Posted on 11/02/2019 9:48:09 AM PDT by NoLibZone
Four years ago, Christina Mondy arrived in Hollywood like many, with big dreams. At 23, hers was to become a showbiz writer. And like many, the Connecticut native was told in order to get her foot in the door, she first had to pay her dues as an assistant.
After an unpaid internship at a boutique management and production firm, Mondy landed a job as a full-time assistant at a major talent agency. But instead of pushing her that much closer to realizing her writing ambitions, Mondy says, “It all came crashing down on me.”
Over the course of nearly a year, Mondy worked 50-plus-hour weeks, she said, making $11.25 an hour. Barely getting by, she had to defer her student loans. She said she was subjected to constant verbal abuse by a boss, and that an agent had her stake out a comedy club for weeks to see if a comic he‘d noticed on Twitter showed up.
She said she wasn’t reimbursed for gas and was discouraged from seeking overtime pay. When she complained to HR about her treatment, Mondy said, she was told, “’Maybe this industry isn’t right for you.’” After making a scheduling error, she said, she was fired.
Being an assistant in Hollywood has long ranked among the most thankless jobs in the industry. Subjected to grueling hours, low pay, few benefits or protections and the vagaries of monomaniacal bosses, assistants have largely toiled in silence because it was considered a golden ticket to advancement — but no longer.
The plight of Hollywood assistants gained currency last month after “Chernobyl” screenwriter Craig Mazin and John August, writer of “Aladdin,” devoted a portion of their podcast, “Scriptnotes” to the subject.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It seems these people have made a few bad decisions, e.g., choosing an expensive private college, accumulating a 100k student loan debt, moving to a high cost of living city, on and on.
Had a roommate in college who had connections in Hollywood. To even join the union, you had to know someone, or know someone who knew someone. He was able to join the union in NYC and made huge (for me at the time) money for just a few hours of work shooting advertisements. I think he did stuff like focusing cameras and clicking the board at the beginning of the shoot.
Once you got into the union, it didn’t mean you got work. Work was handed out based on seniority, but you did get the chance to work.
That goes without saying. I don't expect to find men of decency and integrity running the studios in Hollywood. There never has been.
Shhhhhh! We don’t want liberals coming here spreading their poison.
What can government do to address this crisis?
nice mental image - the gatekeeper. You can have anything you want in Hollywood, all you have to do is whatever he wants.
You're a studio bigwig. There's 20,000 beautiful girls outside your door looking for a job. 19,900 of them will f*** you for it.
That's Hollywood. Always has been. Always will be. The keys to fame and fortune beyond your wildest dreams have never been free.
Right. . .or go start your own business and expect to work at least twice that. . .and forget vacations cause there ain't no stinkin vacations. If I were to actually take a vacation, I would only be sitting at the beach crying, thinking about all the money I'm losing.
Yep for all the preachy egalitarianism it spews the actual industry is one of the most hierarchical there is. It is grossly hypocritical in nearly everything it promotes. The revelations of the me too movement within it came as no surprise to anyone paying attention. Anti gun, environmentalism, anti capitalists and on and on. On almost any issue the industry is often one of the worst offenders.
$11.25 an hour? That’s not bad. This is where you have three roommates in an apartment so you could afford to pay your rent. A small price if you are trying to chase your dream.
She needs to consult with Harvey Weinstein! That might do the trick (no pun).
They were slow to pay overtime, encouraged you to work off the clock "to get ahead", suggested things that you could do "on your own" to smooth out your production, discouraged any complaining that might upset management, etc., etc.
I quit.
“Deirdre Mangan, a writer on the CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico,” who is working with Alper to improve conditions for assistants, recalled being $100,000 in student debt and only being able to take her first job as a writer’s assistant 10 years ago because she lived with her rich boyfriend and didn’t have to pay rent.”
Typical Hollywood whore. If she were male she would be in the coal mines, which is far more respectable work.
That’s what everyone kept telling Andi in “The Devil Wears Prada.” At least the fashion industry drones got some expensive swag and unwanted gifts. It doesn’t sound like the Hollyweird worker bees get any good freebies.
Better than what I made as a floor crew member.
I made a little over minimum wage but it is the best job I ever had in terms of loving what I did.
If you face this kind of thing in any industry then what you should do is find a way to become the boss of your own business.
Best paying work I ever had was at the rate of $1200/hr. I completed it in 5 minutes and made $100.
obviously they should for a union ...
My 20s sucked too, when I was a young electrical engineer. Bottom of the totem pole, no friends, no influence over anything, brief periods of accomplishment surrounded by months if not years of frustration, disappointment, and loneliness.
It’s called “paying your dues,” and almost everyone goes through it. At least I didn’t have to sleep with anyone to get a job or a raise, but I guess that’s one of the things a good education gets you.
The few who don’t go through it because of extraordinary talent or luck usually blow it because they don’t learn to value what they have; they throw it away because they don’t realize they may not be able to get it back. One of the big things paying your dues teaches you is to fight to keep what you have.
Hollywood is known for taking advantage of the young, innocent and decent.
Is this really surprise they play the young for fools?
Hollywood’s a well-dressed hellhole - a place Weinstein and all fit in easily... Their only ‘religion’ is abortion on demand - for obvious reasons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.