How To Get A Production Assistant Job

If you want to work in the heady excitement of the showbiz world, then becoming a production assistant can be one of the easiest ways to get into that sort of environment. This is not to say that getting a production assistant job is easy, but if you follow our guide below, you will give yourself a great chance of landing a role in the not too distant future.

1. Understand the industry. If you want to become a production assistant, you need to understand the job, and all of the other jobs that relate to the position. As a production assistant, you will be dealing with lots of other people in different positions. You need to understand who you are going to have to interact with and what positions those people will hold. I would recommend going online or buying a book which tells you all about the position of production assistant.

2. Be in the right place, at the right time. It’s an old expression, but it applies more to positions in television and the media in general than to anything else. You really need to be in Los Angeles and New York to be where all of the best jobs are, and in terms of being in the right place at the right time, you need to be there now!

3. Be ready to do anything. Sometimes production assistants are expected to be the dog’s body around the place, and you have to be willing to do whatever anyone wants you to do. Don’t go into this thinking it is going to be the most glamorous position you have ever held. The likelihood is that it will be the least glamorous, but it is where it could lead you to a position that is glamorous!

4. Qualify. This is really not an essential, but it will only help you on your way. There is no set qualification for production assistants, but anything to do with the industry will help. A media degree of some sort would help, and any sort of technical qualification in regards to production won’t do you any harm either.

5. Network. This is the big one. In this sort of industry it is so often a case of who you know rather than what you know. You need to research the industry and find out what organisations you can join in order to get onto people’s radar’s, and you need to hang out where the people of the industry hang out. If you’re in the right city then it is at least a start!

6. Offer your work for free. Sometimes volunteering yourself for general work to a production company can be the way to break in. Sometimes you have to do this for quite a long time, but once you’re in, you’re in, and it won’t be too long before you land a regular paid role.