Key PA - GoFor Channel 1

Your Ultimate goals:

Hustle from your call to wrap
Keep your ADs happy
Look after your PA team

Congratulations—you’ve been hired as the Key P.A! You now have one of the single hardest jobs in the entire realm of P.A. work. Remember, delegation is your friend.

It cannot be stated enough—being a Key P.A. is hard. You need to know every crew member’s name on set, and why they’re there, doing what they’re doing. Someone needs a tent—is that props or locations? A battery is dying—where can they get a new one? There’s an emergency vehicle coming—what’s the plan? Where’s the bathroom? What are we doing next? How do we get to lunch? You need to know all this and more ahead of time. If you find yourself having a relaxing time, feeling like you’re kind of bored, then there are approximately 70ish things that you could be planning for.

You are the eyes, ears, and voice of the A.Ds. You are the one to answer the 1st AD whenever the 2^nd or 2^nd 2^nd does not. You are there to step up and fill the gap whenever there is a chance. “Copy, I’m on it” is music to any AD’s ears. You are there to take care of all the random stuff that ADs simply do not have time for. You are in charge of the lock-ups, and while you answer to the 1st, 2nd and 2^nd 2^nd, you still take charge with regard to where all the PAs are and what they are doing.

You are doing this while dealing with every single other little request made by anybody for anything, because you’re the one that knows who is free to take care of things. Delegation is your friend. You are the leader of the team—you are the one that they all look to for assignments and answers. Your mission is the same as everyone’s: get the shot, get the scene, make the day.

Every day, your goal is twofold:

1) Accomplish the work on the Call Sheet
2) Take care of your team

Number one will happen collaboratively with the rest of the crew, and number two is the one you have to make sure happens.

Overall, some simple words should define your existence as Key P.A.: Efficient. Approachable. Relaxed (that’s the hard one, good luck). Unflappable. Intelligent. Reliable.

Below is a general guide for your responsibilities as Key PA. 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 PA team, as you find your way with your new crew. You can find a condensed version of this list on our Key PA checklist to print out and carry with you throughout your day.

