Paperwork Manifesto (Part 1)

So I realize that one of my primary goals with this blog was to shed some light on the nature of the DGA training program. And well, to date, I've done a pretty lousy job of doing that. But I'm now a week into my first DGA assignment and this is what I've learned so far.

WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES

Yes, yes. This one seems like a no brainer. It was one of the first things I was told in my training seminar and it was said over and over again on my additional days on Premium Rush. My shoes are pretty comfortably broken in and I like to think that I walk a lot. But I think the best way to describe the amount of walking you do on the job is to liken it to the dilemma the NFL is currently dealing with. Like with concussions, it's not the big walks I've had to take, but all the little walking that occurs. All day long, it's stand up, sit down, file this, file that, get me this, don't stand there. As a result, I'm constantly shifting. And when I'm doing that five days out of the week, it eventually takes its toll. My back aches, my knees are sore, I think my feet are now flat, and I have a perpetual crick in my neck. So yes, wear comfortable shoes, but also stretch frequently.

As a side note, wear comfortable pants, too. Wearing a heavy pair of jeans on a rainy day or a pair of shorts that constantly rides up can be mighty uncomfortable around hour 7 or 8.

IT IS LEARNING ON THE JOB

I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty confident going into my first day. Man, all I've got to do is a PR, I thought. After that training seminar, those things are a breeze. Then, "Hey Dixon, can you grab me a one-liner?" "Have any day-out-of days?" "You gonna eat your corn bread?" Ok, so that last one was never asked of me, but the first two...hunh?? Needless to say, I was constantly kept on my toes for week one. Fortunately, the other staff PAs were super helpful and cued me in when I was messing up. No matter how prepared you think you may be in the theoretical sense, you'll never know what you've gotten yourself into until you're knee deep in it. By the end of day one, I was a wet rag, and not just because it was raining (something that makes a job that deals with paper very difficult to carry out).

Okay, there's still a ton more that I wish I could share, but I'm totally beat. So I'll leave it at Part 1. Aside from providing me with the above life lessons, work has been going well. I'm beginning to settle in and I'm finding that I actually have some down time during the day. I've befriended some of the other PAs, as well as a bunch of the Grips and the Special Effects guys. Everyone on our crew is really genial and all of them are generous with their assistance whenever I'm at a loss.

But yeah I'll post a Part 2, maybe more, when I'm better rested and can think more clearly. To be continued...