Putting myself out there ...

...and taking a temp job a few steps backwards

So , I hate being unemployed, we've established this, I hate having no purpose, and on some levels I’m willing to take any type of work.

So, I did, and before you go there, no I didn’t become a prostitute or a stripper. I took a 4 day gig as a PA on a talk show that isn’t even a talk show yet. Now, when I was a “PA” for other companies, I was always doing a lot more than an actual PA would do just because of circumstance, at one job my direct boss was let go for various reasons and while I was still labeled PA, I had assumed some of her job as a producer, and at a job awhile back PA was more like AP and we were only called PA’s because we were the second from the bottom on the totem pole. With the exception of one gig that lasted 2 days I had sort of skipped the whole going for coffee part of my television career in Los Angeles. So when I walked into the supervisors office for an interview he said those words I actually really dread hearing “You’re over qualified for this job”, yes, true, but I wanted it. I wanted it because I needed something to do, and I really love working on talk shows, and I figured, if this show ever went anywhere, at least I’d be on the radar for a job, and hopefully an AP job.

So, I was offered the job, and I took the job, and I HAD A BLAST! I had so much fun, and sure it was running errands and getting someone coffee and holding cue cards, but I had a blast. It was nice to be working, it was nice to once again be part of team, it was nice to get a paycheck LOL.

And it was humbling, it made me remember that there are people out there who do what I was doing for a lot longer than I ever had, and that there are a lot of little things that are so important to the over all big picture of a television production. The chef in the cooking segment wanted aged balsamic, do you know how hard it is to find 12 year aged balsamic?? I didn’t either, but it was important I find it because he needed it for the segment. It was humbling, but in the best possible way, it reminded me why I love TV, and why I bust my ass, because while it was fun for a few days, no, I don’t want to spend my life getting coffee, and no I don’t want to be a “go-for”, but it made me appreciate the jobs I have had, and the jobs still hope to get that much more.

We in TV take these jobs because, the fact of the matter is you never know what is going to be the next big thing, for all I know this show could turn into something next year and my phone might ring and maybe I'll work for what becomes the next Oprah. I have friends who took day jobs for small companies with not a lot of shows yet, and then said company sold a biggie and they are now staffed on major prime time shows. We takes these jobs because you never know who you are going to meet, or who will one day help you get a full time well paying job, or you never know who will help you get to where you really want to go. So I knew I couldn't turn this albeit short and a few step backwards job because it was for a big network, with possibility, and who knows where it could lead.

Overall it was fun, and as of yet nothing has become of it, and maybe it never will, who is to say?

And maybe in coming years I’ll forget all about my 4 days there, and it will only come back to me when I see the show premier in a year or so, but for right now while it is still fresh in my mind, I will look back on that as a really good job in TV.

Look for my next entry where I put myself out there... and kind of sound like a hypocrit... so much more tell you gentle readers, so much more to tell you.