Your Ultimate Goals:
- Run a tight ship
- Think ahead
- Don’t have set waiting on basecamp
The LA and 3rd Area Basecamp PA is a lot like the NYC PPW PA and NYC 1st Team Runner PA rolled into one. While still the right-hand to the 2nd AD and in charge of all paperwork and distro, you’ll also be getting 1st team ready back at the campers before their scenes. Once the cast is HMU/Ward ready and heading to set to film, you’ll hand them off to your 1st Team PA and carry on with your paperwork business back at base (inventory, distro, prepping the PR, helping with CS manpower, and timecards).
This position takes a lot of organizational skill, and you’ll need to quickly learn what to prioritize and when to do it throughout your day.
Things You Will Need
- A 4-color pen
- A pocket sized notebook
- A legal sized paperwork tin
- A computer with Microsoft Excel on it
- Gaff tape
- Sharpies
Below is a general guide for your responsibilities as a Basecamp PA in the LA & Third Area zones. This will vary show to show. You’ll want to check in with your ADs for specifics and items which might not be listed here, or items listed that they don’t need you to do. These also aren’t listed in an order that necessarily must be followed. You’ll learn what to prioritize day to day, and what can be delegated to your 1st Team PA, as you find your way with your new crew. You can find a condensed version of this list on our Basecamp PA (LA & Third Area) checklist to print out and carry with you for reference throughout your day.
- Yours will likely be the earliest call time of the whole crew. First thing—label the appropriate campers for each cast member working today. Check deal memos or with your 2nd AD if you’re unsure which size trailer they get.
- If breakfast is far, get food orders for yourself and the early Hair/Makeup/Wardrobe (HMUW) crew if they can’t get there on their own. Your 1st Team PA should help you get these orders to catering and back to deliver the food.
- Put sides, contracts, and a pen into all corresponding cast rooms that you’ve labeled.
- Gather any morning distro that needs to be handed out (This will happen multiple times a day. Distro needs to go out in a timely manner and not just sit in the AD office all day.)
- Stand by to greet all cast members as they land. You’ll find their individual land times on your Call Sheet. Show them to their camper and get their food order
- As cast in-times hit, bring them to the HMU trailer to start going through the works. Notate all times (and delays) to yourself when actors sit in the chair. This record may become a handy reference if set starts to consistently wait on basecamp for one reason or another. It will also help you when your 2nd AD asks “How long does Mikey really take in each chair?”.
- USEFUL TIP 1: Don’t bring anyone to the HMU camper without first checking with both departments’ reps.
- USEFUL TIP 2: When entering a HMU camper, knock from the ground, open the door, announce “Stepping Up”, and then step onto the stairs. This prevents shaking of the camper while there might be delicate makeup work happening inside.
- Send your 1st Team PA ahead to get a lay of the land at set. Where set is, how they’ll get in, where cast chairs and HMUW monitors will go, where are bathrooms, etc. If there’s time, your helper should then come back and continue helping you at base. If there isn’t time, they should stay on set to catch cast as they arrive.
- Check with your ADs ahead of time on the morning plan. Do they want cast standing on set at call? Will you be able to “keep them cooking” in HMUW until an invite? Base your movements off this plan.
- EXAMPLE: Let’s say the 1st AD wants the cast standing on set at crew call for their first rehearsal. How far away is set? Will they need vans or is it walkable? How long will it take you to pull them from HMU chairs? Are any ready? How many are there? How much time will they owe after rehearsal for finishing HMU and dressing? Is this the first time in their costume? That will take extra time with the designer. Have they eaten? Is their contract signed? There are a LOT of variables to consider. This is why it’s essential to be on the same page as your ADs with their plans for the day.
- If cast rehearses not HMUW ready, one of the first questions you’ll be asked after rehearsal is “How much time do they need?”. You should know this answer before it’s asked. During rehearsal, discuss with HMUW their time needs to get cast 100%, account for any travel time to and from set, and calculate your estimates with that info.
