$100,000 in debt for a job any high school graduate should be able to do...
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 ...
$100,000 in debt for a job any high school graduate should be able to do...
Been there, done that. I was one of the lucky ones to get my foot through the door. I worked my ass off with long, long hours and little pay. Never was I happier and grateful for doing something I loved. Hollywood is a small community so after awhile the jobs came to you. Miss it but glad I’m away from LA.
Can you make ends meet in Long Island for $29 an hour? I hear the cost of living is very high.
I hear ya...Ive often done as much as 94/week and that’s not even close to what some do where I work. There are people that regularly do over 100/week and the work is a lot harder and more painful than hanging out in front of a night club.
If you had a one bedroom apt in someones basement and a carloan you’d be in trouble at the takehome for that pay. Youd fall behind. Coffee and a roll in the morning costs 4.50.
Sounds like an uncle of mine, he too made $stupid large sum/hour. He would go in and work for 5-20 minutes or something and during that time receive a full days worth of radiation so he would get paid for a full day and go home. (For anyone wondering...No. Oddly if anything it preserved him.)
“Being an assistant in Hollywood has long ranked among the most thankless jobs in the industry.”
HUH?
I work in Hollywood and it’s thankless? MOST of the production and exec assistants I know of enjoy their jobs. Because they are IN the biz. Ans who told you to stick to one position? You grow from intern to producer, like I did.
These people are stupid.
Luxury! You marines always were babied that way...
Ping!
Got a cousin in Hollywood, age 31 or so. He went out there about 8 years ago or so to try to become what I don’t know; I don’t think he does either. Goes from one personal assistant job to another. Gets fired when the big hot shot Hollywood something or other doesn’t like the way he shined his shoes. Lives with three other guys doing the same thing. Wife left him—which is really one of the best things that has happened to him out there—she’s a bigger kook than he is. His parents have been sending him money every month since he went out there. He spends it on eating out at fancy restaurants and traveling to political rallies for Hillary.
Real estate taxes in Long Island are crazy. Twenty thousand a year on a tiny nothing home.
One of Trump’s big supporters lives there near Stony Brook and pays $349,000 a year in real estate taxes!
On the plus side my employer provided the ammo."
I nominate this as "best post" for the day.
You forgot to mention the "free travel to exotic lands."
She had a high opinion of herself, thought that is only she got some “exposure” to the Hollywood elites, they would recognize her talent and give her a high-paying job.
Like many such, she was used, and then discarded. She has only herself to blame.
“On the plus side my employer provided the ammo.”
And targets.
Can’t forget the targets. Especially the ones that return fire.
Trying to give a damn...Fail.
A level-headed person would not pursue a career in the sewer that is ‘showbiz’.
50 hours a week would be half a vacation for me. I work 60 - same as my age, and love what I do.
I was going to ping you to this list, because you know the Hollywood biz.
You are well aware of the bull$hit.
the entire article is bogus and fantasy
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