I suppose I should say something here before it starts, since I will likely be sucked into a black hole for a couple months once it does: I’ve got a new job starting Wednesday.
I’m leaving the HBO pilot I’m on as a PA up in Santa Clarita to work on a Fox pilot as an APOC (assistant production office coordinator) downtown. The good news on this change is severalfold:
First, this brings me back roughly to the level I was on back at House, though on a wholly different track. This track will have me joining a union and thereby getting health insurance that isn’t tied to my job, which is a huge thing for my broke ass at the moment.
Secondly, my base pay is finally back to where it was. Oddly, I probably won’t take home as much as I do at my current job, if only because I’m not driving 400-800 miles a week for work and getting mileage for it. However, I also won’t be having to buy 3-5 tanks of gas a week, so it evens out.
Thirdly, I won’t have to drive anywhere near as much. 15 miles to downtown instead of 35 to Santa Clarita, and very few (if any) runs. My poor car, which I’ve driven almost eight thousand miles over the last two months, is ready for the break.
Hopefully, if the show gets picked up to go to series, they’ll take me along for the ride, bringing yet another period of random employment to an end. But, if it doesn’t get picked up (or they elect not to take me with them if they do), I’ll at least be in the union, and it’ll be a hell of a lot easier for me to get another job.
So all in all, I’m pretty excited about this, although I’m fairly nervous since I have a short time to make an impression, and I have to knock it out of the park pretty much immediately and constantly.
The bad news is that with the shooting schedule perilously close to the SAG strike deadline, I may be working a Saturday or four, so we’ll see what shred of my sanity remains after we wrap. Whee!
Huzzah! Congrats and good luck!
Definitely, congratulations!