- USEFUL TIP 3: Cast is not 100% ready for filming until Hair, Makeup, and Costumes are done with them, they’ve NDBd (if needed), and they’ve signed their contracts.
Cast is 100%, their contracts are signed, and your 1st Team PA has taken them to set to start filming of the first scene
- Prepare to greet the next wave of cast if there are any. Start the whole morning process over again to get them HMUW ready for camera.
- Prep the Exhibit G
- Prep the Production Report (PR). Unlike the NYC Paperwork PA, you will only have to prep this document. The 2nd 2nd AD, after wrap, will complete it. Check with your 2nd 2nd AD on any preferences they have for this process.
- USEFUL TIP 4: Using yesterday’s PR, “SAVE AS” today’s new PR right away and then begin working from the top down to clear out cells and add the current day’s information. You’ll be pulled away many times as you prep this document, so make sure you have a system for remembering where you were when you come back to it.
- Get manpower for tomorrow’s call sheet from department heads and send that info to your 2nd AD (Some 2nd ADs may find this info themselves. Just check in with them.)
- One hour before lunch, confer with your 2nd AD on when you should break individual cast members for a meal. Don’t forget to feed anyone. Have a van plan for getting cast to/from lunch if it’s not walkable. It’s your job to make sure all cast breaks for a 30-minute lunch after 6 hours of work. Avoid Meal Penalty Violations (MPVs) on the Exhibit G as much as possible.
- Print and distro prelims once the 2nd AD gives you the go ahead.
- USEFUL TIP 5: Hand one to the 1st AD and 2nd AD before anyone else, and don’t forget the teamster captain.
- Check the prelim for any snags you can spot ahead of time on tomorrow’s plan. Relay any necessary notes you get from the crew to the 2nd AD.
- EXAMPLE: An actor brought in too late/early, you don’t have enough camper rooms for everyone, a missing stand-in, scene description is off, etc. Better to catch these things at lunch time the day before, rather than 5AM the day of.
- As the day progresses, keep tracking and notating times for each cast member as they get ready and have meals. Notate all necessary times on the Exhibit G.
- Prep weekly timecards for the ADs and check your supplies and paperwork inventory. Put an order in with the office for anything you’re running short on.
- AS CAST WRAPS: Complete their row on the Exhibit G and have them sign in the right column. If they had a van bring them in, make sure transpo knows in time to prepare a van to take them home.
- USEFUL TIP 6: The teamster captain & co-captain will be two of your best allies. Any van needs should go through them first.
- USEFUL TIP 7: Carry a current Day out of Days and One Liner on you (or in your tin) for quick reference. Cast will frequently ask when they come in next and for what scenes. You’ll find all of that info on those two documents. Just make sure you have the most up to date version, as these documents can change multiple times over the course of a shoot.
- As trailers become empty, tell Wardrobe first so they can retrieve costumes. Then alert Transpo on their channel so they can start cleaning and wrapping the room.
- Prelabel any cast rooms for tomorrow that you can to save you time the next morning.
- Print call sheets if the 2nd AD oks it. These are NOT distro’d until the 1st AD has called wrap and the 1st or 2nd AD says “Fly the sheets”. Hand a stack to the Key PA and keep a stack for yourself in the AD office to hand out at basecamp once you get the word.
Company has wrapped, and all cast is out
- Make sure all campers are clear and all completed contracts have been retrieved and sent to the office.
- Turn in your completed Exhibit G to the 2nd 2nd AD for the PR and football.
- Hand off your prepped PR to the 2nd 2nd AD
- You or the 1st Team PA should gather the daily timesheets and out times (and any timecards) from the basecamp crews (HMUW) and hand them in to the 2nd 2nd AD.
Go home and get some sleep! You’ll probably be first in again tomorrow.
Resources
- Find more useful checklists and templates for the Basecamp PA position on our GoForResources pages.
- Check our Jobs page for ways to connect to shows that are hiring