Production assistant

A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget and specific requirements of a production as well as whether the production is unionized.

Production assistants on films are sometimes attached to individual actors or filmmakers.

In unionized television and feature film, production assistants are usually divided into different categories: "Set PA", "Truck PA", "Locations PA", "Office PA", or "Set Runner" and "Extra PA or Daily" - Variations exist depending on a show's structure or region of the United States or Canada.

Office PAs usually spend most hours in the respective show's production office handling such tasks as phones, deliveries, script copies, lunch pick-ups, and related tasks in coordination with the production manager and production coordinator.

Set PAs work on the physical set of the production, whether on location or on a sound stage. They report to the assistant director (AD) department and key set PA if one is so designated. Duties include echoing (calling out) "rolls" and "cuts", locking up (making sure nothing interferes with a take), wrangling talent (actors) and background, facilitating communication between departments, distributing paperwork and radios, and related tasks as mandated by the ADs. Set PAs usually work 12- to 16-hour days with the possibility at the end of a shoot to work more than 20 hours a single day and are regularly the "first to arrive and the last to leave".

Commercial Set PAs share the same responsibilities as their Television and Feature Film counterparts (see "Set PAs" above), but also inherit additional responsibilities traditionally encompassed by other departments in the television and feature film structure. These responsibilities range from providing both critical and mundane production support equipment such as dollies, cranes, director's chairs and pop-up tents to standing in for talent and even filling in for other departments who might be shortstaffed. It is not atypical for a commercial set PA to be seen handling trash one minute, and the next minute assisting the electricians or grips with a set-up. A select group of commercial set PAs are given the responsibility of driving and managing the production and camera cube trucks. This responsibility is often given to the more senior PAs because it provides several extra days of pay.

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