filmmakers, producers, talent, etc. When I was an assistant, I listened to and transcribed phone calls so I could send recaps to the executives at the company with updates on their projects because typically, they are the ones who are speaking for the majority of these calls. If you act like a sponge, which you should if you're interested in a long term career in the industry, there is truly no better job than being an assistant because the access you have to listening to someone at a high level do the job you want is one of the greatest ways to learn. As an assistant, you’re also responsible for managing your boss’ schedule and you have the control of when meetings are set. I had to quickly learn which people and projects were the most important and how to prioritize schedules accordingly, which is one of the more valuable skills I inherited. Being an assistant in Hollywood is essentially an old-school apprenticeship, take advantage!