Know your crew. Every crew member’s name and what they do. You can’t lockup a mass of people if you don’t know who to allow through, who to hold, and who needs to be escorted from video village that doesn’t belong there.
Read the prelims and call sheets. Your ADs will love it if they know you’re actively involved and paying attention to all of their planned work. Catch mistakes on the prelim early and relay those to your PPW/Basecamp PA or 2nd AD.
Know the day’s plan. 2 company moves? Be ready with a van plan. How will the walkie box get over? Push move or truck move? The loading of those trucks will need to be monitored for timing. Don’t leave anyone behind. Know if you have to send people ahead before you have to do it. All day on stage? Stay aware of PAs that might need breaks from outside or just a rotation to stay alert. 1 hour before lunch, check with the 2^nd 2^nd AD if you’ll be breaking on time. Have a PA chain plan in place to post up and point the crew to and from lunch (or vans that will take them to/from lunch). Assign van gaffers. Do set and trucks need a fire-watch? Know the plan and delegate assignments out to your team. Every day will be different, so every day will require a new PA plan.
Always read your sides and be on set before call with the stack of sides. Reading your sides early each day will inform you of all the work the company has to do that day. You may even catch mistakes before the ADs do, which will get you some brownie points. Ideally, you’ll have already read the script and call sheet, too, so will know where in the story you’re filming each day. After giving basecamp their needed sides, be on set ready to distro the remaining to the pertinent crew. After day 1 you’ll have a good idea of who wants them and who doesn’t.
Get a lay of the land. Use your precall to check out the set, where breakfast is, where lunch will be, where the closest bathrooms are, where village might go, how cast will get into set. Get a rough idea of the entire day during this brief quiet time.
Greet the ADs as soon as they land. Find out if they need food, a walkie, sides, a pencil, moral support, anything. Just check in. You’ll quickly get a sense of what they’re going to need before they ask for it.
Carry plenty of hot bricks on you, and swap out dead ones ASAP
Have a case of water placed within easy reach of video village.
Backup your ADs and keep them fed. Breakfast, hot food, snacks, lunch; always check in that they’re taken care of. You’re also the next voice to answer if there is a crew question on Channel 1 and the ADs are too busy to answer. Be ready to step in for anything.
Stay near the action and watch all rehearsals. You’re the support system for the 1^st and 2^nd 2^nd AD. Don’t needlessly place yourself at a camera 2 blocks away when that can be delegated to a reliable PA. Try to keep yourself free to run around and fill the gaps that come up, and to watch the frame during filming. Watching rehearsals will give you a rough idea of your lockup footprint needed to protect the frames.
Know the frames and where is safe for equipment/crew during each setup. The frame is the area you and your PA team will have to protect from non-story variables. It determines your lockups and informs you on where the company is at in the day’s work. If you can’t get to video village to check them, ask the 2^nd 2^nd to relay them to you. If they can’t be at village, go to each camera and check their operator monitors. If you can’t do that, send PA delegates to relay for you from cameras. This is the biggest part of your day – clearing those frames of non-story elements to keep filming moving along efficiently.
Watch the DP and Director during lighting. They are likely planning the shots for the entire scene. You will get a rough sense of what frames will be before a camera even arrives on set. This can help preplan your lockups.
Set your pedestrian and traffic lockups. Your lockups should be in place well before a camera rehearsal is called. That way you’ll get some trial and error time to adjust before rolling. If you have a day outside with cop roadblocks, you’ll need a PA at every point to communicate to you and the 1^st AD when the road is locked and set is safe from bogey cars. Set these up early and have a safe pedestrian plan. Some lockups require blocking an entire sidewalk off for cameras. Between diverting foot traffic with lockup PAs, and cones to safely redirect pedestrians who got through, it’s our job to keep everyone safe around camera – crew and the general population.
Don’t lose anyone. If it’s a big crew or uncontained location, assign PAs to help “keep eyes” on critical people who might wander. The Director, DP, Tech advisors, Intimacy Coordinators, people who aren’t easily found on walkie, etc. When someone is missing, you and your PA team are the ones that will be expected to know where they are and bring them back to set.
Look after your team. Do PA rotations so people can use the restroom and get food, swap out traffic lock PAs who have been standing on a road all morning. Bring people out of the snow or rain when possible. Make sure everyone can get lunch whether by breaking some early or having fire-watches swap out for PAs who have eaten. Have PAs bring other PAs food. You’re all a team, and as the Key PA, you set the tone.
Book your upcoming days. Work with your 2^nd AD to book people that can fill certain roles based on the work and needs of the upcoming days. Heavy cast or stunt numbers? You’ll need additional PAs with 1^st team experience to help. Big BG day? Again, BG experienced PAs to assist. Locking up Times Square? 80-100+ lockup PAs, good luck.
Distro call sheets to crew. At some point the PPW PA will bring you the stack of tomorrow’s call sheets. These are NOT distro’d until the 1st AD has called wrap and the 1st or 2nd AD says “Fly the sheets”.
Communicate your wrap plan to your PA team. You’re just one person, you can’t be at every truck and set all at the same time once everyone is scrambling to get home. Send your team to assigned points to collect the wrap paperwork and out times of the crew and to report back via walkie as items are turned in.
Have a good relationship with Transpo. Most items on this checklist will be made easier if you have a good relationship with the captains and van drivers. They can make so much happen that often goes unnoticed by the lay person. **As a NYC Key PA, you are frequently the de facto Transportation liaison for Production, and you’ll need to keep them well informed of van needs whether you’re working in the city or out. City Vans vs Safety vans vs. Company Move vans vs. Shuttle vans and more. You are the one set P.A. voice that Transpo should hear, so that they know the requests are all coming through you (Basecamp is its own thing). Stay efficient, assign trusted, strong PA van gaffers to help keep moving crews organized, load as many people as you can so a van isn’t wasted, keep traffic in mind, stay ahead of problems, and be considerate. It’s a lot, but not impossible, and made better by cultivating this working relationship and having a good rapport with your captains. They will help you so much when they can.

Being a Key P.A. is hard, and being a good Key PA makes the trials worth it.

Resources

Find more useful checklists on our GoForResources pages.
Check our GoForNetworking page for ways to connect to shows that are hiring

BONUS CONTENT:

Remember that amazing sequence in True Detective where Rust goes with the dealers to the stash house? (If you have no idea what we’re talking about, go watch True Detective Season One right now. It’s one of the best shows out there.) Anyway, that stellar piece of filmmaking was a huge team effort from the whole crew to successfully plan and lockup for multiple vehicle cues, background cues, cast cues, camera cues, etc. Check out their lockup map here. (If you’re in a rush, the scene is Season One, Episode Four, 49:33 into the episode. But seriously, go watch the whole season).

Photo courtesy True Detective Season 1 Key PA – Eric Williamson