Adventures in Wonderland (con't)

Taylor

A female voice suddenly bellows from the hallway outside the green room.

“Where’s my room?”

Page gives the actress a quick tour of the green room and shows her where the water, coffee and snacks are before running back to the set to fetch rehearsing actors.

Bernard Browne plays the part of Dan Smalls on This is Wonderland and says the actors would be lost without ADs. They’re “the unsung heroes. There should be an award for these guys.”

“We become like children – we can’t think and our brains turn to mush,” he laughs. “They are like mommy to us. If we need a cookie, they get us a cookie.”

Page doesn’t want to be a parent to actors forever. She says her goal is to produce and direct.

“It’s what I do on my time off,” she explains. “I’ve directed a couple of commercials.”

Page says most ADs fall into the job on their way to another. She got her start working on a low budget feature. Her boss at the time, the First AD, liked her so much she helped her get the necessary letters of recommendation required to join the Director’s Guild.

“I worked for free for eight months. That snowballed into more work,” she says.
“Assistant director is a good place to start because you learn what everyone else does on set, and you figure out why they are here.”

“When you move up you understand every department and what their needs are.”

Erin Walker, the Second AD, is in charge of Page and two other ADs working on This is Wonderland. The two share a tiny trailer as an office. She agrees that being an AD is a good place to start, if you are lucky enough to get hired.

“Nobody really has an in with this industry. It’s usually a back door entrance,” she says.

“Michal has good common sense, is organized, can handle the stressful situations and, most importantly, can work on little sleep.”

Page cuts in and warns this job is not for everyone.

“I learned fast not to cry if someone yells at you. You have to have thick skin.”

If you want to be an AD, Walker says you should start working as the dreaded office production assistant. That’s the person who faxes and photocopies in the production office and doesn’t get to be involved in the on-set action.

“That way you get a handle on the job and it’s the easiest in. Look up every production that is filming in town and send the production manager your resume and a creative cover letter,” she explains. “You need to stand out a bit.”

NEXT>>>