Hollywood Assistants Spill Stories On Their Horrible Bosses!
Been there, done that!
Being an Assistant in Hollywood is quite an emotionally exhausting occupation. I speak from experience, having assisted Talent Managers and Network Executives for over two years. Assistants are typically aspiring to monkey bar their way up the industry totem pole. You've gotta start at the bottom to get somewhere right? Well, for some, being an assistant can make or break your dreams. Yet, you're always going to leave your position with a few increible stories.
I have mingled my way through the Hollywood Assistant events and have gotten to banter back and forth with various Assistants throughout the industry. At one particular event held in West Hollywood, a 20s something female literally broke into tears talking about how much she hated her boss. It was bizarre! I worked for a lovely woman who is a powerhouse in the industry, she is as successful as she is kind. I couldn't relate to their terrifying stories! On a daily basis, I still see a handful of Assistants living miserably all to try and get a leg up in the industry. If you can't handle your boss' demands; Entertainment may not be the career choice for you!
The Hollywood Reporter released an article of why a Network President is the worst job in the Entertainment Industry. I was thrilled to see how many other Assistants laughed and gawked at the article. LAist decided to have Assistants anonymously submit their boss' grotesque tales, essentially breaking their NDA!
Check out some of the highlights below!
"As an unpaid intern on The Jerry Springer Show, my primary responsibility was to take pimps out to dinner at ESPN Zone and help acclimate them to Chicago." —Natalie, intern on The Jerry Springer Show
"I was an unpaid intern assistant for a director who had a few cult classics under his belt, and he insisted I use his laptop. The problem was, he often left his Asian porn websites wide open in the browsers with his pubes plastered all over the keyboard. They never had Clorox wipes for some reason, so I would smuggle in 3 or 4 Clorox wipes in a Ziploc bag each day and sanitize the shit out of that laptop before I'd touch it." —Emily, director's assistant
"My old boss would bring me the trash from his lunch so that I could throw it away for him. There were 3 garbage cans between his desk and mine." —Peter, showrunner's assistant
"I had a PA job that was basically buying everyone at the office alcohol and keeping it a secret from everyone else in the office. Everyone was always wondering where I was and thought I was doing a bad job because I was always out somewhere buying someone's secret liquor. Eventually, when they discovered Amazon Fresh and alcohol delivery services, they let me go. I was literally just a human Amazon Fresh." —Aiden, assistant on a reality series
"I worked at a big agency in the TV lit department for one of the partners. He walked in and told me that he needed help finding his Porsche. I thought that he’d parked it in the garage and needed help figuring out where he parked. Nope. He’d gone to run an errand (read: probably get in touch with his drug dealer) and LOST HIS PORSCHE somewhere in Beverly Hills. I asked if he’d used the key clicker to find it and he screamed for like five minutes about how I was supposed to have told him that his clicker would’ve helped him. Regardless, I had to drive my ass to BH and wander around for four hours trying to retrace his steps (sidebar: do you know how awkward it to walk up to random Porsche’s and inspect them to see if it’s your bosses car? YEAH. I almost got arrested two times. By the time I got back, there was no issue—why? He’d gone out and bought a new Porsche. I asked what he was going to do about the old one and he shrugged and went, “Eh. Leave it.” So, somewhere in the clean pressed, assistant-tear-lined streets of Beverly Hills, THERE IS A FREE PORSCHE." —Kyle, assistant to a TV lit agent at a talent agency.
"My boss was on a plane about to take off, and called me from her seat, ON THE PLANE, to tell me to call the airline because she had requested a window seat but was seated in the aisle. She was in first class with access to the flight attendants, but surely asking them would have been too easy." —Jen, casting assistant
"My first big industry interview was for an assistant position at [a major talent agency]. I was interviewing for an MP [motion picture] talent agent. In the interview he said, "You know, my wife really doesn't like it when I have female assistants. But looking at you, you'll be perfect!", insinuating that I was not attractive enough to threaten his wife. He said it with such confidence and excitement!" —Stella, talent management assistant
Check out the full article and more hilarious stories here!
